Brass Monkey: Freaking Leslie Knope

I'm considering buying a fake engagement ring to wear around the office and other places where I would like to deter male interest. A middle-aged man in facilities asked me to join him for happy hour this Friday. I was polite and went along but (between you and me) I don't go into the office on that day. There were also some nice men in a truck the other morning who stopped to watch me walk across the street, giving me a friendly wink. Maybe I could flash a ring at them next time instead of my middle finger (I didn't actually do that, but I definitely thought about it).
There have been a lot of fun things happening at the ABA. I attended a discussion panel on Tuesday night about clerking, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. "Have a passion for the law, not for the clerkship" and "Be who you are." These are a couple of quotes that I took away from the evening. I had never considered applying for a clerkship after law school, but it seems like a great investment in a legal career-- low in pay and exhausting, but still a good investment. Who knows? Maybe I'll be clerking for a US Supreme Court judge one day.

"A Conversation on Clerking" program at the ABA

Yesterday, the ABA interns were introduced to all the different sections of the ABA and their directors. The director of Communications and Media Relations talked about her section's role in the ABA, and I was so intrigued. I have more experience in public relations and communications than I do in law, which is what I shared with her later. I look forward to learning more about that section of the ABA and meeting the people involved! There is always a need for attorneys who can interpret legal jargon into layman's terms for publications.
My supervisor with the Commission on Immigration also likes to host "brown bags," where the interns can eat lunch and meet other ABA employees. The brown bag conversations have opened my eyes to the virtually limitless field of law. There are so many different careers in the legal profession, and you don't have to choose just one for the rest of your life. I love it! Brown bags also give us opportunities to meet visitors. Yesterday, we met an attorney from Russia who is visiting the ABA for a week or so to learn about the ABA and to build connections. Russia is currently in the process of adding the submission of amicus curiae briefs to their court system, which we have the states, so she talked a bit about that. Of course, I had to google amicus curaie briefs because I had no idea what they were. It was fun listening to the ABA attorneys ask the Russian attorney questions about their system and vice versa. Everyone was learning from each other, expanding on the weak points of their legal systems but also appropriately conveying a level of national pride.
On a much more serious note, so many things in the office remind me of Parks and Recreation. There is an episode where Leslie Knope, a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana, visits DC. At one point in the episode, Leslie feels overshadowed by the tall, powerful women of DC. I could empathize with Leslie Knope this morning. On the elevator I noticed that I was at least one foot shorter than every other "powerful" woman making their way up the floors. But I have learned from this character that there is no task too great. When Leslie sets her mind to something, she will do everything within her power (and even beyond her power) to accomplish it. She may be intimidated but she's freaking Leslie Knope.