Stepping onto my soapbox as we speak

Today I start my first ever legal internship at the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute in Berkeley. The plus? At least it'll only take me about half the time to get there as it takes me to get to USF. The minus? It's a new job.

Wish me luck! I'll continue this post tonight to update on how the day went.

P.S. Welcome back B!

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Alright, so day 1 down...the entire summer to go! I guess I can say that I like what I'm going to be doing this summer. Right now, Ann (our director) has me working on a flyer for the US Social Forum happening in Atlanta at the end of June (I think). This means that I've been poring over the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first mandatory report the US submitted on this treaty (although the US actually combined what was supposed to be the first 3 reports into the first 1 they submitted, and did so extremely late), the UN Committee's conclusions and recommendations to this report (in which the UN requested that the US submit its 4th and 5th reports by 2003 --which the US did not do), and the US 4th, 5th, and 6th report (again, combined into 1) submitted in April of this year. My job is to look over the changes - if any - that the US made in accordance with the UN's conclusions and recommendations, and any changes they did not make that they should have, paying particular attention to "Katrina" and Guantanamo Bay incidences. And I work with a really great girl from U of O that knows some people I knew in high school. Such a small world sometimes. All in all, pretty interesting stuff.

I celebrated by going to Bay Street and buying 2 pairs of work-pants. Fun.