Updates and a local mindfulness program!

So, I have been doing a LOT of things lately.

I've started volunteering for Betsy Dennigan's campaign.  I've now spoken with her twice, and I feel as though she definitely needs to represent the state of Rhode Island in Congress.  She has really comprehensive plans concerning healthcare, education, stimulating the economy with new jobs and rejuvenating a dying fishing industry.  She is pro-choice, she is an emergency nurse, she has been doing policy for 12 years, and now it is time to send her to Washington, where she can actually effectively implement change and fix this tiny state with high illiteracy and unemployment rates.  The best part about working so closely with her campaign is that I can discuss real policy issues that affect the lives of myself and my friends and have them be addressed one-on-one and can even push them to a place of importance within her campaign on college campuses.  It's also pretty fun to get to march in St. Patrick's Day parades.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I went to the State House with other members of RI NOW to testify in favor of 3 bills that were being heard and against another bill under the House Judiciary Committee.  I couldn't stay the whole time, unfortunately, because they started the hearing far later than I had expected, but it was very interesting to actually sit in on one.  Mostly, I got to speak with some important people on the pro-choice side, including a representative from Planned Parenthood and Susan Sweet.

Other than that, the LSAT studying is still in the works.  Did you know that it costs $136 to register for the LSAT?  And that LSAC asks you not only for your ethnicity and whether you are left- or right-handed, but also for your sexual orientation?  Granted, this is asked through LSAC for the Candidate Referral Service, which finds law schools to recruit you based on your preferences, but I hardly feel that sexual orientation is necessary to inquire of applicants.  Also, they lump all "other" sexualities (read: non-heteronormative; yes, I am a Brown student at heart) in one category.  There is a check box in front of the statement that reads, "Check to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender."  I don't think that who a person loves should determine their ability to be a lawyer, but I suppose my beliefs are relatively progressive compared to the vast majority of the law school admissions population.  When I tried to find more complaints about this requirement online, I could only find this document, "The ABA 2009 Presidential Diversity Summit's State of Diversity in the Legal Profession Selected Survey Summaries."  On page 14, there's a really poignant quote from a female lawyer:

"Diversity is important to the legal profession. In order for laws, statutes, rules, and regulations, to be created and applied, without bias for the rule of law to have proper meaning, our profession must be charged with fully including the vast variety of backgrounds so that bias, prejudice, and
bigotry are minimized, or, at best, eliminated...

... In my professional life, I have seen local bar associations that discriminated based on religion, race, sex, and sexual orientation and gender identity. Some of that has abated through education. Some has abated by those that discriminated knowing someone in the class or status of the discriminated. My local bar still discriminates based on gender identity and sexual orientation (we have the most "liberal" bench and bar in the state, yet the bench of over 30 judges and masters does not have a single representative from that group, though the citizens they judge comprise about 20%.)"

So, all you law schools that claim not to discriminate based on these criteria, I hope you keep your word.  It'll be a heck of a lot easier for qualified candidates to get into these discriminatory bar associations if they can at least get into law school.

 For a complete change of topic, I found a great local mindfulness resource!  The Providence Library is holding a mindfulness program series until May.  This is awesome for the greater Providence area, because it is a really cheap or free way to learn Yoga and about meditation, sleep, even Reiki.  While some Brown students take for granted free meditation and yoga sessions here, if the general public were made aware that Yoga is $5 per person per session, they would be less intimidated by committing to expensive per month or per year yoga programs.  I am going to ask about it the next time I go there (which will hopefully be soon, I definitely need to find a new LSAT study spot) and if they have fliers, I'll take a bunch and distribute around my job on Fed Hill and around Betsy's campaign headquarters on Broad Street.  Using the library as a public resource and center for interaction is a really key part of Betsy's campaign, and I completely agree with that concept.

So, to recap:

• Betsy Dennigan is an awesome Congressional candidate
• LSAT and CRS registration can lead to some upsetting discriminatory practices
• Learn about mindfulness at the Providence Public Library!

Take care.