How I Was Introduced To Prison Abolition

The first time I can remember the concept of prison abolition appearing on my radar was my junior year of college — a friend was involved with an organization, Justice Now, that works with women prisoners and toward a world without prisons. Their website, although it never technically mentions the term “abolition,” was the first real exposure I had to the idea of prison abolition — the idea of getting rid of prisons in favor of  a “world without prisons.”

Wordle and Beyond Bryn Mawr

I find Wordle fascinating. Wordle is, for those who don’t know, a website that allows one to make word clouds of websites or chunks of text, based on the most commonly used words. In lieu of my usual style of blog post, I decided to post a Wordle word cloud created from about a dozen of my favorite blog posts. 

TJLP: “I Have Been Changed For Good.”

As I think about the time I’ve spent involved with the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), the song “For Good” from Wicked comes to mind. Absolutely, the incredible people I’ve met through TJLP have truly impacted who I am and informed how I think. TJLP — as a community, as a law project, and simply as a space in which I’ve been has definitely allowed me to grow and learn and flourish.

I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

If I Didn’t Need Money, I’d Be An Attorney

What would your profession be if you didn’t need money?

I’m aware that this is probably an unusual answer, but if I didn’t need money, I think I’d choose to be an attorney, in terms of a profession. Not just any old attorney, though — I would want to be an attorney for the Transformative Justice Law Project, TJLP (although I suppose a law project/organization with similar values and politics would be okay if I couldn’t be with TJLP). Definitely, in an immediate sense, I’d continue on as an intern with TJLP. Needing money is, after all, the biggest reason why I’m not staying in Chicago. If I were independently wealthy or won the lottery or something similar, I would definitely not be leaving.

Should I Go To Law School?

I’ve been told that I should be a lawyer basically my entire life (not “should” as in “must be,” should as in “would be good at”). My grandfather is a criminal defense attorney (well, he was — he recently retired after fifty-odd years of practicing law), and I’m the only one of numerous children and grandchildren who has ever shown any kind of law school leanings. None of that, of courses, is a reason to go to law school (and/or become an attorney), but it speaks to the fact that the the possibility of becoming  a lawyer has been somewhere in my mind for as long as I can remember.

The Hardest Decision I’ve Made: Moving Back to Minnesota

I recognize that I’ve led a fairly privileged life, and I haven’t really had to make many truly difficult decisions before. I acknowledge that, in the grand scheme of things, the decisions with which I’m faced are fairly small. Still, they feel difficult to me, and deciding whether to move back to Minnesota has felt like the hardest decision I’ve had to make.

A Birthday Blog Post

It’s my birthday! I am now 23.

Birthdays always make me feel a bit reflective; it makes me think about how my life has changed in the past year — about what’s important to me, what I want to do with my life, what’s going on in my life.

The Chance to Make a Difference: Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois

If you’ve followed my blog at all, you’ve likely heard of the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), as I’ve blogged about it numerous times before. (I would like to state for the record, however, that anything on my blog other than the following letter is my own opinion and not necessarily reflective of TJLP.) TJLP is an amazing organization and really has changed my life. Please read the following letter from TJLP, reposted with their permission, and consider making a donation.

I Love TJLP

“Dream big about how fierce and beautiful we want the world to be.”

I’ve only been interning with TJLP* (the Transformative Justice Law Project, about which I’ve blogged previously) for a matter of months, but it has already been one of the most outstanding experiences of my life. There is something really magical about TJLP — a combination of the people, the clients, the values upon which TJLP was founded, and maybe some kind of special TJLP essence.

If I Won The Lottery

I was watching the TV show Castle* last night with my roommate, and Castle kept asking people what they’d do if they won the lottery. Being best-selling author of crime novels, Castle is ridiculously rich, and he said that to him, monetary success means freedom. His money is important to him because as it allows him to live life on his terms