Author Archives: Eileen

Election Night: A North Virginian Perspective, Comstock Dethroned

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I’m from Virginia’s 11th congressional district and as expected, the House incumbent and Senate incumbent, both Democrats, succeeded in the polls, not much to say there. Northern Virginia is rather blue area, or rather, a blue bubble. Not surprising. We even nicknamed ourselves NoVA, like we’re somehow a different state than the rest of Virginia. But what’s interesting is VA’s 10th district, the red speck in VA’s blue top corner for 60 years has finally gone blue. After this election, Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock will be replaced by Democrat, Jennifer Wexton. And the NoVA community definitely seemed pleased:

So what does this mean? Being one of the wealthiest districts in the state, the 10th district finally put their foot down on Comstock’s stances. The summary of her stances: pro-life, pro-guns, repealing of ACA, income tax decrease, military spending increase.

But I believe her downfall was her stance on net neutrality. People were quite infuriated when she took the stance against net neutrality. Given that the 10th district population is made of wealthy, college educated, degree-holding people. I don’t think taking away or restricting access to knowledge and information puts them in a good mood.

I think that this shows that voting does matter, and there are people, such as those in the 10th district, who were unhappy and wanted to change it.

*Of course, I’m no political scientist here, so what I speculate doesn’t hold much value. I’m open to criticism though. 🙂

The Different Degrees of Murder

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I never thought murder could be so subjective.

In the murder scene, we had Ripley and Dickie alone in a rowboat. Ripley confessed his love and got rejected, and out of anger hit Dickie with an oar causing Dickie a large laceration on his face. Ripley, then realizing what he had done, quickly apologized but it was too late, Dickie overwhelmed with anger, went after Ripley, locked him in a two-hand chokehold angrily screaming “I’m going to kill you.” Ripley then in fear, grabbed the oar and started hitting Dickie again until he stopped… and died.

There could have been 2 possibilities. 1) Self Defense 2)Manslaughter. Self-defense can be argued in that Ripley was defending himself from a deadly force ie Dickie choking him screaming “I’m going to kill you.” But I could argue that it was manslaughter because, after the choking when Ripley was in the midst of attacking Dickie, he could’ve stopped. Ripley was clearly in the dominant position during his attack as Dickie was already beaten into submission. But because Ripley was in such an emotional state of mind, he couldn’t think clearly and didn’t think to stop. It’s quite interesting how much nuance there can be to declaring what is “murder.”

LinkedIn: It’s Social Media, be Social!

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During our discussions with the GRF’s, I realized LinkedIn is a social network, so be social! You’re allowed to let some of your personality show. It’s fine to connect with someone you’ve never met, especially alumni. They actually wouldn’t mind a cold email or message. They’re happy to talk and connect with you. And I also learned that for business casual it can be anything from dresses, skirts, pants. It’s usually the blazer that transitions from business casual to business professional.

The professional headshot will especially be helpful for getting visibility on the site!

Pokemon GO… go to the polls

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Glen talked about how if voter turnout was higher it would actually favor the Democrats as Democrats usually outnumber Republicans. But why is there such a low turnout for Democrats compared to Republicans? Democrats tend to be of the younger generation. Yet they don’t seem to be excited in being part of the voting process. They’re apathetic. Maybe it’s because politicians don’t target the younger demographic… or they just do so miserably… Like Glen said, it’s ironic that the ones that are needed most, care the least.

Working on a team, what if someone’s not carrying their weight?

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My experience so far for teamwork is school assignments and my high school frisbee team. I think if you know you’ll be with the team for the long haul, it’s good to get to know each other and host events solely for the purpose of ice breaking. Though often for school assignments, we just cooperate because we have a common goal and that goal doesn’t necessarily involve making connections within the group, we’re just focused on getting things done. And I think if the group is for the short term you can get away with having certain few do the bulk work and having free riders. Teamwork is used to maximize efficiency and if a person can’t do their share, it’s just going to hinder progress. It’s better to have people specialize in what they do rather than divide into fair “equal” loads. Then in that case, yes it’d be important to get to know your teammates first like Christa said.

Who’s the Judge?

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I think Scott provided a really interesting perspective about morality in court. As an attorney, he’s not the one judges the defendant, the jury is. His purpose is to defend his client even if he/she may not be entirely innocent, he still had to trust his client’s words and defend them. I realized that it’s not his job to decide what’s right or wrong, that decision lies in the hands of the public. The jury, the everyday people, have a say in what’s right or wrong. And having the attorney judge who their client is, would be partial, as he is only one opinion and does not necessarily reflect what the nation believes in. That’s why it’s important to have your voice heard in this nation because it can be heard and it may change public opinion. I think that’s why Scott mentioned protesting, as it’s a way to get people’s voices and opinions heard that can potentially change our country.

 

Gonna get nerdy here. Listening to Scott reminded me of the Ace Attorney games where you play as a defense attorney and using your logic, you have to win these crazy, wildly absurd cases. It works through those themes like always trusting your client/seeking truth/never giving up etc. Through the game’s philosophy and antics I think this quote from the game may fit best for this discussion:

“The law is the end product of many years of history… the fruit of human knowledge! Like a gem, polished to a gleam through trials… and errors. It is this fruit we receive, and pass on, and face in our time. And it is always changing, growing. Nurturing it is our task as human beings” (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney).