UW Regent Stan Barer Pledges $4 Million to UW School of Law

The University of Washington School of Law has received a $4 million pledge from UW Regent Stanley Barer '63 and his wife, Alta, to create the Barer Institute for Law and Global Human Services.

College Alumni Magazines Struggle to Compete With Facebook

New York Times
By CATE DOTY
Published: June 2, 2008

Most people read their college alumni magazines for the class notes, immediately flipping to the back to see who was married, had a baby or was promoted to an envy-inducing job. The columns tend to be meatiest at this time of year — class reunion season.

The advent of social networking on the Internet has created a quandary for these magazines, which want to maintain a conversation with alumni but have been slow to embrace the Web. Most schools have set up password-protected sites where graduates can change their contact information, drop a class note or donate money.

But younger alumni, accustomed to second-by-second updates from friends and classmates, are exchanging information in real time on Facebook and MySpace. Why wait for your alma mater to churn out a quarterly journal when you can Twitter all day?

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(Comment: Well, because those of us who work in advancement offices at universities and colleges still have to reach out to our older alumni. Multi-platform communication is no longer a luxury...in today's world, it is a necessity.)

UW School of Law hosts conference in honor of Norm Maleng

The UW School of Law will host a day-long conference on Friday, May 30, 2008 titled "The Prosecutorial Ethic" as a tribute to the late King County Prosecutor and law school alumnus Norm Maleng in Room 138 of William H. Gates Hall on the UW campus. Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago), and former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington John McKay will speak about high profile cases at the event.

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Couple Frantic to Find Loved Ones in Rubble

Very rarely do I cry when I listen to the radio anymore, but Melissa's Block's story, Couple Frantic to Find Loved Ones in Rubble, certainly made for an emotional commute home.

UW School of Law Announces 2008 Gates Scholars

The UW School of Law is proud to announce the five recipients of the Gates PSL Scholarship for 2008-09: Wyatt Golding, Lillian Hewko, Nicholas Marritz, Miranda Strong, and Rebecca Watson. All three law school class years at the University of Washington will have a complement of Gates Scholars when these students arrive on campus next fall.

Gates PSL Scholars have the opportunity to attend the UW School of Law and then pursue public interest law without the burden of educational debt. The scholarship program covers all cost of tuition, books, room and board and incidental expenses during law school. In exchange, students dedicate five years to public service law practice.

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UW School of Law to Honor Outstanding Alumn

The UW School of Law will honor four alumni at the 2008 Alumni Recognition Banquet on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle:
Chief Justice Gerry Alexander '64,
Professor Marjorie Rombauer '60,
Judge William Downing '78, and
J.H. Jerry Zhu, LL.M. '82.
The awards are bestowed by the Law School Alumni Association.
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Bush makes big sacrifice...he gives up (gasp) golf!

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he quit playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of Americans killed in the war in Iraq. Oh my God - how courageous of him! I think I'll sacrifice my monthly pedicure out of respect, too! Oh, wait, I don't get pedicures and that wouldn't really fit into the definition of sacrifice, anyway.

PR blunder: Russert's Dad is NOT Dead

Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton's campaign director, tells Tim Russert that Russert's dad is dead. Thing is, he's still alive. Yikes!

Just get it over with, already!

Reading the result from last night's primaries. Just really wishing one candidate would concede (Clinton!) and run as VP. At this rate, we might as well hand McCain the keys to the White House today and save ourselves the heartache that's bound to come in November.

Austria & Texas - we haven't come very far

Reading the very disturbing stories about the FLDS ranch in Texas and the just posted story from Austria, am troubled that we still haven't come very far. Women and children are abused and subjected to the most humiliating circumstances around the world. Too often the abusers either go unpunished or are able to commit these horrible acts undetected for far too long.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also happens to be unfortunately true that often it takes a village to destroy a child or a family by turning a deaf ear and blind eye.

No one said it would be easy...

...but no one said it'd be this hard! Just got Calvin registered for Kindergarten after a year of stressful sleepless nights and handfuls or grey or lost hair. My God, it's got to be as crazy as selecting a college used to be! I spent months poring over data, talking to parents, prinicpals, teachers, etc. For KINDERGARTEN. I guess a box of crayons and a bottle of glue are just not enough anymore. I've officially joined the "helicopter" child-obsessed, over-involved cadre of parents.

Anyway, all of that angst was for naught - turns out the school we dreaded sending him to (our assigned school) is underperforming under No Child Left Behind. Through something the school district called AYP, he can go to the next nearest school...the school we had already applied for a variance for! (This may be the one and only positive result of NCLB.) What this means for us is that this is our assigned school and Natalie will go there as well (w/out applying for a variance). What this means for our community is that the socioeconomic gap keeps widening.

Even social networking sites are class-ist

Dear God, the rich and "famous" have their own social networking site. Heaven forbid they rub elbows with the lowly peasant commoners who pollute the cyberworld. A message to the Uber Affluent: there are more of us than you think!

In memory of Annie

Our sweet kitty, Annie, died last night. She was with me/us for 14 years. Thankfully, I can be totally honest when I tell the kids she died in her sleep. This is the first time I've handled the death of a pet as "the mom" (this is where I am in total awe of my own mother). What do you do with a dead cat? Growing up in the country, I had my own "pet cemetary" (which included some chickens raised by hand that I refused to let my father put on the dinner table). But in the city, I had this nightmare that, if we buried her in the backyard, we would wake up to pieces of her strewn across the yard from raccoons, rats, etc. When in doubt, call the vet! Dr. Zastrow is awesome and her office handled the whole thing (cremation) with dignity. Her staff were super to the kids. And, speaking of kids, it's amazing how this process was much more, well, I think complete is the right word. It's wasn't any less sad or easy, but talking through with the kids and going through the process w/them helped me take it a lot better than I expected.

I expect to be sad for a few weeks. Here's some pics of Annie that show her funny personality:

Pondering Daylight Savings Time

Here's my most recent article in the King County Bar Bulletin, Daylight Saving Time: A Way To Save Lives.

Lord Hills: 1.8 miles

The two youngest Tomsics have shown interest in hiking - and Mom is ecstatic!

Our "Year in Review" Video

Click here to watch "The Tomsic-Ireton Family in 2007". You'll be glad you did.

Jury Duty and blogging

Just received summons for jury duty the same day I listened to the following story:

Jury Blogging
Lake Effect contributor Anne Reed talks with Jane Hampden about the new phenomenon of blogging jurors. Reed is a trial lawyer and jury consultant in Milwaukee. She’s a shareholder at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, SC, where she represents business clients in litigation and assists lawyers preparing for trial through Reinhart's Trial Science Institute. She writes about juries and jury trials at her blog, Deliberations, and at the Wisconsin Law Journal.

Hmmm...should I leave my laptop at home?

My latest story

Here's my latest story in the King County Bar Bulletin: UW Clinic Students Making a Difference. Has lots of errors and I assume something happened between the print and on-line edition...I mean, I NEVER mispel wurds :-)

Unconditional Love

This week's American Life story, Unconditional Love , was amazing and heartwarming. It certainly gives perspective to any parent who thinks they've either got it figured out (they don't) or who's in the worst situation (they're not). Take an hour out of your day to listen - it's worth it.

Everett Chorale - a review of the Spring Concert

Replacement singer shines in Chorale finale