Everything is Reproductive Justice - Formerly Known As (Part II)
By Leigh Creighton Bond • July 03, 2020 •Writers in Residence
Dear Leigh, How do you break up with someone? The same way you break up with your favorite business or even an idea. Remember when you were an adult education teacher in Washington, DC and taught the Declaration of Independence (“DOI”) as if it were a breakup letter? If you analyze the DOI as a break up letter, the DOI provides a break up letter template that begins with the idea that breakups should be done with respect and transparency: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected…
A CHANCE TO DO WHAT’S RIGHT
By Alexandra Dolce • June 27, 2020
There’s a lot happening in the world right now especially the U.S.; namely, the COVID 19 Pandemic and the fight for racial and economic equality for primarily people of African descent. Equality based on race has always been a problem for American society largely because of slavery. However, the egregious and heinous acts associated with the murder of George Floyd seem to have the racial tide changing in a different direction. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. My platform for ms-jd.org is all things Outer Space, but in this post, albeit short, I want to reaffirm that we as a society…
Support Black Owned Small Businesses: My Favorite Service Providers
By Diana LaMorie • June 05, 2020 •Issues, Other Issues
I am continuing this week of inspiration stemming from the #amplifymelanatedvoices hashtag movement, which is trying to amplify the voices of Black creators and small businesses owners. One small step we can take to join in is by highlighting and supporting some of our favorite black-owned businesses, which I am doing here on Ms. JD’s blog. I started yesterday with retail brands to check out and today I am sharing black-owned service providers worthy of your attention. Once again, I invite you to share and promote your favorites in the comments, and on your own blog post or other social…
Everything is Reproductive Justice - Formerly Known As (Part I)
By Leigh Creighton Bond • June 24, 2020 •Writers in Residence
Recently, I celebrated co-authoring, “The Continued Rise of the Reproductive Justice Lawyer,” my first published paper as an attorney. Back in law school, I never understood or explored what law review meant. As a first generation lawyer, I was just trying to pass and get through every hurdle law school threw at me. My recent writing milestone has me thinking about my perspective and experience as a former law student. Below, I want to share a brief letter I penned to my former law student self: Dear Leigh Creighton, Remember when you were an undergraduate…
Tame the Fear: Preparing for the Bar Exam Amidst a Global Pandemic
By Alexandra Echsner-Rasmussen • June 04, 2020
Preparing and sitting for the bar exam is no small endeavor and is usually accompanied with high levels of stress. Mix in the challenge of the unique circumstances that COVID-19 has presented to society, leaders, medical professionals, and not to mention, each of us as individuals and there is an amalgamation of factors out of our control. No other collective class of legally trained and educated individuals will experience what you will in late July in either Tampa or Orlando. With that in mind, the below considerations will serve to facilitate your approach and will encourage you to keep your…
The Influencers: Woman, African-American, Trailblazer
By Carron Nicks • June 02, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Have you ever thought about doing something that no one had ever done before, a truly novel idea, and you had no idea how you’d make it happen? Imagine, if you will, your future as a young woman in post-Civil War Washington, D.C. Chances are good that you would complete 8th grade, but they were poor - less than 50% -- that you would go on to high school. College for women in the 1870s? If you were lucky enough to go attend a college, most likely the curriculum would be designed to train you as a teacher. Now, imagine…
Everything Nobody Ever Told Me: Academic Excellence Will Only Get You So Far
By Paula M Jones • May 30, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
“You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.” - Thomas Wolfe My friend’s 16-year old daughter loves to cook. She takes the culinary class offered at her school, pores over the glossy photos in cookbooks and makes a mean pineapple chicken. When I asked if she was going to pursue culinary arts in college she sighed and said that she didn’t want to work in the restaurant business. She explained that the hours were terrible and a lot of restaurants fail. My stepson is really good with kids. It is…
Healing Moments on Juneteenth (and Beyond)
By Diana LaMorie • June 19, 2020 •Issues, Other Issues
Today is Juneteenth and it is wonderful (but overdue) to see how quickly companies and states have embraced this moment in time to recognize it as a day of observation and declaring it a holiday. This week New York, Virginia, Oregon and Philadelphia announced they will also make Juneteenth an official holiday. Yesterday it was put forth as a bill in Congress to make it a federal holiday. Hopefully next time this year we will all be observing it officially and coming together to commemorate this critical historic milestone in our nation’s history. Juneteenth is the oldest commemoration of the end of…
Techlegality: The Intersection of Healthcare, Law, and Tech – Interview with Damika W. Barr
By Victoria Willingham • May 30, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Politics and Government, Issues, Mentoring and Networking
There is no question that technology is shaping the future of healthcare, especially now. I recently had the opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Damika W. Barr, Head of Public Policy and Government Relations at Verily Life Sciences. Wearing many titles, Damika is a wife, mother, attorney, thought leader, and healthcare champion. Throughout the course of our discussion, Damika shared great insight into her career path and how she navigates a role uniquely positioned at the intersection of healthcare, law, and technology. I enjoyed every moment of this interview, and I hope the same for you. VW: Let’s get right…