LO 11 Baby Love!!

On behalf of LO 11, I would like to proudly announce the birth of Vanessa St. Leger and her boyfriend Patrick's baby girl!!! Kayla Michele was born on October 2, 2007 at 9:28a, 7lbs 11oz, 19.5in. We are so excited for you both and can't wait to meet your beautiful daughter!!

Tomorrow's Class Info

As you all know, this week’s advocacy exercise will call for you to advocate from your client’s perspective, during a Legislative hearing. During the exercise, I will not be acting as your LF, but as an elected official—in a public hearing--fulfilling her duties on the Joint Committee on Health Care and Human Services. As an elected official, expect me to be fully versed with your written testimony, and interested in asking probing questions. You will be expected to adhere to a strict timeline, and also answer any questions I may have.

Please note that the hearing will begin promptly once class has begun, thus it is imperative that you come to class prepared to represent your organization’s perspective. Also, the LF’s expect that you all will have various questions about the upcoming transitional assignment. During this upcoming class, time will be set aside to address your questions.

See you all tomorrow!
Emily

Helpful Links for Advocacy Exercise

(This announcement can also be found on our LO11 Blackboard under Announcements)

The following links will be helpful to prepare for Thursday's exercise:

Sunday Globe Article on Adoption Changes
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/23/choices_of_the_heart?p1=email_to_a_friend

This link relates to an adoption bill in Arkansas. The bill attempted to restrict homosexuals from adopting or fostering children. A testimony from a judge against the bill was taped:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2Q-V1podO10

Group Assignments for the Legislative Hearing Assignment

Charlie, Mike, Vanessa, Erin -
Voices for America's Children - (www.voicesforamericaschildren.org)

Jen, Sarah, Kevin -
Our Bodies Ourselves (www.ourbodiesourselves.org)

Dave, Brandon, Rachel, Sam -
The National Council for Adoption (www.ncfa-usa.org)

Audrey, Tenzin, Kryssie -
The Adoption Network, Inc (www.adoptionnetwork.com)

Extensive instructions are on pp. 208-212 of the green coursepack. Your 1-2 page typed summary of the major points you will address at the hearing needs to be posted to Blackboard by Monday, October 1, 8:00p. Please post them on our LO 11 Blackboard, under "Discussion Board," "Adoption Legislative Hearing Posts." Thanks!!

Examples of testimony: http://ctnonprofits.org/pages/legislature/testimony.asp

Additional Adoption Links

Here are some links to sample adoption forms found on the web. It is pretty amazing the choices that are given to adoptive parents. Definitely worth the few minutes to check them out.

Alberta Children's Services
Adoptive Home
Foster/Adoption Application

Baby Pool!!

I finally have Vanessa's baby pool up and running. Place your bets as soon as you can...her due date is right around the corner. The information that we know as of now -- Due Date: Oct. 8, Gender: Female, Name: Kayla Michele.

It is $5 per person, per entry and we'll collect the money in class next week and the week after. (No pressure Vanessa, but my bet is that you'll have Kayla on the 7th, so think early! :) )

Online baby pool: http://bebepool.com/emilyrenshaw

Third Reflection

Hope you all had a great weekend! I know you're all swamped with work, so I wanted to post a reminder that your third reflection assignment is due this Tuesday, by 8:00p. There is a thread to reply to on our LO11 Blackboard discussion board. See you on Thursday!

Bar Review this Thursday!

This week's bar review is going to be at Pour House, on Boylston St. http://www.pourhouseboston.com/. Bar review officially starts at 5:30p. There will be $2 NUSL shots (not sure what they will be), free wings, free chips and salsa, and 1/2 off Mexican food all night. Pour House is easily walkable from school -- located right across from Hynes Convention Center. I'll be heading there after class, so feel free to walk with me if you're not sure where it is (or if you just want to spend more quality time with me :) ).

Role Assignments for Thurs. Class

In addition to the email I sent out this afternoon, I thought I'd post the role assignments for tomorrow's class here, in case you check this first. Please see the email for more detail. See you tomorrow and WHO'S BRINGING TREATS??

The Organ Trade – Role Playing Exercise

* Alberty/Alberta Jose da Silva (primary organ seller) – played by the Tenzin & Kryssie

* “Middle man/Middle woman” (facilitating sale) – played by Dave & Audrey

* Brooklyn woman (kidney purchaser) – played by Jennifer & Vanessa

* Alexander M. Capron (Director of Ethics, WHO) – played by Michael

* Health Ministry Representatives from Israel – played by Sarah

* S. African physician performing procedure– played by Erin

* Mr. Peri (ringleader of organ trade) – played by Brandon & Sam

* Orley de Santana (26-year-old laborer, organ seller) – played by Charlie

* Jose Carlos da Conceicao da Silva (other organ seller) – played by Kevin

* Rogerio Bezerra da Silva (other organ seller) – played by Rachel

Free Hornbooks and Study Guides!

Just found out that the ASP office (located right outside of the locker room) has horn books and other commercial outlines that you can sign out for ten days at a time. These are old, torn up copies either - they have some of the newest materials. Wish I would have known about this last year!