Some musings ...

Returned recently from a road trip with la familia that included Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA. Both cities are great places to spend time with the kids, and we even got a beach day in Seattle. 

While in Seattle I also participated in a couple of interesting events of note. On June 17th the Washington State affiliate of the ACLU celebrated its 75th anniversary. The ACLU-WA has been a standard-bearer of ACLU affiliates for years, and the well-attended event at Sodo Park attested to the organization's support in its community. The event was particularly special, however, because it also honored the 30th anniversary of ACLU-WA's executive director, Kathleen Taylor, whom the Seattle Stranger has called "the most powerful woman you've never heard of." Kathleen has worked tirelessly for civil liberties in Washington State, and she well deserved the recognition she received at the anniversary event.

I also attended my initial meeting as a member of the Washington State Bar Association's Council on Public Defense. I am still getting up to speed on the Council's work, but I hope to post more later this week on some of the issues the Council will face, such as how states properly should standardize indigent defense services, and the challenging issue of "collateral consequences" to criminal conviction.

First, though, I must finish exploring my iPhone's pretty-cool new iOS 4 software. I may be most excited about being able to listen to San Francisco Giants games on MLB's app without interruption when I need to check my email ...