Although last night was a school night, I just needed to see a movie so I borrowed one from the public library that I had never heard of but thought I would take a flyer. For some reason, it seems to have two titles, neither of which are particularly memorable, I think that one was something about bread. It was phenomenally bad. It was about this Italian guy who is an investment banker or something by day and a biscotti baker by night. There is this older woman who is dying and she has this daughter that Biscotti Man wants to marry to make the mother happy before she dies. One of the many problems is that all of the actors talk like cave men. Another problem is that he dialog is so clumsy that it was half way through the movie before I realized that one of Biscotti Man's brothers was retarded and then only because the actor said "I am retarded." It was also rather smutty and chock full of every Italian stereotype known to modern man. By that time, the movie had driven everyone else from the room. That said, of course I cried when the mother died. Stupid movie.

I attended the Athena Awards today as That Girl was a nominee. It was an interesting event—very well done. Two things in particular stand out about this program. The first thing was that Girl Scouts from City Honors and Nardin led the pledge as the opening ceremony. I was never a girl in green but always admired the work they do. The second piece was that two of the speakers were participants from a program called Girl Power. These young women were in seventh and eighth grade and spoke with poise and confidence in front of 600 strangers. The list of nominees was truly impressive but I was left with the same thought that I take away from every woman-oriented program. Everyone talks about how girls need women role models and I certainly agree with that but only to a point. I am not black, but I have always admired Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks; not a man and I have always admired Ghandi and Nelson Mandella. You get the point. I guess I keep hoping that the day will come when a woman at one of these events will say that they hope to be an inspiration/ role model/ mentor to young men "and" young women as well as saying that they have been positively influenced not just by people who are somehow like them but also by people who different from them. It is obviously easier to influence people who are like you than people who are not but isn’t that ultimately the definition of greatness to which we all strive?

So what does it mean when, at the end of a fairly grueling day-long deposition of a plaintiff on a shaky fire loss case, plaintiff comes over and hugs you? As in opposing counsel, the one who has just spent the day prying into every corner of this person’s life. Ok, I failed to mention that at the end of the deposition we determined that plaintiff and I actually went to elementary school together but still. As a defense attorney, this is unnerving, not to mention bad for my reputation. I can see the chapter heading in depositions class syllabi in every law school across the country "Freaking out the opposition with hugs."

Through the years, Americans have tried many different experiments, some good, some bad. One that was recently brought to mind was the Orphan Trains. A local group recently did a reenactment of one such train as it traveled West at a time when upstate New York was still pretty much a frontier. On some level, it is the quintessential American plan—go west, let nature and your own hard work and talent let you be all that you can. On the other hand, what the heck were they thinking?! You have to wonder if the organizers even considered the potential for abuse or if they did and still felt that the potential for improvement outweighed it. Looks like the time for thinking of ways to improve the state of child protection has not yet passed.