Category: Law

Posted in Fiber, Law, Photography, Quilts

30

Posted on by debthumanblog

When I was in college majoring in journalism, -30- meant the end of the article, story, commercial. That’s not exactly what the 30 at the top of this post means. February 14, 1994, I was admitted to practice law in New York State. I had graduated from law school in May 1993, took the bar exam July 1993, got the results the day before Thanksgiving, and finally got admitted to practice more than two months later.

What has happened in the last 30 years? I ran my own law practice and practiced law not knowing what I was doing. I did it anyway. I got admitted to practice in Federal District Court in 1996. In 1997, I appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States and was admitted to practice. I figured if any of my cases went up to the Supreme Court, I wanted to go with them. Later that year, I did my first felony trial and won. It was one of the cases that came out of The Trooper and Indian War where the governor declared a tax war on the Native American tribes. I moved 2000 miles across the country in 1999 to work for the New Mexico Public Defender Department and retired 16 years later. During the last 30 years, I’ve done more than 120 trials, handled at least a dozen appeals. Argued before the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division twice. Argued before the New Mexico Supreme Court three times. I’ve represented kids and adults; misdemeanors and felonies; custody and visitation. Twice, I had cases that had the potential to be death penalty cases. On February 14, 2024, I surprised myself when I said I had been a pretty good criminal defense attorney. Past tense. Except I’m not ready to quit.

I have a Spoonflower shop here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman and I’ve got collections for Judiac, Irish Chain variations, Log Cabin variations, Panels and Whole Cloth. The panels and whole cloth are single yards of fabric with the design in the middle of the piece of fabric. Great for when you want something quilted but don’t want to make a pieced quilt. There’s also designs for yardage. Spoonflower will make linens and pillows using my designs.

Those are some of the panels/whole cloth designs. I used Text Mask along with a manipulated photo – these were done using a winter scene – and chose dingbats rather than a traditional font. Some of those dingbats are fascinating.

My store, Deb Thuman Art is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

I’m linking with Finished Or Not Friday here: https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com

Posted in Law, words, Writing A Novel

Never Flush A Condom If You Have A Septic Tank.

Posted on by debthumanblog

It took me seven years to finish writing my first novel, Don’t Flush The Condom. Finding an agent is hard. I can’t figure out what genera would contain this story. Creative non-fiction? The story is based on my real life. Fiction? Okay, but for whom? It’s definitely not chick lit or a rom com. It’s not action filled. It’s not a mystery. It’s not fantasy or science fiction.  Cross genera is about the best I can do picking a label. Writers have to match their work with agents who represent writers who are in the same genera. There’s no genera named: Damned If I Know What Genera This Is.

Putting 43,000+ words into one sentence that will make an agent want to read my work is harder than writing the novel. One of my writing teachers said the goal of writing a novel is to get it written not to get it published. Fine for him, but I want my work published. I have something to say, and people need to hear it.

The story is about a Jewish, bipolar, widowed criminal defense attorney who is in love with a police officer. She’s Wonder Woman with insecurities working for an unnamed law firm and is supervised by an unnamed, inept supervisor. Her neighbor is shot and killed by police and one of her homeless clients is murdered. The story takes place in a fictional town in New Mexico. Included is a nearly verbatim recitation of what happened when I crashed my mother’s funeral. There’s also an explanation about why I can’t get through airport security without getting manually searched. I left out the part about how I deal with TSA. If I’m going to be felt up, I’m going to give the person something to feel. I never wear a bra when I fly.

Soon after I finished the first novel, I started writing the second novel. The first novel contains bits and pieces of my life as a criminal defense attorney. The second novel will likely be about the mental health toll working for a public defender department takes. I wanted it to be about the female character proposing marriage to the male character while dancing on the bottom of the earth, but that story can’t be written. I haven’t yet visited the South Pole – somewhere I badly want to go. I want to dance on the bottom of the earth at the geographic South Pole.

I’m extremely careful not to mention the name of the law firm where the female character works because I don’t want to get sued. The public defender department is top heavy with vindictive, petty, incompetent managers.

A bit of irony. Eventually, I managed to piss off just about every manager I dealt with. One day, I put up a major fight for a client. He had a sex offense conviction from California and the prosecutor wanted to convict my client of not registering as a sex offender. The pertinent statue, Molest or Annoy a Child, is so vague that if you make your child eat broccoli you can be convicted and have to register as a sex offender. I lost. I filed an appeal. I won. The prosecutor filed an appeal. The NM Supreme Court decided in my favor but had to toss in a number of hoops through which prosecutors have to jump. Said hoops are based on the rationale I used in the original appeal. Eventually, a manager who I happily pissed off used my case to further his career. Except his career went nowhere. As a friend says, he was kissed by karma.

Posted in Law, Sewing

50 Years

Posted on by debthumanblog

Fifty years. A half century. Almost an eternity. The time went fast.

Fifty years ago, Hurricane Agnes roared up the east coast wiping out crops and caused major flooding. At the time, we lived in South Carolina. As I recall, it rained one afternoon, and that was all we got from Agnes.

Fifty years ago, Ms. Magazine came into being. It was a wonderful magazine that didn’t try to shove June Cleaver down my throat. Instead of recipes using boxed mixes, I read about the dalkon shield – an IUD that was taken off the market because it was unsafe. Of course, a few thousand woman had to have their uteruses perforated before the dalkon shield came off the US market. Leftover stock got dumped on Third World countries. “Let George do it!” Let George be in charge of contraception.

Fifty years ago, burglars broke into the Democratic Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. The purpose? To screw with the Democrats so Nixon could be re-elected. Two young reporters at the Washington Post, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, brought down a president by telling the truth about evil in the White House.

Fifty years ago, Nixon signed Title IX into law. People think Title IX is about athletics. It is, but that’s not all it’s about.

“No person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” 

No mention of athletics. It would take another 18 years before the University at Buffalo School of Law had a class that was 50% women. I was in that class.

Fifty years ago, I got married. I’m still married. To the same guy.

I’ve been working on designs for my Spoonflower shop. Today, I sent off 126 designs to have proofs made. A few days ago, I got back a set of proofs, and I’m working on putting 84 new designs in my Spoonflower shop. These are some of the new designs I’ve been working on.

I think I’ve found a use for all that fabric with proofs on them. Forty-two designs on one yard of fabric. I need to make myself shorts. I also need to make boxers for Jim. The last time I counted, I had 12 yards of proofs.

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman

My store, Deb Thuman Art, is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

Posted in Law

When I appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States…..

Posted on by debthumanblog

It’s amazing how childhood hurts last a lifetime. When I got accepted into law school, I decided getting into law school wasn’t such a big deal. They let me in, so it can’t be a big deal. 

“When I appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States….” When I say that, people’s jaws drop. People are amazed. Stunned. They let me in so it can’t be a big deal. Why is everyone so impressed? When I took an adult religious education class and mentioned I was going to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States, the rabbi was astounded. I remember thinking that a rabbi who didn’t know me was impressed and my siblings and my mother wouldn’t have thought it was a big deal. If I did it, it couldn’t be a big deal. If I did it, it wasn’t worth noticing. 

It was a big deal. I got accepted in to a law school that rejects 90% of the people who apply. Appearing before the Supreme Court of the United States is a big deal. I appeared to be admitted to practice before the Supreme Court. For the rest of my legal life, I can go into the Supreme Court any time I want and listen to arguments. I never have arrive before dawn to stand in a line and be allowed to spend three minutes in the courtroom. For the rest of my legal life, I can use the law library at the Supreme Court. The library is an ode to wood. Raised panels everywhere. Rows and rows and rows of raised panels and books. Any time I want, I can go in the library, sit down and do research. I can eat in the cafeteria whenever I’m at the Supreme Court. 

It’s a big deal. 

When I appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States, I learned that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the heart of the court. As long as she was on the bench, I knew my voice would be heard. Who will hear us now? The loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg hurts more than the loss of Thurgood Marshall and that hurt more than the loss of JFK. 

It took 244 years before a woman lay in state in this country. Let’s make a big deal out of Ruth Bader Ginsburg being a Jewish American because being a Presbyterian American is no big deal. Let’s replace the heart of the court with a Religious Bigot American. 

It’s a big deal.