Turkey Trot

In my first race since I had breast cancer earlier this year, I ran the 5k at the Turkey Trot this morning. My family came, 6 year old James and I did the 1 mile first, and then I ran the 5k by myself. Well, by myself with about 1500 other people. I talked to a guy who said that last night there were over 1800 entrants for all four distances (1 mile, 5k, 10k and 15k), and there had to be a couple of thousand people there today. It was amazing. I ran well, for a duffer, every split was better than the last, I finished at about 30 minutes and was very happy. At about 2 miles I started thinking about how lucky I was to even be running and got a bit choked up, but collected myself and ran on. I felt glorious as I waved at Jim and James before I ran into the chute.

The weather was spectacular, David Yon is a race organizing genius, I saw scores of people I knew, and then went off and ate an enormous breakfast.

Happy Thanksgiving.

My newest case

Last week I had a subpoena served on Florida Metropolitan University, a for profit university that is a subsidiary of the California company, Corinthian, Inc.

Here is the Reuter's report:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=209249+21-Nov-2005+RTRS&srch=corinthian

Veteran's Day

Last week my first grade son brought home a form from school, asking him to list all of the veterans in his family. I asked him who were the veterans in our family, and he said, "Nobody. I don’t know. Grandpa?" I was quite surprised that he didn’t know I was a veteran. So on Veteran’s Day I took him to the American Legion breakfast, where we were greeted like returning prodigal family members and invited to ride on the float. During the course of the day, I spoke to veterans from World War II to the Gulf War, and I was struck by two things: First, I felt sincerely welcomed by every veteran I encountered, which was a sea change from my experience as a female Navy avionics technician in the 80s; and second, with the passing of the Greatest Generation, the smaller group of veterans that follow them will have to take their place in the ranks of Veteran’s organizations to ensure that those who serve are not forgotten. I hope that other veterans here in Leon County will reach out to do their part in the coming years.

Sawmill Academy

I had a chance to visit the privatized juvenile medium security detention facility for girls, the Sawmill Academy, here in Leon County this week. Last week, the facility lost its fourth director in a little more than a year. Staff turnover has likewise been high. The 27 bed institution provides food, shelter, clothing and education to delinquent girls 14-18 years of age. As a group, they have real needs. According to the Department of Juvenile Justice, half of these young women have been sexually abused, 60% have a parent in jail, 60% have been physically abused, half have witnessed domestic violence, nearly half have attempted suicide.

I was there at the request of the Tallahassee Zonta Club to give a presentation on the structure of the court system. After reviewing the various courts at the state and federal level, I did a special section on the juvenile courts, and the demographics of juvenile delinquents. It was by far the most successful part of the talk, I noticed that the room had become more crowded, and the girls quiet and focused. Ironically, a juvenile detention facility is the safest place some of these girls have ever lived.

In a previous position I had visited both federal and state penitentiaries around the state, and have also visited the Leon County Jail. I thought I was prepared to visit this girls detention facility, but what surprised me most, was that rather than bringing to mind my experiences in other prisons, what the girls reminded me most of was my experience in boot camp.