Lavender Law Conference
So I just got back from the Lavender Law Conference in NYC (Brooklyn specifically) and it was amazing. I'm already excited for next year when it will be held in South Beach (score!). Even though I should be working on like 100 things right now, I feel like summarizing a bit.
Took off from Newport News Airport Wed after my Molecular Genetics Lab. I didn't want to miss the lab, which I normally have on Thursdays, but I got permission to attend the one Wed instead. We were growing E. coli bacteria that we genetically engineered to be resistant to ampicillin...who would want to miss that? I met up with Mary who was also going up to the conference and we sat by each other on the short flight up to La Guardia.
Once we got there, I was mad lucky because Mary had everything planned out with how to use the public transportation system. Honestly, I've always been clueless about it, listlessly following whoever I was with and hoping not to end up in New Jersey or something. But I payed attention this time, which came in handy. We had to take one bus and then two subway trains to get to our Days Inn Hotel in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn amazes me about how much it is 'up and coming' or maybe more accurately already there, part of the city. I always remember Brooklyn being an 'eh' part. Of course I never really went to NYC too much, even though I grew up about 45 min from Manhattan. But it was quite a difference from what I remember and I would consider living in that part and not just Manhattan if I ever moved up to the City.
On the subway we ran into this older man who was an author. Not a well known author or anything, but he was very entertaining. I have his card, I'm going to pass it along to our English department at W&M and recommend they get him as a speaker at some point. He was really very engaging. His website is www.cjhenderson.com if you want to check out any of his work.
After we got to the hotel we decided just to turn into our rooms and goto bed as it was already 10 or 11 pm. My night was uneventful. I used the sloooow 'high speed' internet and watched President Obama's speech on healthcare reform replayed on BET. On a side note the speech was pretty good, but I wish he would have come out with a veto threat on anything that didn't include a robust public option. But that is neither here nor there I suppose. Mary's night at the hotel, on the other hand, was quite a bit more eventful than mine, although that is not so much my story to share. ;)
Anyway, in the morning we headed out for the Marriott Brooklyn which housed the job fair and the rest of the conference. We took two subway trains to get there and immediately once we were there ran into one of Mary's friends from Harvard, Andy, who was representing a firm that was sponsoring the conference. On a side note, we saw that they turned the bathrooms from Male and Female into Gender Neutral bathrooms. I think this was great, especially for, as Mary pointed out, people who are transgendered or just otherwise don't feel like they fit into either of the standard genders. We did this in college a lot, the people closes to the girls bathroom used that one and the people closest to the mens room used that one on the dorm hall. I will say though that it did make me a little uncomfortable even though it shouldn't have. I am glad now to know, however, that I need to confront and find a greater understanding of gender identity issues that some people face. I've always thought of myself as very progressive on transgender issues but I could be better.
The job fair itself was almost overwhelming. There were something like 140 firms represented, each at a table in various rows. I had researched many of them before hand, so I knew which ones I wanted to goto. I also went to a lot of interesting seeming ones and struck up some fun conversations - non law or application related - with some of the recruiters. I had a lot of fun with the two gentlemen who were recruiting for a prestigious firm in NYC that specializes in corporate law. Apparently, one of them had never heard of the octomom and John and Kate plus Eight. Being that I just recently learned of such people it made for an interesting and very loud (with laughing) conversation.
Mary and I thought we were the only ones to go from William and Mary Law School. As it turns out there were three other students (and I'm told a fourth one I didn't see) who were there. We all hung out through the day and got to know each other much more than we had at the law school. It was a lot of fun actually and many of the firms were giving out cool thing (with their logos on them) like USB drives, squishy red pepper dolls, etc.
Through Adam, I met Fadi who works at a different law firm but was also there at a table. I talked with them both a lot and we ended up hanging out later on, for dinner then out to a club. There was also messenger bag boy who I talked to. He is a 2L at Chicago Kent School of Law and reminded me of a cross between Mikey and Shane. We exchanged information so hopefully I'll make a friend in Chicago (I've never been!)
Mary left the job fair (she was not terribly interested in that part of the conference) to go back to the hotel and have dinner with a friend. Jen, Dave, Mike and I went to a private open bar/food party that a firm had invited Dave to (go Dave!). Jen and I stayed only for about an hour but It was a blast. We then came back to the dinner and reception at the conference. The food was amazing. I have a couple pictures (I think) that will be uploaded to the Lavender law album. Our group met up with the LGA group from UVA and planned some joint events tentatively. I hope it works out.
From there, I went to my third dinner with Adam, Fadi and Fadi's boyfriend Aaron. I'm not even sure what type of food it was, but it was like fondue at the Melting Pot restaurant but there was like a grill or something in the center of the table. I was full so I didn't eat much, just had a drink but it looked neat and the few pieces I tasted were good. We had an interesting conversation where I learned about this Burning Man even that happens out in Nevada which involved a naked sweat tent, pink fishnet bodysuits, and harnesses..oh and one key lime pie.
Adam and I then went to Splash while Fadi and Aaron went to bed. I put my stuff in Fadi's apartment (which was amazing) and then came back later to crash on his couch which saved me a ton of hotel money. Splash was fun, especially since I've really only seen Hampton Roads clubs in the past number of years. There were dancers and the people seemed nice. We met up with one of Adam's old friends who was in town from Argentina. We didn't stay long as we were both exhausted and back to Fadi's place for bedtime :)
Friday (today) was less exciting. I took the subway back to the conference were I was going to go to some of the workshops and also re-book a flight. I ended up not really getting to go to the workshops because of the timing issue, (if I would have known everything would be delayed because of bad weather in Philly I would have stayed at the conference) but I got practice using the Metro system. I managed, all by myself to get from the Marriott to La Guardia. I took two subways and one bus but didn't get lost or go the wrong way once! The US Airways people were very nice and helpful and I ended up switching planes all around. Next time I fly I'm going to try to fly with that airline again, it was a good experience. Even down to the flight attendant who got me a drink twice instead of the normal one time.
I had to take a flight to Norfolk where I just rented a car to get back up home. Robert is having a going away party but I have too much to do and we just hung out a few days ago since I wasn't expecting to be home in time for his party. Now I just have to get everything together for Jeremy's wedding tomorrow and start getting some work done!
It was a fun trip and well worth the time I missed at school.
Took off from Newport News Airport Wed after my Molecular Genetics Lab. I didn't want to miss the lab, which I normally have on Thursdays, but I got permission to attend the one Wed instead. We were growing E. coli bacteria that we genetically engineered to be resistant to ampicillin...who would want to miss that? I met up with Mary who was also going up to the conference and we sat by each other on the short flight up to La Guardia.
Once we got there, I was mad lucky because Mary had everything planned out with how to use the public transportation system. Honestly, I've always been clueless about it, listlessly following whoever I was with and hoping not to end up in New Jersey or something. But I payed attention this time, which came in handy. We had to take one bus and then two subway trains to get to our Days Inn Hotel in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn amazes me about how much it is 'up and coming' or maybe more accurately already there, part of the city. I always remember Brooklyn being an 'eh' part. Of course I never really went to NYC too much, even though I grew up about 45 min from Manhattan. But it was quite a difference from what I remember and I would consider living in that part and not just Manhattan if I ever moved up to the City.
On the subway we ran into this older man who was an author. Not a well known author or anything, but he was very entertaining. I have his card, I'm going to pass it along to our English department at W&M and recommend they get him as a speaker at some point. He was really very engaging. His website is www.cjhenderson.com if you want to check out any of his work.
After we got to the hotel we decided just to turn into our rooms and goto bed as it was already 10 or 11 pm. My night was uneventful. I used the sloooow 'high speed' internet and watched President Obama's speech on healthcare reform replayed on BET. On a side note the speech was pretty good, but I wish he would have come out with a veto threat on anything that didn't include a robust public option. But that is neither here nor there I suppose. Mary's night at the hotel, on the other hand, was quite a bit more eventful than mine, although that is not so much my story to share. ;)
Anyway, in the morning we headed out for the Marriott Brooklyn which housed the job fair and the rest of the conference. We took two subway trains to get there and immediately once we were there ran into one of Mary's friends from Harvard, Andy, who was representing a firm that was sponsoring the conference. On a side note, we saw that they turned the bathrooms from Male and Female into Gender Neutral bathrooms. I think this was great, especially for, as Mary pointed out, people who are transgendered or just otherwise don't feel like they fit into either of the standard genders. We did this in college a lot, the people closes to the girls bathroom used that one and the people closest to the mens room used that one on the dorm hall. I will say though that it did make me a little uncomfortable even though it shouldn't have. I am glad now to know, however, that I need to confront and find a greater understanding of gender identity issues that some people face. I've always thought of myself as very progressive on transgender issues but I could be better.
The job fair itself was almost overwhelming. There were something like 140 firms represented, each at a table in various rows. I had researched many of them before hand, so I knew which ones I wanted to goto. I also went to a lot of interesting seeming ones and struck up some fun conversations - non law or application related - with some of the recruiters. I had a lot of fun with the two gentlemen who were recruiting for a prestigious firm in NYC that specializes in corporate law. Apparently, one of them had never heard of the octomom and John and Kate plus Eight. Being that I just recently learned of such people it made for an interesting and very loud (with laughing) conversation.
Mary and I thought we were the only ones to go from William and Mary Law School. As it turns out there were three other students (and I'm told a fourth one I didn't see) who were there. We all hung out through the day and got to know each other much more than we had at the law school. It was a lot of fun actually and many of the firms were giving out cool thing (with their logos on them) like USB drives, squishy red pepper dolls, etc.
Through Adam, I met Fadi who works at a different law firm but was also there at a table. I talked with them both a lot and we ended up hanging out later on, for dinner then out to a club. There was also messenger bag boy who I talked to. He is a 2L at Chicago Kent School of Law and reminded me of a cross between Mikey and Shane. We exchanged information so hopefully I'll make a friend in Chicago (I've never been!)
Mary left the job fair (she was not terribly interested in that part of the conference) to go back to the hotel and have dinner with a friend. Jen, Dave, Mike and I went to a private open bar/food party that a firm had invited Dave to (go Dave!). Jen and I stayed only for about an hour but It was a blast. We then came back to the dinner and reception at the conference. The food was amazing. I have a couple pictures (I think) that will be uploaded to the Lavender law album. Our group met up with the LGA group from UVA and planned some joint events tentatively. I hope it works out.
From there, I went to my third dinner with Adam, Fadi and Fadi's boyfriend Aaron. I'm not even sure what type of food it was, but it was like fondue at the Melting Pot restaurant but there was like a grill or something in the center of the table. I was full so I didn't eat much, just had a drink but it looked neat and the few pieces I tasted were good. We had an interesting conversation where I learned about this Burning Man even that happens out in Nevada which involved a naked sweat tent, pink fishnet bodysuits, and harnesses..oh and one key lime pie.
Adam and I then went to Splash while Fadi and Aaron went to bed. I put my stuff in Fadi's apartment (which was amazing) and then came back later to crash on his couch which saved me a ton of hotel money. Splash was fun, especially since I've really only seen Hampton Roads clubs in the past number of years. There were dancers and the people seemed nice. We met up with one of Adam's old friends who was in town from Argentina. We didn't stay long as we were both exhausted and back to Fadi's place for bedtime :)
Friday (today) was less exciting. I took the subway back to the conference were I was going to go to some of the workshops and also re-book a flight. I ended up not really getting to go to the workshops because of the timing issue, (if I would have known everything would be delayed because of bad weather in Philly I would have stayed at the conference) but I got practice using the Metro system. I managed, all by myself to get from the Marriott to La Guardia. I took two subways and one bus but didn't get lost or go the wrong way once! The US Airways people were very nice and helpful and I ended up switching planes all around. Next time I fly I'm going to try to fly with that airline again, it was a good experience. Even down to the flight attendant who got me a drink twice instead of the normal one time.
I had to take a flight to Norfolk where I just rented a car to get back up home. Robert is having a going away party but I have too much to do and we just hung out a few days ago since I wasn't expecting to be home in time for his party. Now I just have to get everything together for Jeremy's wedding tomorrow and start getting some work done!
It was a fun trip and well worth the time I missed at school.