Celebrating O'Connor's Rise to THE Bench

Recently the four women who have sat and are sitting on the Supreme Court gathered in one place to mark the anniversary of Sandra Day O'Connor's breaking of that glass ceiling and gaining a spot on the coveted bench.  Check out this very short news story for more:  The women of SCOTUS

A good crime spree, if I do say so myself

I love crime stories.  I wikipedia major criminals, I loved criminal law, I loved reading the facts of the cases I worked on  . . . I love crime stories.  Here's a story of a crime spree with a very high "wtf" rating on what the guy was thinking:  Majorly impressive crime spree

We'll probably learn that the guy has some sort of mental disorder, and then the story will be somewhat sad, but for now we can enjoy it and contemplate his in-the-moment decisions like: Man, I want to continue ransacking this office, but I need to poo.  Should I stop and go to the bathroom?  Nah --- I'll poo ON the desks!  Ha!  That'll be good!

The Bennett family Easter morning chant

HAPPY EASTER!

Of course the main point of Easter for me is celebrating the resurrection of Christ, and my very favorite moment of the day is singing "Jesus Christ Has Risen Today."  However, Christ-aside, I am also quite fond of the idea of a bunny hopping around delivering treats.  As I come from an animal-loving, druid-claiming family, they are a little more interested in the bunny aspect of the day.  Not an Easter goes by without my dad reading this poem (written by another Bennett!!!  actual relation is still yet but a hope) in the early morning and with great glee.  This is the way the Bennett household kicks off Easter --- enjoy!

On Easter morn at early dawn before the cocks were crowing I met a bob-tail bunnykin and asked where he was going. "Tis in the house and out the house a-tispy, tipsy-toeing, Tis round the house and 'bout the house a-lightly I am going." "But what is that of every hue you carry in your basket?" "Tis eggs of gold and eggs of blue; I wonder that you ask it. "Tis chocolate eggs and bonbon eggs and eggs of red and gray, For every child in every house on bonny Easter day." He perked his ears and winked his eye and twitched his little nose; He shook his tail -- what tail he had -- and stood up on his toes. "I must be gone before the sun; the east is growing gray; Tis almost time for bells to chime." -- So he hippety-hopped away.

Cleansing the feet to cleanse the soul

Most of you know how deeply I embrace foot-washing as an act of humility and a symbol of faith.  While we no longer walk around a desert in sandals, like Christ and the apostles did, our feet still suffer from various ailments.  Feet are, after all, functional creations.  They do real work for us every day.  I thank God my feet and legs works because I LOVE LOVE LOVE moving around, jumping, wearing bare feet on wooden floors, dancing, wearing high heels and listening to my own clicking, etc.  This past Maundy Thursday, I helped lead a foot-washing service at First Presbyterian in Norman, Oklahoma.  This church has become our chosen place of worship, and we are slowly becoming integrated with it.  The church members did not embrace the foot-washing part of the service as wholly as those at my previous church (Second Presbyterian in Nashville, Tennessee), but they were moved into a new spiritual realm with our reading and re-enactment and our open offer to wash their feet.  Here is an especially touching article about the foot-washing service at the campus for Nashville's homeless:  http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120408/NEWS06/304080053/Christian-tradition-teaches-humility-counters-me-first-culture?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE.  Think about it --- what would it take for you to wash a homeless person's feet?  What would it take for you to let them wash yours?

Malawi's troubles (and Madonna can't solve them)

Malawi is in some trouble considering that its president may have died (yes, you read that correctly --- they're being secretive right now).  Obviously, Malawi is known to most Americans, if at all, as the place where Madonna stole/adopted children.  Beyond Madonna is the fact that this is a real country.  Of particular interest to me is that the Peter Mutharika discussed in this article as the probable successor to Malawi is a professor of international law at WashU Law, my alma mater.  Word on the street is that neither Mutharika is known for human rights achievements -- let's hope that changes.

See Mutharika

Article about Peter Mutharika's duties, circa 2008:  Peter Mutharika's duties 2008

Mutharika's web page:  Wulaw Wustl Webpage -- Mutharika