This week I was very busy. Thankfully the Attorney General had many tasks for me to do. Varying from printing out papers from depositions for a stipulation of the facts documents, to retyping documents and I even got to organize one of the lawyer’s desks. Which as strange as it seems I have been dying to do since the day I got there because none of the lawyers have organized desks. Needless to say but the lack of organization has been driving me crazy! I also went to my first trial. I was extremely excited simply because, it was my first trial so it could have been on taxes and I would have been pumped. To give you a quick rundown... **One a quick side not this was a public trail so I should be able to tell you all about it since anyone could have attended. So, the Plaintiff was suing the District of Columbia for being unlawfully terminated after she was fired from two higher up positions. She worked about one week at each position. It would have been a normal trial except for two aspects. One, was she was asking herself questions and two, she had a bit of a meltdown in the court room. Now guaranteed I have seen two year olds throw better melt downs, she just made everyone kind of nervous when she stated she could shoot a gun and wanted to kill all public officials. You can see how these statements made everyone uncomfortable, especially after all the events of Monday morning. It wasn’t long after the court Marshalls showed up to escort her out of the building. Her case did end up going to the jury, and they did not give her any damages dismissing her case. On a happy note she was able to get help this weekend at a Mental Hospital this weekend. This trail made me realize several important aspects of court. 1) It is always a good idea to have a lawyer representing you. 2) Sometimes people need a platform to stand on and going to court is there platform. 3) Mental Health is a serious issue that must be addressed in the field of law. 4) Even though people may not have a justified case they still may need help through other facilities. So that was the start of my weekend which was confusing and a bit scary but it gets happier I promise. I kept myself very active this weekend to keep up the trend of seeing the most out of DC as possible. On Friday night I went to a hockey game with some of the other students from W.I.I. We got to see the Capitals play against the Chicago Black Hawks. I can honestly say this is the first game of hockey I have actually understood because I had the lucky seat between my friends Greg and Robin. Who are both faithful hockey fans and were able to answer my several questions throughout the night. On Saturday I got caught in the rain at the H-Street Festival. Which surprisingly enough did not dampen the party at all everyone just whipped out umbrellas or sought the lining street shops for shelter. Luckily I brought my umbrella but they can only cover so much. Sunday was a day full of surprises. It began with several of us heading off to the National Mall to see the National Book Festival. While we were there we could see a couple streets down huge mobs of people crowding around and hear Latin music playing. Well naturally with the large mob of people we thought that maybe there was a protest going on. So we ran over to check it out only to see a parade of dancers each representing a country in Central and South America. We stumbled upon a wonderful celebration of Latino culture. It was really wonderful to see so many people out celebrating their heritage. After the Fiesta DC (the actual name of the event) I went back to the book fair and stood in line to meet an author called Tamora Pierce, who wrote several of the books from my childhood. Her line was extremely long so I never got to have her sign my book, but I did happen to get a picture of her after the events people made her stop signing books. She stayed an extra half hour to try and get through her entire book line which you will see by the picture below was pretty extensive. Well that puts a bookend on my week and I cannot wait so see what this one brings.
1 Comment
Caitlin Murphy
9/30/2013 01:24:01 pm
Shannon, great use of visuals this week. I really liked how you broke up the text with photos. I appreciate all your details and the reflection and enthusiasm you provide in your posts.
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AuthorMy name is Shannon McCullough. I have Political Science and Legal Studies degree at Nazareth College of Rochester. I have previously interned at the Office of the Attorney General for DC. Currently, I am studying my Masters degree in International Relations at Shandong University in Jinan, China. Archives
September 2016
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