Thursday: DAY 4

Part I: OPD.

Another good 8am-6pm workday. (OPD has been different from one of last year's trips in many respects.)

OPD has strongly emphasized the breadth of its confidentiality agreement, so I can’t discuss most of the things we actually do during the day.

That being said, it’s common knowledge that many people in need of public defenders are people of color who have been picked up for drug charges. Michelle Alexander's interesting article sees current drug laws as the modern Jim Crow:

If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African-American men in some urban areas have been labeled felons for life. (In the Chicago area, the figure is nearly 80 percent.) These men are part of a growing undercaste--not class, caste--permanently relegated, by law, to a second-class status. They can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits, much as their grandparents and great-grandparents were during the Jim Crow era.

Part II: Work ended; the night began.

30 seconds from the OPD office sits Sal’s. At 6pm, OPD hosted a happy hour thank-you for all of this week's interns.

We enjoyed drinks, pool, music, and a colorful owner. Sal owned a sports bar before Katrina hit, but he and his family left New Orleans after the storm flooded his restaurant. He moved back in 2006, starting fresh in a building next to the OPD office. Sal plans to revitalize the entire courthouse area—an ambitious goal, but feasible under Sal’s genuine character and hospitality.

We caught up with Georgetown at Pat O’Brien’s, a five-bar rumpus of 30-somethings, beads, and Hurricanes.

The drink on the right—the tsunami?—drew particular attention; it contains 64 shots of rum.

Evening highlights:

• That huge drink
• Dan’s remarkable ability to find our car, despite the serious impediments he faced
• Our OPD guide for the week, Benji, was on Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Goosebumps
• Learning that a women was not in fact Sal’s wife, but rather his 30-year-old daughter
• Dan’s remarkable ability to provide clear directions while I drove everyone home, despite the serious impediments he faced
• After humming the song "Brickhouse" earlier in the night, hearing two different live bands play it
• Paul Revere's midnight bride
  
• Earning beads from Kate

All In A Day's Work IV

Sal owns an amazing bar near the office. Sal likes brown liquor. Sal doesn't know what a vegan is. I like Sal.

All In A Day's Work III

Ben battles the building AC. On Monday, people are fainting from heat stroke. By Friday, the room is so cold everyone is shivering. Ben makes things happen.

All In A Day's Work II

Margaret fights injustice. Tom gets caught in the crossfire.

All In A Day's Work

Kate wears a mardi gras mask at work to make the clients feel more comfortable.

Day 2

Another exciting day at the Orleans Public Defenders. I unfortunately spent my morning doing data entry, so I was ready to make up for it in the afternoon. Luckily, our law clerk Benji had an assignment that allowed me and another volunteer to explore New Orleans (or at least the New Orleans projects). Margaret thankfully lent us her car (sorry, Margaret!) and we were off to the eastern edge of the city. After hours of searching, we headed back to the office since Margaret needed her car by 6:30 and probably would have killed me if I were late.

We then headed out to dinner at Squeal BBQ (yes, like a pig). The food was good, and we even discovered a species of dog-baby (looks like a dog, but mysteriously sounds like a baby). We tried to get a picture, but it left before we got a chance, so you'll have to take our word on it.

We next headed over to the Maple Leaf to hear the Rebirth Brass Band. We arrived around 9, grabbed some drinks, and sat down in a sketchy patio out back. We soon found out that the show would not start until 11 AND that we had to pay a $12 cover, but we decided that we were only in New Orleans for the week, so in true UVA style we paid the cover and stayed out. We discovered many things about each other while were waiting, including how most of us had at one time or another thought we were going to be eaten by bears while camping, as well as my famous Christopher Walken impression.

Finally, the band started, and it was LOUD. It was also crowded, a bit too crowded to be comfortable. The air was hot and sticky, and the guy behind me was practically beating me to death with the huge bag around his waist, but it was an exciting, genuinely New Orleans experience nonetheless.

Travel Super Power Update

Captain Dan revealed that he can read street signs from over a football field away. Unfortunately, this super power vision does not extend to cars quickly approaching from the right.

Flash to Tom: OH GOD!!!

Day 1, Part II

Post by Captain Dan:

The most interesting thing about training day had nothing to do with training, or our scheduled day.

By 6PM, everyone was tired and anxious to go home. We had spent a full day learning how to do things without actually getting to do them, and the mix of fatigue and boredom was staggering. As soon as our trainer mentioned that those who needed to leave could do so, the horde stood up and rushed the door.

Except for us.

The UVA squad stuck around wanting more. Along with a few kids from BU, we were the only folks who stuck around for further training. After a few minutes our trainer told us, "How about this, instead of practicing interviewing potential clients, we actually go over to the courthouse and do some actual interviews?" The evening-shift magistrate judge is particularly hostile toward the public defender's office, and we had all just learned how to help recently arrested detainees determine if they qualify for public defender representation, so he led us over to assist those who the judge rejected with filling out the appropriate forms.

When we got there we learned there were fewer first assignments than usual, so there were fewer people to help. (A first assignment is similar to what most states call an arraignment, where bail is set.) Only one of us got to actually speak to a client, but the observation of the courthouse was amazing and educational. And when I say "amazing and educational", what I mean is "really intensely terrifying", because we got to witness a judge exercising her power to basically shut down the public defenders as much as possible. She HATES the public defenders, it oozes from her voice. She yells at them, she shuts them down, she tells them it's not their turn to speak and then never gives them one, she sets bail for people at a third of a million dollars and then calls that "reasonable".

After the first assignments were over we stood in the hallway and spoke with a few of the law clerks and attorneys that work in the public defender's office about what had just happened in the court room. It's clear that in this city the deck is completely stacked against the arrested detainees and the public defenders who fight for them. Of course, that just convinces me that we're on the right side of the fight by being here. If we're not going to stand up for people caught in the system, who will?

Day 1, Part I

Things got off to an early start on Day 1 of Pro BoNOLA. Kate was so excited about her first day that she woke Peggy up a whole hour early. She tried to pretend that her clock just hadn't changed to Central Time yet, but everyone else knew the truth. On the way to work, the boys were led by expert navigator, Host Dan. The girls were not so lucky. Although they got a little lost, they held it together and made it to the office only a few minutes past 8am. Of course, they could have driven around for another hour since the training didn't start until well after 9. Other school groups trickled in throughout the first hour including groups from UGA, Georgetown, Hastings, BU & Duke (DUKE, DUKe, Duke, duke). By the time the training began, over 50 volunteers had gathered. And the madness began...

Parkway Bakery

The highlight of my day was going to Parkway Bakery, which was about 5 minutes from the OPD. I always do research on places to eat wherever I go because that is really the most important thing when traveling. A NOLA native had recommended Parkway, and I have been craving po'boy's since I got here! I had a classic "dressed" fried shrimp po'boy. Po'boy's are sandwiches on French bread, usually with fried seafood or roast beef, and then they're either dressed (lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickles) or undressed. Or maybe that's naked...I'm not sure. I will have to learn proper po'boy vocabulary before I leave. There was also a lot of alligator meat floating around...but I will let others comment on that...I felt like I ate a brick, and I only had a regular-sized po'boy. The large one was truly intimidating.

Welcome to NOLA!

After leaving Charlottesville at 6am EST, we arrived in New Orleans weary and full of Cracker Barrel around 9:30pm CST. The trip took us through six states, six tanks of gas, and approximately 1,000 "would you rather's." We learned that some participants had travel superpowers. For example, Kate has the uncanny ability to sense when she is about to enter a new state. Margaret has the power to know exactly how many miles it will be until the next rest stop. However, while some discovered their superpowers, others (Tom) discovered their kryptonite (the triangle game). Fortunately, the drive was otherwise uneventful and the group arrived safe and sound, ready for a week of work and play in NOLA.