#after more than two years; a marriage; two babies; and a court trial that proved those were false rumours from a male antifan;

[heartcravings]

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[lady-olive-oil]

Work Out: Chapter 8

A/N: FINALLY!!!! Good lord it took me 2 months to finish this chapter because if how long I wanted it ti be but hey it’s done!! I want to thank my tribe for helping me out with this and everything and you guys! My readers mean the world to me for all the love and support. As my Christmas gift to y’all, after 3,000 years later, here’s Chapter 8 of Work Out!!!!

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Warnings: Slightly dirty if ya squint, and tear jerky

Word count: 3,934

Tag Squad: @maddiestundentwritergaines​ | @themyscxiras​ | @designerwriterchic​ | @dc41896​ | @honeychicana​ | @crushed-pink-petals​ | @chaneajoyyy​ | @titty-teetee​ | @ljstraightnochaser​ | @mimigemrose​ | @fumbling-fanfics​ | @madamslayyy​ | @amelatonin​ | @screamingdrago​ | @breddiefrooks​ | @ellixthea​ | @uranoscope​

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Tuesday: (3 weeks later)

It had been some time but I finally managed to get through my classes; just needed to take my biology final to officially finish class. And speaking of one ending, the day I’d been longing for had finally come. The day I would finally be free. Mostly of my burdens; my insecurities, my sorrows and the never ending pain in my ass.

As I looked in the mirror to finally put the final touches on my outfit, I felt more confident than I ever have. This year really showed my strengths and weaknesses, and how I want to grow further into my life as an independent woman.

“Soon as I get home, I’ll make it up to you, baby I’ll do what I gotta do.” Using the bathroom acoustics to my advantage, I centered myself singing that verse as a reminder of the happiness I currently had, which immediately put me in a positive mindset. The pinstripe, black and white jumpsuit, made a statement more than anything. It was saying “I may be short but I’m fashionable.”

“Florian! You getting ready yet babe?” Finishing my last curl, I fluffed it all out and decided to pull it into a low curly ponytail.

“Almost draga. All I’m wearing is a nice black dress shirt, slacks and those dress shoes you bought me for my birthday.”

Taking a glance at him, with a wolf whistle in tow, I was impressed. “Damn baby, you look good as hell.”

“Oh stop, I only look good when I’m next to you.”

“Boy, you do that on your own.” Applying my red lipstick, I winked at my reflection ready to turn heads and drop jaws.

“Ready to be free of his bullshit?” He offers his hand to me to hold, and I took it with pride.

“Baby, was born ready.”

The whole process was very tedious. It took a full year for this settlement to go through with the constant changes of his demands; my demands, who’s going to get what at the end of it all and how much money each of us get. Luckily have a great lawyers and support system with me, that kept me level headed through all of this. My dad knew how much of a gutter rat Jake could be, so he took over my case with open arms.

Jake’s lawyer was a high siddity blonde with a bad nose job. Needless to say she was one of the best according to my dad, because he’s heard that a few of his associates have trials against her. Georgia Augustine was her name, making men break character was her game. All I know is Mandy recommended her to him and we all know how that went down. Just sitting across from him made my stomach churn in disgust, with his dumbass face of his. With Florian by my side, I knew I was going to be ok and yet I had an inkling that Jake would try something.

“Now Miss Shaw, is it?” Georgia began, pushing up her glasses, and gave me a look that was irritable. As if she wanted to leave my presence, as to say I was the one irritating her. “It seems as though my client has a few demands as to how this divorce should go.”

“As does mine, Ms. Augustine.” Once my father stepped in, it was go time and he meant business. “My client came into the marriage with her own income from her business, which accumulated sales on it’s own. Your client asked her for support for a child that may not even be his.”

The look on both of their faces was priceless. It seems that his lawyer didn’t know about the little meeting we had a while back. How did my dad know that the baby Mandy had wasn’t Jake’s? Lets just say I have eyes and ears in high and low places. To the point where anything that goes on in the WWE, I will be informed one way or another even though I don’t work there anymore.

“As that is legible, my client doesn’t understand why he was in the wrong for asking her alimony to help raise the child. Regardless if the child is his or not.” Georgia was not backing down from the given statement and it made my stomach churn.

The day he asked me for money for the child, I wanted to ring his neck so hard to make his dumbass pass out. But nonetheless, I made sure I kept it calm cool and collected. My dad proceeded with the rest of my demands.

“Well, your client violated the first court order that my client issued at the first hearing. He wasn’t supposed to ask my client for any form of payment for anything, while he did and forgot the agreement.”

I’m elated I went with my gut to have my dad as my lawyer because he's hitting all the points and not letting Jake breath.

My dad smirked in triumphant. “With that being said, let’s go talk to the judge and reach the final verdict.”

Well gathered in the hallway to await our case being called to have this all be over with.

“You won’t win, Geneva. You won't have anything left by the time I’m done with you.” Jake spoke with venom in his voice as his teeth clenched like a piranha. Florian places himself in between us and sneered down at him.

“They one thing preventing me from beating your ass into the ground right now, is the fact that we’re in a court house. Watch what you say to my lady.”

“Or what? You gonna punch me again?”

This time Florian was ya eye level with him. “I’m going to do far worse than that to you.”

“Case number 7861090, proceed.” As the bailiff called out to us, my nerves vanished and I put on a brave face to get this over with.

Walking into the room, it was quiet and serene making it all better to focus. What seemed like hours, were a mere few minutes. The judge had granted our divorce legal and we could live on for the world to see, as two separate individuals. Jake gave me one last annoyed look before leaving with his lawyer.

The tears racked through my body as Florian and I walked out of the courthouse. He held me close to his warm body, letting me release my tears of triumph. I was finally free, and I felt liberated.

“It’s all over Geneva. It’s all over, you’re safe now love. You’ve got me.” His reassuring voice soothed my tears.

Leaning up on my toes, in my red bottoms, I kissed him gently, pouring out every ounce of love I had for him into this one kiss. Once he kissed me back, my whole body froze and shivered in delight.

Once the kiss broke, I rested my head on his. “And you have me. Let’s go home, I could use a nap after all this.”

“We can after I take you to lunch. You have earned it my love.” Kissing my head, I smiled gently and gave him a nod.

“Lunch then a nap. I'm pretty sure I’ll be up studying till midnight then go back at it tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan. Almost done baby girl, almost done.”

My support system was always there, It was just what I needed to come back down the earth. Now it’s time to crush the rest of the week.

Wednesday Night:

Don’t ever procrastinate when studying to take exams or major tests. Because that’s what I’m doing right now and it’s not helping. Trying to remember the names of the bones in the human body, is harder than I thought.

“There's tibia, the femur and uh shit why can’t I get this?” Groaning in agony and frustration, I gripped my head. The intense pressure of everything piling up at once, caused me to study the night before.

My exam was tomorrow morning, bright and early at 9 am, in a cold ass room full of 30 plus students. This is the last test I have to take to be a certified personal trainer and I couldn’t be more nervous.

“Patella, calcaneus, cuboid and fibula. You got this G, just focus. Now in the upper body it’s the humerus; occipital bone, sternum, scapula, hyoid bone, clavicle and the ethmoid bone.”

I could sense another presence in the room, not taking my focus off the millions of notecards places in front of me. “If you plan on helping me studying Munteanu, then I’d suggest you walk on your cuboid and your metatarsal, and sit on your firm as down.”

“There isn’t a scientific name for ass?” I could hear his smile in his statement.

“Nah. If there was id say it a lot, trust me. What’s up with you? Why aren’t you getting ready for your night out with the boys?” Arching a brow, I bit into a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich.

“I decides not to go. Told the boys I wanted to help my wonderful lady, who is studying for her exam.”

“Flo, you didn’t have to do that. I honestly would’ve done fine by myself.”

Grabbing my flash cards, sitting on the couch behind me, Florian cleared his throat as he began giving me the definition of the words.

“I want to help my lady, be more successful than she already is. Besides, you’re getting this degree and we’re all going to celebrate. For each one you get right, you get a kiss in the place of my choice. Are you ready?”

I nodded in triumph, with a sweet blush, and anxiousness. This went on for the next 2-3 hours, filled with dirty and sweet kisses left and right until Florian got a little handsy and had me straddle his lap.

“F-Florian. Baby- oh my god. Ok I gotta study.” The noise I made was a combination of a giggle and a heated moan.

“Nuh uh. You’ve studied long enough, and it’s time for a more physical test.” His lips ghosted across my neck, causing shivers to rack through my body.

“More physical test? Bring it on baby.” My voice betrayed me once again, as I felt his lips trailing down my torso.

“Oh I plan to.” The wicked smirk etched on his face only proved that I would be in a whole lot of pain soon.

And sweet delicious pain it was.

Thursday: test day

Seconds turned to minutes; minutes turned to hours and hours turned into built up anxiousness. Anybody that knows me, knows I hate the waiting game and his tedious it is.

It was around 6pm the very same day, laptop on my lap, my left leg was shaking and my nerves were shot. Florian was playing Mortal Kombat 12, next to me, with Michael through his headset.

“Baby girl, it'll all be alright. You’ll receive good news.” During the break, he kissed my head reassuring me.

“You and me both, tell Mike I said hi. I’m gonna get some snacks.” Heading towards the kitchen, I practiced my breathing.

All my years of working and going to school, trying to provide for myself, I couldn’t help but think about how much my life will change. After I get a better more stable paying job once I graduate, my life will go back on track.

I grabbed a bowl of fruit I had sliced earlier, from the fridge, then felt something was off. Reaching for my phone buzzing in my back pocket, I saw a notification stating ‘Final grades posted. Congrats to everyone!’ As the label.

The nerves got the best of me. As I quickly opened the update: gasped out loud and screamed joyously!

“Uh babe..” I called out the Florian.

“Yeah?”

“I passed my test.” I ran toward the living room, forgetting about the fruit bowl on the counter, and showed him my phone. “I passed my tests.”

“Hold on Mike. My baby girl is official!” He actually paused the game to hug and console me.

“I’m so proud of you.”

I couldn't help but cry against his shoulder.

“Thank you. Thank you for believing in me.”

“I knew you could do it. We should celebrate.”

“How about dinner with the crew? I could use the company after studying the last few weeks and dealing with this divorce.” Sniffling gently I heard Mike yelling over the mic through Florian’s headset.

“Invite me too, cuz!”

Picking up the headset I answered him back. “You already know Mike. Let’s go call the boys, Flo.”

“Sounds good. Luckily Sandro and Masias are still in town.”

“Thank you my love.”

Friday Night: Family and Friends Bonding Dinner

Food, fun and laughter. All the special ingredients to bring a family together, to increase a bond and make the stress go away.

Even though my parents had already met Florian’s, it was as if they met for the first time whenever they were around each other. If they were in town, of course that’s when I knew Florian would be with his folks for a bit, since whenever I had work to do.

Earlier today, Florian and I managed to finish writing the last few verses on 2 songs I was putting on my album, that’s coming up. This album is my gift to my daughter and how I want my legacy to skyrocket from here alone. Worth the help of my tribe I knew it would be a hit.

The kitchen reminded me of my childhood times. My mother had made her signature dish, roasted garlic chicken and potatoes. Enough to feed an army, but in this case about nearly 20 people in her dining room. One by one they all shared something they loved and how proud they are of me. Florian’s parents, along with my own, made me tear up the most.

“My sweet Genevieve.” My dad began with a tender smile. I was always a daddy’s girl even though I was close to both parents, the bond I have with my dad is like no other. “We all have watched you grow into the successful woman you are today. We are so very proud of you and know you’re going to do great things in the future.”

Smiling as best as I could, I nodded and sniffled.

Then it was my mother’s turn to speak. “We all know how hard you’ve been working so, your father and I episode like to send you and Florian on a trip wherever you’d like to go.”

“Wait seriously?” I was dumbfounded and in shock.

“Yes seriously. Think of it as a graduation trip, you’ve earned it and we’re so proud of you.” With that I hugged both my parents tightly, with so much love and joy.

Once it was all said and done, I knew I had to give a speech. Even though I am not the best at public speaking, I had to give it my best. I tried to dry my crocodile tears as best as I could, but to no avail they came back with a force.

“This dinner means a lot to me.” I began as I stood to make a toast with all those around me. “It’s been a journey and I’m so blessed to have you all around me, as an encouraging force in my life.”

I let the tears fall, hearing my tribe of loving people around me try to console me, I felt the love and acceptance. Florian had reached for my hand, caressing the back of it with his thumb.

“I just appreciate you all so much, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to have in my life. Salude.” Raising my wine glass to toast to them all.

Cynthia, Destiny, John and Ryan were also a little teary eyed when it came to my speech. They have been there for me through it all, and have never made me question their loyalty.

“Congratulations Geneva. You’re gonna do amazing things.” Florca and my mother both had placed a sweet kiss upon my cheeks, reminding me that I had a great foundation.

Florian‘s infamous smile made me full all warm inside, as he gestured to the group. “Now, let’s eat!”

I knew this was the man I was going to marry someday. It was only a matter of time before our new lives started. I was ready to begin a new life with him.

Saturday: Remembrance

July, 12th, 2017, was the day I lost my new light in the world. I never felt so much pain and agony in my life, that I have vowed from that day forward I would love and cherish any child I have. A few times in the past couple of years, mainly around her birthday and Christmas, I come to her grave sight and place daffodils down upon the base of the headstone.

“Hi Delaney, It’s mommy. Um..” I sniffled gently, trying to hold it together as I touched the letters on the dark grey stone. Florian was right there next to me, kneeling down. He has been the only man I’ve brought to see my daughter, I don’t trust anyone else but him.

“I brought you, your flowers for the month you would’ve been born and a new friend.”

I looked at Florian, nodding gently for him to go ahead, he placed the red and yellow flowers next to mine.

“Delaney Marie Shaw. Words can not express how much you mean to me even though I never got to officially meet you. The way your mother speaks so highly of you is amazing and I know you’d be proud of her at such a young age.”

The love Florian has for me is unmatched. Whether I’m upset or feeling down, he manages it to make the moment better. He single handedly knows how to turn any moment a grand one, and I am the one who is truly blessed.

Gently rubbing the stone, I sighed with a sniffle. “You know, you’re the greatest moment I have ever had in my life. When I met Florian my whole life changed and I knew he’d be there to take care of me, when I needed to move on from your father.”

“Every now and then, I look up at the stars and ask for advice. I keep you close to my heart, my precious baby girl. I love you forever and always.”

Helping me stand back up again, Florian kisses my cheek softly and hugged me close. “I want to thank you for giving me the honor to do this with you.”

“You’re more than welcome Florian. I couldn’t have thought of anyone better to do this with.”

“I will never leave you my love. My promise to Delaney is to never let you fall.” Before heading to the car, I glanced back at the headstone one last time, smiling with peaceful reassurance.

“I think she’d like that. She’d like that very much my love. Now let’s go home and get warmed up with some chili.”

Sunday: Graduation Day

The day has finally come. My bachelors and doctoral degrees finally become mine and mine alone. All these years of finally having something of my own, it doesn’t even seem real yet it is.

After taking pictures with everyone in my cap and gown; having rehearsals for 2 ½ hours and practicing how I was going to walk, I was running my speech through my head. You see, I was one of the few to do a farewell speech seeing as though I am one of 300 students graduating to it. There was about 3 of us giving one: welcome speech, intro speech for our speakers and farewell.

“You’re gonna do great sis. Everyone knows you will do wonderful.” I kept reassuring myself as I sat on the stage, looking over the crowd of so many warm faces full of love for their loved one's.

One by one everyone’s name was called to receive their case that holds their diploma, cause everyone knows we don’t actually get the diploma till it comes in the mail. As soon as it was my turn, I felt the nerves kick in as I shook hands with the dean and the faculty of the school.

“Genevieve Leona Shaw.” My name was announced by dean McIntosh, and I knew which section my family was in, cheering me on like a raging fire. He gave me the ok to deliver my speech after the president of the school had spoken.

“I could not believe we finally made it here, you guys.” I began my speech, wiping my tears that fell from my eyes. Seeing all my classmates, that were in my nursing program, in the front row with our matching caps that said ‘eaRNed It’ in various decorations.

“These last few years have been amazing and heartwarming. I couldn’t believe after all our hard work and determination, we made it to this day. Graduation day, our day.” I found my family, smiling at me with so much love and admiration. I knew I would be just fine with this new venture in my life going forward.

“Now without further ado, turn your tassels from right to left, cause class of 2019 we did it!” just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, a gang of balloons fell from the ceiling along with confetti. For someone who has a fear of public speaking, the speech wasn’t so bad after all. Marching out with my classmates I signaled towards my family to meet me out by the south stairs in the front.

Good thing I had brought my flats because my feet were hurting in these heels. Taking pictures with my fellow Deltas and a couple of AKA’s, never felt so real to finally be done with this program. Mike had met me at the location first so he was able to take the pictures for me. Donnie, Leilani and Luca were crying again as soon as they got to me again. Giving me hugs and kisses and the celebratory sibling picture.

“There she is! There’s my hardworking queen, I am so proud of you.” Florian picked me up and spun me around in complete bliss and happiness. I knew I was going to cry because I felt the tears fall down my rosy cheeks.

Receiving hugs from all my friends and family meant the world to me, even from Florian’s family too. Masias and Sandro gave me the type of hugs that you’d sway people from side to side. Made me feel like I gained 2 more brothers.

“So Miss Graduate, what are you going to do now?” Cynthia asked as she and Destiny linked their arms with me to take pictures.

“Well I am going to put my album out,with an interview coming up with the Breakfast Club and maybe even grow my personal trainer business.” I sighed with glee then a thought appeared. “Also I do know for a fact that somebody is getting married this weekend. So we are gonna live it up in Vegas and then get you hitched in Hawaii.” I smirked towards Cynthia who was blushing mad at me.

“So with that being said, tonight we party!” Going into these new moments with the people I love, was all I needed in this life. Especially since I am finally free of a burden that wouldn’t let me thrive. Now, I can soar without regret or remorse.

[vanessakirbyfans]

One can imagine an American director such as Norman Jewison or Sidney Lumet directing a film about the legal battle at the heart of “Pieces of a Woman”: A terrible tragedy has occurred, and an expectant young Boston couple (played by Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf) have taken their midwife (Molly Parker) to court. The media are all over the story, which casts the entire practice of home birth into question. But instead of focusing on the trial, Hungarian director Kórnel Mundruczó concentrates our attention on the couple, both of whom are shattered by the experience — but especially to the wife, who has more to rebuild than just her relationship. It is her very identity that’s on the line in this mature, masterfully acted human drama.

Though he’d been invited to Cannes before, Mundruczó (“Delta,” “Johanna”) grabbed the world’s attention a few years ago with a movie called “White God,” in which all the stray dogs of Budapest rise up against their bipedal overlords. It was a bombastic but ultimately ridiculous film — a B-movie variation on Hitchcock’s “The Birds” treated with utmost seriousness — which developed a cult following while adding nothing significant to the cultural conversation. He returned three years later with a more substantive film, surreal refugee fable “Jupiter’s Moon,” although technique once again eclipsed the telling.

Early on, it feels as if the same could happen to “Pieces of a Woman,” Mundruczó and screenwriter Kata Wéber’s first English-language project: A few minutes in, after establishing salt-of-the-earth construction worker Sean (LaBeouf) and his relatively refined wife Martha (Kirby), Mundruczó launches into one of those stunts that will go down in film history. Decades from now, whether they love or hate the movie (it’s the kind that divides), audiences will still be talking about the virtuoso 23-minute “oner” — an elaborate, unbroken plan sequence that stretches the duration of a scene, à la “Children of Men” — in which Martha gives birth.

The shot starts casually enough, with Martha’s contractions arriving six minutes apart, but quickly escalates as her water breaks. Sean calls the doula, only to learn that she’s busy with another delivery. The woman sends a replacement, Eva, who’s warm and encouraging (qualities Parker so effortlessly embodies), guiding them through the process. Your average viewer may not notice that Mundruczó doesn’t cut, choreographing DP Benjamin Loeb’s camera so it’s right in the middle of the process, but they will certainly feel the mounting tension. Can he sustain this all the way through childbirth? In short, yes, Mundruczó intends to capture the miracle of delivery in all its joy and agony — stripped of glamour, yet completely spontaneous and unpredictable despite the careful planning this scene must have required.

Think of all the great actors who’ve gotten the chance to die on camera over the years. But how many have been able to give birth before our eyes? It’s a wondrous thing to watch, although the tone takes a turn toward the end of the scene, and suddenly this precious rite shared by so many women assumes a sharp pang of suspense. There’s blood in the bath, and the baby’s heartrate isn’t where it should be. Audiences must discover for themselves what happens, but suffice to say, the results aren’t typical, and it will take the rest of the film to process the shock.

It’s hard to proceed without giving away too much. Sean and Martha seem so close during the delivery — a couple from separate classes, where the gap between their white- and blue-collar identities is bridged by an intuitive intimacy that renders them stronger together — but as they both try to make sense of this tragedy, their inner demons reemerge, and they seem less like a couple and more like two separate, susceptible people.

We learn that Sean has addiction issues. “I’ve come back from death before,” he says. This latest setback could send him to the brink again. Meanwhile, Martha has weaknesses as well. She carries the damage wrought by a domineering mother, Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn), who remains an invasive presence in her life. Elizabeth has never approved of Sean, but senses a way to manipulating the situation through him. It’s her idea to sue the midwife, although it’s unclear what the family hopes to gain by doing so. Will this bring the couple closer together? Not likely.

In some marriages, pregnancy can drive a wedge between the parties, upsetting whatever magnetism attracted them in the first place. In others, parenthood and the responsibilities it confers become the cement that holds a couple together. For Sean and Martha, we sense that they needed this child. The complications could be their undoing.

With mesmerizing skill, Mundruczó and Wéber (who, significantly, share “a film by” credit) explore the ramifications of loss on these two fundamentally good but imperfect people. Many would-be parents have faced similar challenges, which makes “Pieces of a Woman” both empowering (to see this universal human experience so sensitively depicted) and somewhat risky: No matter how respectful the filmmakers intend the film to be, their treatment examines Martha and Sean’s trauma through the lens of melodrama, which thrives on conflict rather than the kind of communication they so desperately need to heal — and which seemed to exist in their relationship prior.

Is it fair, for instance, to bring all the characters together — not just the couple, but also Martha’s sister (comedian Iliza Shlesinger, striking in this serious role), her husband (filmmaker Benny Safdie), mom Elizabeth and the caught-in-middle cousin-cum-lawyer (Sarah Snook) who agreed to take the case — for the kind of overcooked family gathering one might expect from a “Sopranos” season finale? And isn’t the film’s symbolism a bit too on-the-nose? Sean builds bridges, a career that has a direct resonance on his relationship. Martha obsesses over apples. While her houseplants go neglected, she tries to sprout their pips, as if to prove that she can create life (when grafting is the way to go, but nowhere near as elegant a metaphor).

A complicated personality off-screen, LaBeouf brings tenderness and vulnerability to the role, revealing a side of himself we seldom see — this despite the fact he literally turns his back to the camera during his most brittle scenes, including a key exchange with Elizabeth when Mundruczó shoots him from behind because head-on would be too painful. The director was right to enlist an actor as mighty as Burstyn to play the mother-in-law. The choice makes the character that much more imposing, and her conviction turns a late monologue into a showstopper: “I know what it’s like to start over. You have to burn bridges.”

But this is ultimately Kirby’s movie, as the stage marvel (better known to audiences for her work on “The Crown”) delivers her most impressive screen performance to date — not just the remarkable commitment of that childbirth scene, but the way she navigates the character’s uncertainty for the rest of the movie. Martha has such a complicated reaction, both physical and psychological, to her delivery that it couldn’t have been easy for Kirby to decide how to play so many seemingly contradictory facets: devastated yet resilient, angry but empathetic. The courtroom scenes, when they come, are less about the case than Martha’s feelings of guilt. Mundruczó and Wéber gave her the pieces from which to assemble this character, but only Kirby could have taken that puzzle and turned it into such an astonishing portrait.

[bryanfaganlaw]

Frequently Asked Questions How Long Does It Take and Other Court Dates?

If you have need a best suitable service your Child Law experience, Frequently Asked Questions How Long Does It Take and Other Court Dates? Texas with the great process!

Divorce Houston: Once you are served with the lawsuit (the divorce papers) you have very little time to respond.

Under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 99 The citation states that was served within the divorce will provide the following notice:

"You have been sued. You may employ a Texas divorce attorney. If you or your attorney do not file a written answer with the clerk who issued this citation by 10:00 a.m. on the Monday next following the expiration of twenty days after you were served this citation and petition, a default judgment may be taken against you."

It is very important to respond by filing an answer this prevents your spouse from being able to obtain a default judgment.

A default Judgment would be judgment in favor of your spouse based on your failure to take action. It basically amounts to a one-sided argument made in front of a judge. Which means the judge will only hear your spouse’s side of the divorce case and rules based on the evidence your spouse provides to the Judge.

This is one the first things your divorce lawyer will want to do for you to protect you against.

HOW SOON CAN A COURT GRANT A DIVORCE?

Family Lawyers Houston: There is a mandatory 60-day waiting period in Texas from the time the divorce is filed until you are eligible to appear in court to finalize your divorce.

Under Texas Family Code Section 6.702 a “court may not grant a divorce before the 60th day after the divorce was filed.” By readings this part of the family code you learn two things which are:

1. The 60-day waiting period begins the day a person files for divorce and so 2. This means the 61st day after a divorce petition is filed is the earliest date you can get divorced in Texas.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET A DIVORCE? – DIVORCES MAY TAKE LONGER THAN 61 DAYS

Family Lawyer in Houston: This depends on the complexity of your case and whether or not your spouse can agree upon terms for your settlement agreement.

The traditional answer is, from the date of the filing of an Original Petition for divorce to the time that you get your final judgment of divorce is at least 61 days but often times it may take a year.

Many people panic when they hear that particular time frame because they think that it’s just simply too long. But the short answer is, if you and your spouse have definable issues and you can come to the resolution table and make compromises, you really can get the divorce over within just a few months.

The process can be completed in as little as 61 days if:

1. you have no issues at all (i.e. no children, no property, no debts) AND 2. you and your spouse are in agreement that there are not issues AND 3. you and your spouse cooperate on everything

The process can take longer often times a year or more if:

1. You and your spouse have complex issues AND / OR 2. You and your spouse cannot work out an agreement

The reality is that if you do have complex issues that need to be addressed, it does extend the time. So, for instance, if you have business valuations that need to be addressed or custody that is in dispute for your children as far as parenting time and visitation and such, experts need to be employed, then certainly that expands the overall lifetime of a case, and it could, in fact, exceed a year.

One of the things I will often say in a consult is that your divorce is as easy as the two of you want to make it and it takes as long as the slowest person in the relationship.

CAN THE WAITING PERIOD BE WAIVED?

Houston Family Law Lawyer: Under section 6.702 of the Texas Family Code. Those exceptions include:

1. A court may grant an annulment or declare a marriage void 2. If the court finds that respondent has been convicted or received deferred adjudication for an offense involving family violence as defined by section 71.004 against the petitioner or a member of the petitioner’s household or 3. The Petitioner has an active protective order under title 5 or active magistrate’s order for emergency protection under article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure.

HOW LONG AFTER MY DIVORCE IS FINAL DO I HAVE TO WAIT TO GET REMARRIED?

Family Lawyers in Houston: Under 6.801 of the Texas Family Code, a person in Texas is free to marry again 30 days after the judge signs their final divorce order, called a “decree.” It is important to note that:

1. the Judge does not always sign the Decree on the same day that you appear in court. 2. This works the same ways as above meaning do not marry anyone until day 31.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE 30-DAY WAITING PERIOD FOR GETTING REMARRIED

Family Law Attorneys Houston: Exceptions to this rule include:

1. Divorcing spouses under 6.801(b) may still remarry each other at any time and 2. In certain cases, under section 6.802 of the Texas Family Code, a Judge will waive the 30-day waiting period if good cause shown. This requires filing a motion to request the judge to do so.

Examples of why a Judge may grant a waiver of the 30 days waiting period include:

1. The health of one of the parties 2. One of the parties is scheduled to take a permanent duty reassignment in another part of the world

WILL BEING PREGNANT DELAY MY DIVORCE?

Pregnancy will not affect how you file for divorce or the procedure that you will follow in order to obtain the divorce.

However, it will delay the completion of your divorce. A judge in Texas will not allow the divorce to be finalized until the baby is born.

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN MY CASE IS SET FOR TRIAL?

At some point during your divorce, the court will issue a scheduling order. A scheduling order will inform you of all court deadlines you are expected to follow. It is important that you notify the court and other parties in writing of your current address so that you receive the scheduling order and other notices.

WHAT IF MY CASE IS SET FOR TRIAL?

If an agreement regarding your divorce cannot be reached between you and your spouse, the court will set your case for trial.

Should this happen depending on the court you and your spouse may be ordered to attend mediation prior to the trial date. This is another chance to reach an agreement. If no agreement can be reached, then a trial will be necessary.

HOW DO I GET A COURT DATE TO FINALIZE MY DIVORCE?

Once your 60 days have passed AND you have in your possession the signed and notarized documents from your spouse, you should call our office to set up a court date. Court dates are generally set up for Friday mornings at 8:30.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I APPEAR IN COURT TO FINALIZE MY DIVORCE?

This hearing is generally known as a “prove up” hearing.

Houston Family Law Lawyers: For many people who are going through a divorce, a Prove Up hearing is the only time that you will actually have to step foot in a courtroom and talk to a judge.

Most courts in southeast Texas have what is called an uncontested docket in the mornings that is called prior to the array of cases on the contested docket. This means that for a short window beginning sometimes at 8:00 or 8:30, your judge will call cases where there is no opposing party but where some business needs to be taken care of. Your case is one of those cases.

You will appear with your attorney and approach the judge when your case is called. The judge will put you under oath and your attorney will ask you a series of questions about the settlement that you and your spouse have reached. Take a deep breath. The answer to most every question your attorney is about to ask you will be, “Yes.”

Your attorney will ask you questions about the division of property, child visitation arrangements and child support. Think about the basic portions of your divorce decree.

Your attorney will need to ask you questions about those areas to ensure that the judge is made aware that each necessary part was taken into consideration. After the questions are asked by your attorney and answered by you, the judge will review the paperwork and most likely grant your divorce that day. If there are any issues that need to be changed in your decree the judge will state those to your attorney but hear anything from the judge but, “Good luck and thank you” is rare. Your divorce is complete ... Continue Reading

[nikki-reuclife]

Divorce Attorneys Long Island NY

Parties with Long Island divorce attorneys typically want to curtail the quantity of trial preparation due to the expense. If you would like to seek out the most effective answer, you want to search out someone, who has specialized himself within the household legislation instances. This article also delves into how criminal legislation is commonly intertwined with household regulation points regarding baby visitation, divorce and baby custody. All criminal records are dangerous information! Remember, the actual fact that you're using credit score counseling could seem on your credit document. In a mediated / negotiated decision, the parties have some management over the result despite the fact that they might in some methods be dissatisfied with the divorce settlement. The Judges might not intend to put on you down. This text discusses what's marital property in Rhode Island and what happens to the marital dwelling upon divorce when there are minor kids. If husband and spouse own real estate in Rhode Island (RI) and are getting divorced and don't have any minor kids then there are various possible dispositions concerning the marital domicile. He's a managing accomplice at Mejias, Milgrim & Alvarado (Lengthy Island Divorce Lawyer), where he has practiced legislation for 18 years.

You need to seek authorized counsel from a Rhode Island (RI) divorce and family legislation Lawyer / Lawyer concerning the entire attainable situations. This text addresses what constitutes a common regulation marriage in Rhode Island and the right way to prove or refute a claim of frequent regulation marriage. Family regulation proceedings are often very emotional and it is simple for folks to lose sight of their targets and priorities when making an attempt to negotiate with out a talented attorney. Women who marry males younger than them are also extra likely to divorce as are those that grew up with divorced dad and mom. For ladies who selected to leave their occupations or desist their schooling, the well being and overall status of their marital property can be a little bit of a mystery. If you face uncertainties and the future of your family is in the hands of the court docket, you need to solely work with a divorce lawyer who has an intimate understanding of the new York household court system.

A prenuptial settlement needs to be drafted by a Rhode Island Family Legislation and Divorce attorney / lawyer. A seasoned and skilled Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer typically has a basic idea as to the result of the divorce trial. Please consult with a Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer or a RI Youngster Custody Attorney to find out your possibilities to be able to relocate out of state. Rhode Island personal damage regulation: auto - automobile - motorbike accident ceaselessly requested questions with answers written by RI personal injury attorney. This text answers the next questions? This text applies to all family legislation circumstances together with divorce, little one custody, paternity cases. This article explains when child support should end in Rhode Island. What are probably the most ceaselessly pursued private Injury / premises liability / slip and fall cases in Rhode Island (RI)? In Rhode Island (RI), A guardian advert litem is a individual who represents the hypothetical finest curiosity of the minor little one in a child custody, visitation or other sort divorce attorney Long Island of Family Court docket case.

No. Nevertheless, you may move so lengthy as you continue to can adjust to the visitation order wherever you are relocating. My mom-in-legislation wants to maneuver in with me. He is a seasoned trial attorney who is properly-known for his aggressive courtroom fashion. But, as a substitute of Howe being jealous of Hummel's superior intellect, Howe felt that Hummel's talents have been the perfect compliment to Howe's brilliant courtroom histrionics. But, no particular determination could ever be made whether Howe was indeed telling the truth. At the peak of their enterprise, Howe and Hummel represented and acquired massive retainers from a lot of the criminals in New York City. Howe once more denied he was that person. Nonetheless, Hummel was in a position to keep away from jail for another two years. Divorce hearings occur way more steadily than Divorce trials. Click around the web site, watch the movies, and skim the weblog entries to study extra about specific subjects. Whereas divorce ends a marriage, an annulment nullifies a marriage. Why Do You Need a Lawyer in a very Divorce?

Divorces are exceedingly common. In fact, one might go in terms of to express that most of the stigma may be taken out of the act. What has not changed, though, is the fact divorces are complicated. Though there are lots of websites that supply "quick" divorces that will accommodate a simple escape from marriage, the facts in the matters is that most divorces are complex affairs that combine tricky facets of law and finance with very real human emotions. As such, you will need to consider the demand for receiving a divorce lawyer. It may surprise you to find out how very necessary that the act could possibly be. Depending on the relationship between your couple and in what sort of disagreements they are in, dividing assets and debt could possibly be the most dreaded and difficult part of a divorce. Equitable distribution, also referred to as "ED", will be the dividing of assets and debts which have been obtained as a couple in a marriage. "Who can get the house" is definitely an illustration of something that is decided on this claim. The assets and debts which can be including within this decision are categorized as three categories: marital, separate, or divisible properties. If the wife, for example, had obtained debt prior to marriage, then this husband would make use of having that exposed to attention by a lawyer. Legally, her debt can't be forced to him within this even by a judge. After the divisible assets are thoroughly disclosed the judge are listed the internet value. Each asset could have a dollar value set on it according to what someone would buy it for if they were marketing it at this time of legal separation. Finally the assets and debts is going to be distributed and typically are split equally. For example, while one spouse was awarded your house, we were holding also signing onto debt. The other spouse then could have far less debt and much more or every one of the smaller assets.

According to the NRCDV, one of the few reliable studies with this issue was conducted in 2005, which explored the incidence and characteristics of intimate partner violence in Idaho, a rural mountain state. This study, titled Intimate Partner Violence Incidence and Characteristics: Idaho NIBRS 1995 to 2001 Data, analyzed seven years of National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data that compares the incidences of intimate partner violence in Idaho, as compared to the remaining nation.

It can also be a large sign if you're used to receiving these statements at home and suddenly they aren't appearing. Be sure you can continue to access these financial accounts online to find out if they have been re-routed to some tn post office box or if you are locked through your own account. These are tell-tale signs that the spouse is up to no real. The proposed law would dramatically affect family law. HB 549 and SB 748 both have provisions that limit alimony's duration being a function of along wedding. "Lifetime alimony" can be a sticking point among proponents of change. The new law could end alimony upon reaching retirement age and cap alimony at 20 percent from the payer's income.

[loudlytransparenttrash]

Muslim Men Making History In Germany This Year

The true scale of Germany's honor crime problem is currently being swept under the rug. Empirical evidence indicates that honor violence, primarily the product of Muslim culture and Islamic law has metastasized since Angela Merkel allowed in some two million migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. 

The typical response is to deny the link but what else could explain these findings: In the Max Planck Institute landmark study on honor killings in Germany, the study analyzed all crimes between 1996 and 2005 and found that there were two honor killings in 1998 and 12 in 2004. By 2016, however, the number had jumped to more than 60, an increase of 400%. Coincidence? Or are we just too afraid to tell the truth?

With the increased mass censorship by the police and the media, aimed at stemming anti-immigration sentiments makes it impossible to know the names and national origins of many victims or perpetrators or how many more Islamic honor murders are being downplayed as "domestic disputes." 2017 is nevertheless on track to be a record year for honor violence in Germany; in the first five months of this year alone, there have been at least 30 honor killings.

The trial of a Kurdish man who tied one of his three wives to the back of a car and dragged her through the streets of a town in Lower Saxony has drawn attention to an outbreak of Muslim honor violence in Germany. Honor violence, ranging from emotional abuse to physical and sexual violence to murder, is usually carried out by male family members against female family members who are perceived to have brought shame upon the family or religion. “Offenses” include refusing to agree to an arranged marriage, entering into a relationship with a non-Muslim, refusing to stay in an abusive marriage or living a Western lifestyle. 

On May 22, a court in Hanover heard how a 39-year-old Turkish-born Kurd named Nurettin B. attempted to murder his second wife after she asked him to provide financial support for their two-year-old son. The State Prosecutor  reconstructed Nurettin's actions: Nurettin had a knife, an ax and a rope in the trunk of his car. Sitting on the back seat of the car was their two-year-old son, who had spent the weekend with him. On the street, the former couple got into an argument and he begins hitting her. Then he takes the knife and plunges it into her chest. The 12.4 centimeter long blade penetrates the pericardium and heart muscle. A second stab opens the left abdominal cavity. He then pulls out the ax. With the blunt side he hits her head and upper body, cracking her skull. Then he grabs the rope. On one end he ties a gibbet knot around her neck, then he ties the other end to the trailer hitch on the back of his black VW Passat. He then steps on the gas. He races through the streets at 80 km/h (50 mph). After 208 meters (680 feet) the rope breaks. She is hurled against the curb. The child is still sitting in the back seat."

On May 9, a 35-year-old Turkish man shot his wife in both knees, permanently laming her, in the hope that she would be unattractive to other men. The court heard how the man took his wife to the back of a local mosque after Friday prayers, accused her of offending his honor and shot her, saying: "Now you can no longer walk. You will stay at home." In court, the woman was forced by her family and her mosque to tell the court that the couple had reconciled and would attend marriage counselling. The German court allowed the man to return home with his wife, awaiting his sentence.

In Münster, a 36-year-old Lebanese man named Amer K stabbed his wife to death. The court heard how he stabbed 26-year-old Fatima, the mother of his three children, in the chest and neck more than twenty times with a large kitchen knife because he thought she wanted to divorce him. Meanwhile, a court in Hanau sentenced a 22-year-old Syrian refugee to prison for stabbing to death his 30-year-old sister with a kitchen knife. She was 23 weeks pregnant and was accused of having brought shame to her family. Her unborn child also died in the attack.

May 18. In Berlin, a 32-year-old Bosnian man murdered his girlfriend, a 35-year-old German woman after she ended their abusive relationship. He also abducted and tortured her 12-year-old son, who was forced to watch his mother's murder. Neighbors said they had repeatedly alerted the police about the man’s violent behavior, but of course when a Muslim is involved, the police did nothing as that would be Islamophobic.

May 17. In Pforzheim, a 53-year-old Tajik man stabbed to death his 50-year-old wife at her place of employment, a Christian daycare center. 

May 17. In Wardenburg, a 37-year-old Iraqi man stabbed to death his 37-year-old wife while she was asleep in her bed. The couple's five children, between the ages of four and 15, were at home at the time of the murder and are now living with relatives.

May 8. In Neuendettelsau, a 24-year-old Ethiopian asylum seeker, Mohammed, stabbed his 22-year-old girlfriend in the stomach at a restaurant after she allegedly "provoked" him. The woman was five months pregnant; the unborn baby died in the attack.

May 4. In Freiburg, a 33-year-old Syrian asylum seeker stabbed his 24-year-old wife, a Kurdish Christian who had moved out of the couple's apartment, but had returned to collect some personal belongings. The couple's three children, aged six, three and ten months, are now in protective custody.

April 29. In Prien am Chiemsee, a 29-year-old Afghan man stabbed to death a 38-year-old Afghan woman who had converted to Christianity. The attacker ambushed the woman as she was exiting a grocery store with her two children.

April 23. In Syke, a 32-year-old Iraqi man strangled his 32-year-old wife in front of the couple's three children, ages one, two and nine.

April 23. In Dresden, a 29-year-old Pakistani refugee murdered his girlfriend, a 41-year-old Vietnamese woman. Police say the man, who arrived in Germany in December 2015, became enraged after he noticed that the woman had not posted any photos of him on her Facebook page, and suspected that she may have had another boyfriend.

April 16. In Mainz-Finthen, a 39-year-old Egyptian asylum seeker stabbed to death his 32-year-old wife. Their two children are being held in protective custody.

April 5. In Leipzig, a 34-year-old Syrian man stabbed his 28-year-old wife because she wanted a divorce. The couple's two children witnessed the attack; they are being held in protective custody.

March 31. In Gütersloh, a 43-year-old Syrian man burned his 18-year-old daughter with a cigarette and threatened to kill her. When the police intervened, the father refused to allow his daughter to leave the house. After police succeeded in bringing the girl to safety, the father and son attacked the police, who used pepper-spray to fend them off. The girl is being held in protective custody.

March 15. In Kiel, a 40-year-old Turkish man stabbed to death his 34-year-old Turkish wife in front of a daycare center. Neighbors said the couple, who were separated, had quarreled about moving their three children to Turkey.

March 4. In Duisburg, a 30-year-old Syrian asylum seeker, Mahmood Mahrusseh, stabbed his 32-year-old girlfriend. The woman survived but the police are yet to find Mahmood.

March 3. In Mönchengladbach, a 32-year-old asylum seeker, Ahmed Salim, murdered a 47-year-old German woman after she ended a relationship with him. The man, who also uses the alias Jamal Amilia, was arrested in Spain. In his asylum application, he had written that he was from Israel. In another asylum application filed in another country, he had written that he was from Morocco. He is really from Iraq, proving the state of the West’s vetting system.

March 2. In Scheeßel, a 42-year-old Iraqi man stabbed to death his 52-year-old wife, also from Iraq. Police described the murder as an honor killing. The couple's children are now in protective custody.

February 25. In Euskirchen, a 32-year-old German-Turkish man stabbed to death his former girlfriend, a 32-year-old German woman who had begun dating someone else.

February 17. In Offenbach, a 32-year-old Turkish man shot to death his former girlfriend, a 40-year-old woman. The man said he was angry that the woman, who had two children, had ended her relationship with him.

February 15. In Bielefeld, a 51-year-old Iraqi man tried to murder his 51-year-old wife by attacking her with a hammer while she was attending a German class at a local language academy. The man was angry that his wife was mixing with other language students.

February 10. In Ahaus, a 27-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker stabbed to death a 22-year-old woman after she seemingly offended his honor by rejecting his romantic advances. The woman, a Hindu, was employed at the same asylum shelter where her attacker lived. He was arrested in Basel, Switzerland.

February 7. In Hanover-Mühlenberg, a 21-year-old Serbian man stabbed his girlfriend after she ended their relationship and had begun dating someone else.

February 1. In Hamburg, a 26-year-old Afghan man stabbed his estranged 28-year-old wife during an argument; she survived the attack.

January 15. In Bremen-Vegesack, a 39-year-old Turkish man murdered his 40-year-old Syrian wife, who was nine months pregnant, because she wanted to divorce him. The unborn baby also died during the attack.

January 5. In Waldshut-Tiengen, a 47-year-old Turkish man stabbed his wife as she was walking with a friend. When she tried to run away, he pursued her and plunged a knife in her back.

January 4. In Köln-Buchheim, a 44-year-old Iraqi man murdered his 19-year-old daughter because he did not approve of her boyfriend. Two days later, he called police. "I killed my daughter," he said. The man may never face justice; he is believed to have fled to Iraq.

These are only just a few of the cases of Islamic violence so far this year alone and restricted only to Germany. It does not even begin to scratch the surface and mention the acid attacks, sexual assaults, child rape gangs or the murder of non-Muslims being committed especially throughout refugee riddled European countries such as France, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, shouldn’t we all be talking about this horrifying epidemic? Especially our feminists? Yet, there is complete silence and a concerted effort to conceal it. Why? Because it’s Islamophobic to be honest and it’s racist to want to stop violence. 

[vintagemichelle91]

The ADA & The Caterer: The Little Things

Author’s Note: So @rauliskafan and I are celebrating our friendversary!! A year ago today we met and started chatting and quickly it spiraled into an amazing friendship!! Resulting in us co-writing A Hard Lesson Series and becoming close friends!! She is such a lovely friend and I am lucky to have her in my life! This is for you @rauliskafan!! And I hope all of you enjoy this little one-shot that was inspired by “The Little Things You Do Together” from the Company soundtrack!

           You rummaged around the closet like a mad woman looking for your red floor length silk-satin gown. You had an hour to finish getting ready before the car arrived to take you and Rafael to the gala he had been invited to. Well, it was more that the DA wanted Rafael to show face with you on his arm and mingle with all the right people to gain their support. You had agreed for Rafael’s sake and didn’t mind that you had to miss overseeing the wedding of century, according to Page Six.

       Derrick should be able to handle tonight’s event with no problem. You had come out with a delectable menu that would surely leave the guests licking their fingertips.

     Running your hands through your soft hair, that was already losing its volume, you sighed. How was it that you could not find that damn dress! You swore Rafael had picked up everything from the dry cleaners last night.

           Maybe he had left it in the entrance closet? You hurriedly left the walk-in closet and made your way toward the entrance closet. You hated that he still hadn’t come home from court. It was making things far more difficult for you than they should be. After all, it wasn’t your night and you were just going to be their for support.

           Jingles watched as you paced around the apartment in such a state of stress. With sudden remembrance, you made your way toward the entrance closet it to see if it was there. However, you were disappointed to see that there was nothing but coats hanging inside. Never in your life had you been more frustrated than you were at this very moment.

Slamming the door shut, you took a couple of deep breaths and glanced at the clock hanging in the living room. Rafael should be home any minute to change into his tuxedo.

           Just as you resigned to the fact that you would have to go look for another dress, Rafael came through the door looking completely exhausted. The case probably didn’t fall to his favor.

           “Hey, how did it go?” You didn’t want to bombard him at first as to the whereabouts of the dry-cleaning. You walked over to him and placed a soft kiss on his lips. He kissed you back lovingly and apart of you knew that it definitely did not go well for him.

           Rafael shrugged off his grey suit jacket and loosened his navy blue tie. “The jury came back with a not guilty verdict; this should definitely be a great conversation to have with the DA.”

           You hated that he lost. It meant that he wasn’t in the best of moods. This week had been entirely long, with the investigation SVU had and then the trial, it had been rather difficult to prove the case. Rafael had even hesitated when Olivia brought the case to him. Even you had your doubts when he told you about it, but Rafael did love a challenge.

           “I’m sorry, but I had told you that case was going to be difficult to prove when there wasn’t a substantial amount of evidence, from what you had told me,” You had to be honest with him about it. It was going to be like pouring alcohol into an open wound, but you had to.

           Jingles looked between the both of you as Rafael gave you a look that said please don’t press that button right now. “Cariño, really? You tell me this now?”

           “I’m sorry Rafael, but what else do you want me to say? You obviously didn’t listen to me then and you sure as hell didn’t listen to me when I asked you to pick up the dry-cleaning two days ago. Now, I don’t have a dress for tonight. All the others are wrinkled and they are silk!” At this point, you were on the verge of frustrated tears.

           Rafael ran his hand through his hair. The day could not get any worse for him. “Shit…I’m sorry it completely went past my mind.”

           “A lot of things did apparently,” You said in a clipped tone as you pivoted around on your heel to go see if you had anything suitable to wear to this stupid gala tonight. This stupid gala that you put your own career aside to go to. All because you wanted to support your husband after such a rough week.

           You felt Rafael’s eyes burning into your back as you walked away from him. He felt himself becoming frustrated with you, himself, and the entire day. Before he could allow himself to sulk even further, he went after you. There was no way he was going to leave things like this.

           “You know I had a lot on my plate with this case, why didn’t you remind me?” Rafael stood by the doorway of the walk-in closet as he watched you look through your small collection of dresses.

           You threw your hands up in the air in absolute frustration. “I reminded you yesterday morning, Rafael.”

           And you did. That morning when you handed him his first cup coffee of the day as he was preparing his closing statement that he would deliver to the jury to compel them to declare a guilty verdict. However, he was so caught up in the case and his insecurity toward it that everything else just went past his head.

           “I’m sorry…” What else could he truly say? Nothing wouldn’t remedy the situation at the moment. You let out a couple of breaths and said nothing in response. The look of frustration and disappointment washed over your beautiful face and it was too much for him to deal with at the present moment. Rafael grabbed his tuxedo and walked out into the bedroom deciding that it would be better to give yourselves some space for at least ten minutes.

You watched as he walked out with a sad expression shadowing over his handsome face. You realized just how stupid it was for you to be so upset over a dress. He didn’t deserve this attitude from you after having such a hard day in court. It broke your heart to say such things and to see him walk away like that. Your world seemed to darken a little as he left you to give you some space. These little fights between you were so rare, it wasn’t like you and that was what frustrated you the most.

           Leaning against the wall,  you shut your eyes tight and let the tears silently stream down your cheeks. Thank goodness for waterproof mascara. An old and wise friend’s words echoed in your mind, “Compromise and understanding are key to every marriage.”

Right now, with your selfish words, you did not abide by those words. Quite frankly, you were more disappointed in yourself more than anything. Lately, you had become so emotional about things and you weren’t sure if it was your nerves on the fact that your catering career was taking off in so many exciting directions. Or perhaps, it was just nerves in general of the pressures of marriage. Rafael meant the world to you…with you felt as if you had found your other half.

           Wiping your tears away with your hands, You pushed yourself away from the wall, and walked out into the bedroom to go and apologize to your husband. Your heart broke a little as you saw him sitting on the edge of your bed with his head in his hands. Carefully, your bare feet tiptoed toward him and you kneeled down before him taking hold of his wrists.

           “Rafael, baby, look at me,” You cooed gently and he looked up at you with sadness mixed with exhaustion. You cupped his face in your hands and pressed your lips softly against his. “I’m sorry for being so selfish. I’m sorry you lost the case. I’m sorry for not realizing just how much stress you have been under and I am sorry for not understanding how much winning this case meant to you. I love you with all my heart and the last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

           His gorgeous gem-green eyes scanned your own and realized the sincerity of your words. You were also under a lot of stress too and he had failed to realize that. Words failed him in that moment and you yelped in complete surprise as he picked you up and gently threw you onto the bed.

His lips collided against yours roughly as he swiftly undid the knot of your silky pink robe. Rafael groaned at the sight of your topless body and proceeded to kiss, lick, and caress you with so much pent up passion he had for you. You moaned in wild delight as he took you however way he wanted you. You realized that he needed to feel that he had control and you would gladly oblige him in anyway you could.

After all, you loved him.

           Completely rid free of any clothes, you were lost to each other between the white sheets as satisfied moans and an occasional scream coming from your lips filled the spacious bedroom. The evening light reflected in from the panoramic windows added a naughty ambiance. Your hand squeezed the edge of the pillow tightly as he thrusted into you over and over again with so much rigor that your eyes rolled back. Rafael found that one delicious spot in you that had you saying deliciously obscene things and the occasional curse word.  

“Fuck…baby…that feels so good…harder,” you said breathlessly as you lost yourself in the sensation of him filling you up.

Rafael’s hand reached down between them and he rubbed your clit with two of his fingers. All the while as he kept moving in and out of you with such finesse. Your walls embraced his manhood with a great amount of pressure that he could feel himself getting ready to come. He looked down at you, “keep your eyes open, I want to see you when I make you come.” His voice was rough and commanding that you moaned even harder.

He watched your gorgeous face contort in pleasure as you came undone with fascination. It turned him on even more knowing that only he could bring you so much pleasure. Your pouty pink lips formed into a perfect round O as you were riding out your orgasm. Your eyes stayed glued to his as you lost yourself in him. Seeing you like that made him reach his own climax and he continued to move in and out giving you another chance for another orgasm. Soon enough, you came together in the most glorious way possible, whispering each other’s names in the evening light that enveloped you.

Rafael remained on top of you as you slowly caught your breath. He gently peppered small kisses on your neck and jawline as you simply held onto him. The both of you felt absolutely relieved and exquisitely spent.

“Oh my, that was good. So so good,” You said breathlessly.

He smirked proudly. Clearly, you had given him a boost to his ego. “I take it I am forgiven?”

“What on earth for?” You laughed as you pushed back his hair away from his forehead. “I can’t even remember what we fought about after that good fuck we just had.”

Rafael chuckled in response and kissed your lips once again. They should have more arguments if this was going to be the end result of it. “We should fight more often. I mean, if this is what it takes to get such a praise…”

You shook your head and he could have sworn your eyes darkened with lust. “You don’t need to hear praise from me, I am sure you can see it in my face how much you satisfy me…” Your voice was breathy and laced with a seductive tone.

The shitty day just flipped over and turned into a fantastic evening. Just the turn around Rafael needed. He smirked knowingly at you. “Cariño, you always know what to say to drive me wild with desire for you. Me vas a matar mamita.”

Your cheeks flushed even more as he spoke to you seductively in Spanish. You absolutely loved hearing him speak Spanish. It was the sexiest thing for you. You could feel yourself getting turned on once again. “Do we have to go to this gala?” You caressed his chest and batted your long lashes at him.

Rafael groaned in response and knew exactly what you were doing. He loved it when you played the demure damsel. It was his weakness. “No, but- “

“Good…because I am ready for round two,” You didn’t even give him a chance to finish as you pushed him away and straddled him. Your body now on top of his as you kissed your way down his body with a seductive gleam in your eye and a sultry smile on your pink lips.

Dry-cleaning and gala long forgotten.

[kaliiwashere]

Divorce Attorney Long Island

Parties with Long Island divorce attorneys often want to curtail the amount of trial preparation because of the expense. If you'd like to seek out the perfect solution, you want to search out someone, who has specialised himself in the household law instances. This article also delves into how criminal regulation is often intertwined with family law issues concerning child visitation, divorce and baby custody. All criminal records are bad records! Remember, the fact that you are using credit counseling might seem in your credit score file. In a mediated / negotiated resolution, the events have some control over the outcome despite the fact that they could in some ways be dissatisfied with the divorce settlement. The Judges could not intend to wear you down. This article discusses what's marital property in Rhode Island and what happens to the marital dwelling upon divorce when there are minor youngsters. If husband and wife personal real property in Rhode Island (RI) and are getting divorced and haven't any minor children then there are various possible dispositions regarding the marital domicile. He is a managing associate at Mejias, Milgrim & Alvarado (Lengthy Island Divorce Lawyer), where he has practiced legislation for 18 years.

You must search legal counsel from a Rhode Island (RI) divorce and household legislation Lawyer / Attorney concerning the entire doable scenarios. This article addresses what constitutes a common legislation marriage in Rhode Island and easy methods to prove or refute a declare of common regulation marriage. Family law proceedings are often very emotional and it is easy for people to lose sight of their goals and priorities when making an attempt to negotiate with out a talented legal professional. Girls who marry males younger than them are also extra more likely to divorce as are those that grew up with divorced parents. For ladies who selected to leave their occupations or desist their schooling, the health and general standing of their marital property could be a little bit of a thriller. If you face uncertainties and the way forward for your family is within the fingers of the courtroom, you must only work with a divorce lawyer who has an intimate understanding of the new York family courtroom system.

A prenuptial settlement should be drafted by a Rhode Island Family Legislation and Divorce lawyer / lawyer. A seasoned and skilled Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer typically has a general concept as to the result of the divorce trial. Please consult with a Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer or a RI Baby Custody Legal professional to find out your possibilities to be able to relocate out of state. Rhode Island personal injury law: auto - automotive - motorcycle accident regularly asked questions with solutions written by RI private injury legal professional. This text answers the next questions? This article applies to all household regulation circumstances including divorce, little one custody, paternity cases. This text explains when youngster assist should finish in Rhode Island. What are the most ceaselessly pursued personal Harm / premises legal responsibility / slip and fall circumstances in Rhode Island (RI)? In Rhode Island (RI), A guardian advert litem is a particular person who represents the hypothetical finest interest of the minor little one in a baby custody, visitation or different type of Household Court docket case.

No. Nonetheless, you'll be able to move so long as you continue to can comply with the visitation order wherever you're relocating. My mom-in-law wants to maneuver in with me. He's a seasoned trial legal professional who's nicely-recognized for his aggressive courtroom style. But, as a substitute of Howe being jealous of Hummel's superior intellect, Howe felt that Hummel's talents had been the perfect praise to Howe's sensible courtroom histrionics. Yet, no definite dedication could ever be made whether or not Howe was indeed telling the reality. On the peak of their enterprise, Howe and Hummel represented and acquired massive retainers from a lot of the criminals in New York Metropolis. Howe once more denied he was that individual. Nonetheless, Hummel was in a position to avoid jail for one more two years. Divorce hearings happen way more continuously than Divorce trials. Click around the website, watch the movies, and skim the weblog entries to learn extra about explicit topics. Whereas divorce ends a marriage, an annulment nullifies a marriage. The Basics of Choosing the Best Divorce Attorney

Hundreds of people nowadays are heading in the end with their marriage, and many of these usually do not actually know the way to handle this unfortunate situation. The first and the most effective step they need to take immediately could be the hiring of an good divorce lawyer, and therefore the other things can be better to manage.

The Court of Appeals issued a published opinion, meaning that the divorce trial courts is required to follow this ruling, on September 4, 2012 which has serious implications for small businesses proprietors in the divorce context. This opinion deals with the problem of double dipping in relation to a small company owner or professional practitioner and spousal support or alimony. I have always recommended that small enterprises, professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants etc.) and people associated with family businesses must have a prenuptial agreement and this opinion helps it be is important to have one. It is important so that you can know what your future needs are so that child support, spousal support, and the division of assets and debts are performed to assist you find as stable of an Long Island divorce attorneys future as is possible. What many individuals like about mediation is that it permits you to express your values and opinions. A litigated divorce, in contrast, follows a far more strict formula and what some call a "one size fits all" approach. Mediation is a lot more sensible for just two adults who can be in exactly the same room together and hash the details. You can look at the budgets your house is with everyday as well as the future needs you and the kids could have. Mediators also discover how to try to find tax savings and alternative settlement options to improve the chances of financial stability post-divorce.

Knowing the benefits is one section of the battle, but being prepared is the one other. Perhaps you decide after all to penetrate towards the situation alone. What are you to do whenever you see that the opposing side carries a professional already linked to the case? This single facts are enough to place you behind the sport. A lawyer knows what, when, and the way to talk to involved members. You could be worthy of far more then that which was given solely since you was lacking the information to supply beneficial information to a judge. Don't lose all of your investments more than a divorce when every one of the necessary help is right when you need it. Expect some form of outcry It might not happen without delay. It might even happen half a year as time goes on. It is likely to happen, though. The emotional reaction might be outbursts or more subtle. Seek advice and resources about how to handle the emotional response from children via a divorce. You'll be facing your own personal challenges, bear in mind that this children need your support now, too.

[pipbabi]

Long Island Divorce Attorneys

Events with Long Island divorce attorneys usually wish to curtail the amount of trial preparation because of the expense. If you need to search out the very best solution, you need to seek out somebody, who has specialized himself within the family law circumstances. This text additionally delves into how criminal legislation is often intertwined with family law points regarding youngster visitation, divorce and child divorce attorneys Long Island NY custody. All criminal data are unhealthy data! Remember, the actual fact that you're using credit counseling might appear in your credit record. In a mediated / negotiated decision, the parties have some management over the end result regardless that they could in some methods be dissatisfied with the divorce settlement. The Judges might not intend to wear you down. This article discusses what's marital property in Rhode Island and what occurs to the marital house upon divorce when there are minor youngsters. If husband and spouse own actual estate in Rhode Island (RI) and are getting divorced and don't have any minor kids then there are lots of doable dispositions concerning the marital domicile. He is a managing companion at Mejias, Milgrim & Alvarado (Long Island Divorce Lawyer), the place he has practiced regulation for 18 years.

You should search legal counsel from a Rhode Island (RI) divorce and household law Lawyer / Legal professional concerning the entire attainable situations. This text addresses what constitutes a typical law marriage in Rhode Island and how one can prove or refute a declare of frequent law marriage. Family law proceedings are sometimes very emotional and it is simple for individuals to lose sight of their goals and priorities when attempting to negotiate with out a skilled attorney. Women who marry males younger than them are also extra likely to divorce as are those who grew up with divorced mother and father. For ladies who selected to go away their occupations or desist their schooling, the health and general status of their marital property generally is a little bit of a thriller. Once you face uncertainties and the future of your loved ones is within the arms of the court docket, it is best to only work with a divorce lawyer who has an intimate understanding of the new York household court system.

A prenuptial agreement needs to be drafted by a Rhode Island Family Law and Divorce lawyer / lawyer. A seasoned and skilled Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer usually has a common thought as to the result of the divorce trial. Please seek the advice of with a Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer or a RI Baby Custody Lawyer to determine your probabilities to have the ability to relocate out of state. Rhode Island personal harm legislation: auto - automotive - motorcycle accident incessantly requested questions with solutions written by RI private injury attorney. This article solutions the next questions? This article applies to all family law instances including divorce, youngster custody, paternity circumstances. This article explains when little one assist ought to end in Rhode Island. What are the most ceaselessly pursued personal Harm / premises legal responsibility / slip and fall instances in Rhode Island (RI)? In Rhode Island (RI), A guardian advert litem is a individual who represents the hypothetical greatest curiosity of the minor youngster in a baby custody, visitation or different sort of Household Court case.

No. However, you may transfer so long as you still can comply with the visitation order wherever you are relocating. My mom-in-law needs to maneuver in with me. He's a seasoned trial lawyer who's well-identified for his aggressive courtroom type. But, as a substitute of Howe being jealous of Hummel's superior intellect, Howe felt that Hummel's talents had been the perfect compliment to Howe's good courtroom histrionics. Yet, no definite willpower could ever be made whether Howe was certainly telling the truth. At the peak of their business, Howe and Hummel represented and received massive retainers from a lot of the criminals in New York City. Howe again denied he was that person. Still, Hummel was able to avoid jail for another two years. Divorce hearings occur way more incessantly than Divorce trials. Click on round the website, watch the videos, and skim the weblog entries to study more about particular subjects. Whereas divorce ends a marriage, an annulment nullifies a marriage.

Divorce Attorney: Aspects of Divorce A divorce attorney can help you to develop of the most important decisions you have ever had. It goes without saying that purchasing these professionals is a thing you need to do if you are intending to launch. However, if you are not at this point at this time, schedule a consultation with a professional to discuss your position and what, however, you're able to do to get through it. Most people do not realize they've got options. They don't understand precisely what live without being married will probably be like. They may not even think they could file. However, these lawyers might help. The duty is simply advanced; therefore, a client really should express the determination and eagerness to achieve rewarding gains. However, the accomplishments become limited once the lawyer lacks the efficiency to guide complainants accordingly. If the attorney lacks these qualities, it is imperative to choose another delegate that is certainly flawlessly experienced in divorce literacy.

Considering these listed variables, you can expect legal counsel to push for results that will leave them satisfied. They will take the time needed with people to accumulate all information pertinent on the case. After they analyze the details the ultimate result usually involves a prolonged level of paperwork. This is also an occasion to enable them to part of making submitting blank forms a hassle-free experience. A divorce is not a brief event; however, the process could be shortened significantly when creating a hand with the details. It is a good idea to help keep the curfew the same at both places, for example. When you can set similar rules how the children must adhere to, they will not get confused about what is acceptable at one house or other. The parents remain parents even when they live in different houses. They have to be unified so that the children have clear expectations. Children function better whether they have rules and schedules to abide by. They will appreciate the fact how the rules are the identical in the houses, that helps them better deal with the divide of these parents.

Issues regarding custody require a skilled and experience lawyer who understands the legal as well as psychological dynamics involved. When interviewing a lawyer for this kind of case, questions like "Describe the kinds of custody disputes you've handled" or "What Continuing Education Courses have you ever taken coping with custody issues?" are particularly appropriate. In my opinion, a great lawyer for custody issues should be tenacious but even tempered.

[notesfromthepen]

The Michigan Squeeze Play

This is what a Michigan Department Of Corrections (MDOC) squeeze play looks like...

It's all about the money. It always is. Prison is no exception. After you've lost it all, physically, mentally, spiritually, stripped bare in every sense of the word, from family to freedom, just when you think there's nothing left to take, they go after the money; yes, even if you don't have any.

Before the gavel has fallen, the calculations are already underway. One of the very first pieces of paperwork you will receive, after sentencing, is a bill.

The moment you're locked up you have an account balance; plus or negative, black or red, blessed or fucked.

In a perfect world you'd start with a balance of 0$; an "unlocked" account, where the hard-earned money deposited in your account by friends and family isn't taxed at astronomical rates—but as we all know by now, the world is anything but perfect.

Initially, there are two billable items every inmate worries about after sentencing: restitution and court costs. Both are tabulated by a seemingly unchecked, rather arbitrary, internal system of shady, unverifiable, mathematics. Mysterious numbers and randomly placed commas. These two balances hang heavy in determining the type of prison bid you have in store.

The brain-trust in Lansing somehow decided, decades ago, that $50 is the magic number that an inmate needs per month to meet all of our institutional needs; an immovable number in the face of inflation, with lower wages, and the ever-increasing prices of store items.

If the court has imposed either of these fees upon you, either restitution or court costs, as long as it's only one, anything deposited in your account over your first $50 will be taxed at a rate of 50%.

So if, on the 1st of the month, you get a $100 deposit, you will receive $75 in your account. If on the 2nd you get another $100, you will receive $50.

If the judge has decided you owe BOTH, restitution and court costs, anything over your allotted $50 is taxed at %100. Making it impossible to get any more than $50 a month.

I know that this might seem like one of those "boo hoo, cry me a river you fucking deviant of an inmate" scenarios. Well, let me explain why that's not exactly a fair response.

So let's break it down. If you were to have both fees imposed—yes even if, as in my case, you were blindsided by outrageous court costs, even though you qualified as indigent and provided a PUBLIC DEFENDER, even if you took a guilty plea so that a trial NEVER took place, and they still slapped you with a $6,000+ fee for court costs, as well as an $8,000+ fee for restitution, you could never get more than $50 a month, until your outstanding debt is brought down to $0.

$14,000 or a MILLION; at a certain point it's all the same when you're living hand to mouth.

If you do the math on the monthly $50 I get, that comes out to a budget of exactly $12.50 a week.

It might not sound so bad, huh? You probably think you could do it...right? And maybe you could. I mean I have—not without cutting every corner I can find—but I think you be surprised at the difficulty you'd face. It sounds easy until you realize what all the $12.50/week has to cover. Toothpaste, deodorant, toothbrush, shampoo, soap, floss, hair products, baby powder, Q-tips, and lotion. And that's just SOME of the hygiene. You didn't think hygiene was provided by the prison did you?

I should tell you there is a "safety net" for indigent inmates who can't afford deodorant and toothpaste. But trust me when I tell you this charity isn't out of a sense of responsibility or some other moral justification. This is strictly crowd control. The fact that we're stacked on top of each other already makes for a hostile environment; add a bunkie who's aroma is a clear violation of the Geneva convention and you have the components for constant chaos; poor hygiene, impending assault, solitary confinement, ambulance ride, medical bills, paperwork in triplicate. It's the paperwork that gets 'em.

Oh, they'll help you, help them, but you should also know, there are going to be some stipulations; if you can prove you're broke and show that you haven't had ANY money deposited into your account for 6 months, you can apply for indigent status; where, if you're approved—a process that takes 6-8 weeks—they’ll front you the money for some basic hygiene (roughly $11/month); all of which will be added as an outstanding balance to be collected from any future deposits from friends or family members. Institutional reimbursement. So, if you ARE indigent, don't plan on using the $20 aunt Martha scrapped together for your birthday to get yourself a honeybun or a bag of chips to celebrate yet another year in paradise.

With that being said, VERY few people actually qualify for indigent status. The guidelines are intentionally too stringent. Not a dollar deposited in your account for six months?

So if, by some financial wizardry, you manage to cover your hygiene with the $12.50, you'd be set right? I mean after all, food is provided.

Not so fast.

In 2013, to slow the fiscal bleeding of their bloated prison budget, the MDOC contracted out the food service responsibilities. Aramark—a private company—out bid the competitors. Said thy could do it at the lowest cost for Michigan tax payers and still turn a hefty profit. After all it's not like we could choose to go somewhere else. Not long after Aramark, with their shareholders and profit margins, took over operations, that corners began being cut and fuckery was always on the menu. They were serving cruelly undersized portions of intentionally inedible food, in an attempt to lower the amount of inmates coming going to chow, saving money on their food costs. 

But they must not have know who they were dealing with. There are always stipulations when dealing with the MDOC. Part of Aramark's payment was in correlation with a minimum amount of inmates who showed up everyday for chow.

In the first few years Aramark was fined several million dollars for failing to meet their basic contract requirements. They soon decided it was no longer economically viable to continue the business venture of feeding inmates.

Trinity Food Service immediately stepped in to fill the void. They were given much less restrictions; they got paid regardless of how many inmates showed up to eat. And with this blank check, they were smart enough to buy into a company called Access—who, not-so-coincidentally, is the commissary provider for entire MDOC. This conflict-of-interest/marriage-made-in-hell actually incentivized serving inedible food which would drive up commissary sales by the inmates supplementing the inadequate diet provided by Trinity. Just last year, forced by the exposure of this scandal, as well as the same financial problems that drove Aramark out, Trinity followed suit.

The MDOC took back the reigns. Since then, neither the menu or the serving sizes have changed.

So yeah, TECHNICALLY, food is provided. But if you plan on relying on the free cuisine of the MDOC for your sole source of sustenance, then plan on being hungry for most of your life; I mean genuinely, stomach-grumbling hungry—go to bed hungry, wake up hungry—all you think about is FOOD, hungry.

And if you find yourself willing to use some of that $12.50 budget for food, make sure to choose your commissary items sparingly.

If you've been paying attention it shouldn't surprise you to learn that the food items on the store list aren't exactly priced to compete. There is no competition.

Let's say you planned to spend half your weekly budget—$6.25—on hygiene; that would buy you one Power Up deodorant (the cheapest available) at $2.50, a Cool Wave toothpaste (also the cheapest) at $1.50, a bar of cocoa-butter soap at $.65, a bottle of Suave shampoo at $2.25, and OPPS, you've already exceeded your budget by 67¢. And you didn't even get a toothbrush yet. Keep in mind these are travel size products.

So let's just say, for the sake of argument—and a hatred for math, that a benevolent inmate hooked you up with a free set of bristles.

That leaves you with $5.60 to deal with your incessantly bitchy digestive system for the upcoming week. As every college student and prison inmate knows, the best bang for your buck are Ramen noodles. They'll run you .34¢ a piece. You'll want at least two per day. That comes out to $4.76/week. And maybe a 8oz tub of cheese for flavor at 1.84, which comes out to $6.60. Still $1 over budget. Since soups are .34¢, you'll have to cut three from your total. Sure, three days of the week you'll be more than a little hungry but you'll survive—plus you'll make it under budget.

Oh, but you forgot to order a bowl or a spoon. Fuck! Those will cost you a few extra bucks. You'll have to take it out of next week's budget. You'll just eat less in the weeks to come. After all, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Now you have your hygiene and food for the week. Sure, you're broke, but you're relatively clean and you even have a couple of soups.

Success! See that wasn't so bad.

You celebration won't last too long before you to realize that you won't have money to put on the phone so you can talk to your family,

no stamps to write them,

no pens,

no pencils,

no paper,

no tablet,

no coat to supplement the windbreaker they give you while in Michigan's upper peninsula,

no sweat pants,

no wife beaters,

no boxers,

no extra t-shirts,

no gym shoes to play sports in,

no watch,

no sunglasses

no fan

no TV

no music to put on your tablet,

no nail clippers,

no ChapStick,

no money for a haircut,

no footlocker,

no lock,

no art supplies if you want to draw or paint,

no books,

no magazines,

no coffee,

no coffee cup,

no cup in general,

no salt,

no pepper,

no shower shoes,

no money for mail so you can't attend a correspondence college,

no frivolous snack food that EVERY human being should have access to when they're feeling like shit.

You'll have NO extra money for ANYTHING, but you'll survive.

When I first came to prison I heard about a motion you can file to get your fees suspended for a few years so you can at least buy your appliances and personal property; a TV and some underwear. It cost me four bags of coffee at $3.62 a piece to have it drafted and typed up.

Six weeks later I received a response from my judge. In his opinion, "$50 a month is more than adequate to live comfortably while in prison." I wish he were right.

Now I don't want you to get the wrong idea; we don't just lay down and die under the boot of these financial restrictions; we do find ways survive; much to the dismay of the MDOC.

They don't want us to run stores,

to loan out food at an interest rate,

to run gambling tables,

to make alcohol,

to do tattoos,

to fix or alter electronics,

to make and sell taffy or fudge,

to send money to our homie's unlocked accounts so they can go to store for us.

They don't let us receive the money to take care of ourselves, and they don't want us to hustle it up.

If we get popped engaging in any of these entrepreneurial activities we can be hit with disciplinary tickets resulting in loss of privileges, raised security level, and even solitary confinement.

Still, you gotta do what you gotta do.

It's beautiful to see that the world is beginning to wake up to the injustices of the criminal justice system (irony, anyone?), like the travesty of mass incarceration, the racial disparities in sentencing, and the horrendous effects of longterm solitary confinement. But the problem is systemic; it runs through EVERY aspect of the prison industrial complex, and it's necessary to expose the smaller, less well known, areas of fuckery taking place in here as well.

Sometimes it can be less about the actual mechanisms of oppression, and more about the idiocy, that's so hard to endure. I mean think about it; If they would tax 25%-50% of money over $50/month, it would both allow US to get some of the things we need, as well as provide at least SOME money towards their squeeze play of restitution and court costs. As it stands now, no one I know, who owes BOTH fees, EVER allows more than $50 to be deposited into their account, because 100% of it will be taken. Of course they're fucking US over, but these assholes are fucking THEMSELVES over too! This is the enraging stupidity that, those of us paying attention, have to deal with in here. It’s terrifying to think that these are the same assholes responsible for our well being.

Still we find ways to subvert the system; we hustle when we can, live off the secure packs our friends and family order us once a quarter, find slick ways to have our families drop money in our friend's unlocked accounts so they can go to store for us (without this little loophole I don't know what I'd do), and we save up for the property we need one month at a time.

As difficult it is to get used to, I've learned a lot about the difference between what I WANT and what I NEED. Anyone who knows me knows this isn't about pity—it isn't even about money—I’ve turned this place, this struggle, this minimalist lifestyle into a chance to discover my inner strength. Rarely in life do you get the opportunity to find out what you're really made of, what you're capable of withstanding. This isn't about belly aching; its about uncovering the hypocrisy and foot-in-the-mouth policies of the system I am currently being ground through.

It's about telling the world what I see... and maybe venting a little bit.

The world needs to know that in prison there is this all pervasive and ever-present feeling of being constantly fucked over, constantly taken advantage of. Even the money. Everything of value is squeezed dry by these heartless corporations who've lobbied their way into a captive market of consumers that would’ve given Rockefeller nocturnal emissions.

Global Tel-Link, our prison phone provider, was recently sued for price gouging inmates and their families, charging .30¢/minute. The court ordered them to drop their rates to match standard FCC regulated phone carriers and to eliminate fraudulent fees. Days before the mandated changes were to take place Global Tel-Link filed appeals. Not because they would win but because it would buy them another year of swindling families with impunity.

JL Marcus and Access, the companies we buy our shoes and clothes from, get their merchandise from discounted items the factory has deemed irregular or too damaged for retail sale. They mark up these otherwise unsellable items and push them on us. Our boxers cost $20 a 3/pack, and the stitching is already coming undone. Our shoes are missing rivets, or the soles aren't glued properly so after a few weeks they flop like on overheated Labrador.

JPay, the company that provides the tablet I'm currently using to write this rant, charges us $.25 an email, tablets that are constantly breaking or malfunctioning, and accessories with planned obsolescence.

Even the vending machines in the visiting room here charge $3.50 for everything from tiny microwavable cheeseburgers to tiny burritos, and $4 photos with your kids.

The MDOC even has its own company called MSI. For the last three years I've been trying to save up for a footlocker that couldn't cost more than $5 to produce yet they marked the price up again this year; it's now up to, $118$. That's three months without going to the store for ANYTHING, food or hygiene. (I’m still saving for it by the way.)

These over-priced items are what we starve ourselves for. We save month after month just to be ripped off and fucked over. Capitalism at its best; America at its worst.

There is something truly evil, truly criminal, in taking such obvious advantage of the helpless and vulnerable... and I'm not talking about US; I'm talking about OUR FAMILIES, who have to single handedly foot the outrageous bill in order to maintain a connection with their loved ones; to buy a price-gouged peace of mind, to know that we're properly clothed and fed while we are away, to, often, choose between rent and a relationship with a brother, father, son, sister, mother, daughter.

At some point you just get fed up with the hypocrisy of it all. We know what we did to get in here. And we're actively participating in what society has asked of us to make amends. But to listen to these righteous assholes preach about justice, while their hands are firmly planted in our back pockets, is becoming more than one man should be asked to endure.

Everywhere you turn you come to see that this place doesn't FOSTER rehabilitation it REJECTS it. They force us into poverty and make all the shit we do to survive illegal... They cut off our hands and wonder why we won't stop using our feet!

It's spirit crushing. It's heartbreaking. It's the place I call home.

This was meant to be an outlet for the frustration with our prison debts but snowballed into an outburst about all things monetarily fucked in the system. Sometimes, writing is all I can do to keep from losing my shit. I get a slight sense of relief knowing that some of the bullshit we deal with will be brought to light no matter how dim the illumination proves to be.

So thanks for listening to another ranting tirade of a lowly inmate in the Michigan Department of Corrections. Just another man learning to write with his feet while trying to save for a footlocker....one month at a time.

And in case you were wondering; this is what an MDOC squeeze play looks like.

Your friendly neighborhood convict, Bobby C. @NotesFromThePen

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/chinas-aids-history-explains-part-of-the-crispr-babies-story/

China's AIDS history explains part of the 'CRISPR babies' story

The first time I met someone in China dying from complications of AIDS, he had never heard of the illness that had already killed thousands of his fellow citizens.

This was not the early 1980s, when the world was still stunned and stumped by the mystery virus that causes AIDS and its swift and deadly spread around the globe. It was 2007, barely more than a decade ago, in a rural village on the Chinese border with Myanmar, ground zero of China’s first AIDS epidemic. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, first entered China from Myanmar, borne by the needles that accompanied a persistent regional heroin addiction.

That ignorance among sufferers, in parts of the country where people were most likely to have it, reflected China’s unique and complex history with AIDS, one that involved a litany of scandals and government cover-ups that have left a lasting imprint of stigma and fear about HIV and AIDS — and discrimination.

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That history helps explain a puzzling aspect of the news last month that a Chinese scientist claimed to have altered the genes of twin girls: Why had He Jiankui, a researcher with Southern University of Science and Technology, chosen to edit a gene in embryos that might protect the babies from AIDS? Other simpler and far safer procedures like sperm washing already exist to protect children from the virus when their fathers carry it, as in the twin’s case.

Wan Yanhai, a former officer with China’s Ministry of Health who later became an advocate for people with HIV and AIDS in China, said it’s important to recall that in the beginning of the crisis years, China deliberately framed AIDS as a disease of foreigners.

“HIV/AIDS was used as a political weapon in the 1980s and ’90s, especially after the failure of China’s democratic movement in 1989,” Wan said in an interview. “They used all these type of issues to attack Western cultures.”

Wan, who fled China under extreme government pressure for his advocacy work, like nearly every high-profile Chinese AIDS activist, now lives in the U.S.

He points to the particular peril of a homegrown AIDS epidemic in China’s heartland, Henan province, which began with a pay-for-plasma scheme run by local governments in the 1990s. HIV got into the donor pool and the virus spread like wildfire, leading eventually to crisis-level infection rates in parts of the region. According to Wang Shuping, the doctor who exposed the crisis, the central government in Beijing knew about the problem for several months before it shut down the system. Afterward, rather than contacting and educating potential victims, the government silenced whistleblowers like Wang and tried to quiet most information about AIDS. At the same time, on the other side of the country, the epidemic spread just as quietly among drug users and sex workers.

Said Wan: “On one hand, when people first heard they were infected, they [the government] used the stigma about AIDS to silence people with AIDS. They asked people not to tell. They said if you tell, there’s a negative outcome against your family.”

Back then, China was just beginning to roll out an ambitious plan to offer free government-sponsored antiretroviral medication to everyone infected with HIV, but the biggest stumbling block proved to be a sheer lack of knowledge about the virus and syndrome among the people who needed the drugs.

Today, the Chinese government estimates that around 500,000 people in the country, 1/100th of 1 percent of the population, live with HIV, roughly 300,000 of whom receive antiretroviral therapy. Some global health organizations put the number higher, however, and there’s never been a full accounting by China of people infected during the height of the crisis two decades ago. In his talk in Hong Kong, He Jiankui said he had personal experience with villages in China that have 30 percent infection rates.

It’s unclear whether He was speaking to HIV rates from the 1990s and 2000s, when this number was not unheard of in southern villages of Henan province.

“Today you can still see some high infection rates among certain migratory populations,” said Wan. “There are some areas where more than 10 percent of the population might be infected. It’s still a serious problem.”

In a China that’s much more mobile than 20 years ago, infection rates tend to cling to certain segments of the population — such as an increase in HIV among men who have sex with men — rather than geographic areas.

In other words, suspicion and mistrust remain around China’s official statistics about AIDS decades after the crisis peaked.

China does have anti-discrimination laws on the books, but it was only last year that a court found it unlawful for a company to discriminate against an employee for infectious disease carrier status. Workplace health screenings routinely test for HIV. And social taboos about the virus remain strong, linking it to poverty and poor choices.

A 2016 report from the International Labor Organization found that despite promises from the government, China still lagged in terms of ending discrimination based on HIV status by ending measures like mandatory testing for public servants.

“China’s great progress in HIV testing is enabling people to become aware of their HIV status and access appropriate antiretroviral treatment,” the report said. “Testing, however, can also lead to unwarranted discrimination against people living with HIV/ AIDS and be counterproductive in the protection of public health.”

Xi Chen, a public health researcher at Yale School of Public Health who studies China, said, “Discrimination happens in key dimensions of life, such as employment, health care, social networking and marriage.”

In the midst of this climate, it’s perhaps easier to understand how a concerned couple, with the male infected with HIV, might be inclined to sign a consent form for what was described as an AIDS-vaccine trial. He’s offer of free IVF, in a country where the procedure costs double a monthly average salary in large cities, might also have been enticing.

Right now, because the family’s identity is concealed and He is barely talking, it’s entirely unclear just how informed the parents were and why they chose to engage in such a radical experiment.

“This is possible, that stigma and implicit discrimination may make this process easier for parents who are really uninformed,” said Xi. “However, at least informed parents should know there are alternative (also much safer and more effective) ways that we can prevent parent-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.”

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[morbid-n-macabre]

Robert Blake. This case is not as cut and dry as i originally thought.

Robert "Bobby" Blake was a child actor who played one of the little rascals. He has talked a lot about his father, apparently young Bobby was the one supporting his whole family and though that was his father's doing, dad greatly resented him for it. There was physical abuse aplenty in that home. He moved out at the age of 16 and supported himself from then on. As an adult he did something very difficult- he successfully transitioned from child to adult star. Robert starred in several movies and won an Emmy for his role on the 70's hit tv show Beretta- during this role he also gained the reputation of a hot head. I'm not much of a fan but I gotta admit he's an amazing actor- the problem is you never know when he's acting and when he's not.

Robert was first married to Sondra Kerr in 1961. The couple had 2 children, a son and a daughter named Noah and Delinah Blake. Sondra has reported that Robert was very abusive towards her. They divorced in 1983.

It wasn't until the late 90's when Robert met a younger woman by the name of Bonnie (or Bonny) Lee Bakley. I never speak ill of the dead in my posts, but in this case it's important to tell what kind of person Bonnie really was- it's very relevant that the woman had quite a few enemies. Bonnie's "business" was scamming people. She would place personal ads or respond to ads she read, sweet talk the men she was writing to, and send them Pornography. Bonnie would write a single letter, copy it by hand, and send it to many different men. She'd pretend to be someone other than herself, she kept different mailboxes all over the country. She gave these men sob stories, told them how badly she needed money for this or that tragedy. She made promises to these men, told them she'd come to see them if they'd help her through her problem, financially. Maybe she'd say her car was broke down; or that her kid was sick- she always needed money. Then she'd turn around and blackmail these men with anything she could use against them. If she believed a man was wealthy enough, she actually did meet him- hell some she married. One woman who came forward says Bonnie married her grandfather and took him for 80K. Then she stole the grand daughter's identity and began scamming men using her name- on top of that she absolutely destroyed this woman's credit. Bonnie did this to several women, she kept several different drivers licenses on her. Some men made her beneficiary of their life insurance, others cut their families out of their will and added Bonnie. This is how she supported herself, in the pre internet era she made 300K a year doing this! Bonnie had been in serious legal trouble for her scams, arrested multiple times for drugs, writing checks, and fraud. But her real ambitions went much further than scamming lonely men through the mail. She wanted to be rich and she thought the way to do this was to trap a celebrity. She was known to stalk older celebs, targeted big names such as Frankie Valli, Dean Martin, Gary Busey, among others. She badly wanted to be a part of Hollywood; her close friends say that her goal was to get knocked up by a celeb, and she did just that. More than once, she claimed. The first time was the infamous Jerry Lee. She said he fathered her 3rd child- Jerry's sister says she believes her brother paid Bonnie a settlement. It was determined through a DNA test that this girl did not even belong to Jerry. Later, when she was sleeping with Robert, she was also with Marlon Brando's son, Christian.

Bonnie met Christian Brando while he was in prison for manslaughter- he shot and killed his sister's boyfriend. Bonnie began writing him, chatting him up, sending him porn. When Christian was released, the two dated. Christian thought he and Bonnie were in an exclusive relationship. He was wrong- Bonnie was also sleeping with Robert Blake.

Bonnie told Robert she was on birth control, she could not get pregnant. This was a blatant lie- a friend would later admit she was actually undergoing fertility treatment. When Bonnie became pregnant she told both men that the baby was theirs. Robert did not want another child at all, especially with a woman who had purposely tried to trap him- he knew what she'd done to Jerry Lee. He was pissed, he wanted her to abort the baby. Bonnie originally agreed, but then refused. All along she allowed Christian to believed the child was his, and when the little girl was born Bonnie named her Christian Shannon Brando. Christian bonded with the baby he believed was his. A DNA test was not given until later when Robert saw a picture of the child and he realized she looked just like him. DNA proved that Robert was the father, and baby Christian Shannon Brando was renamed Rose Lenore Sophia Blake- Rosie for short. Christian Brando was understandably pissed, he Is quoted for telling Bonnie, "You're lucky somebody ain't out there to put a bullet in your head".

Once Robert knew Rosie was his, he would've done any and every thing in his power to keep her near. Though it doesn't appear he even liked the woman, Robert married Bonnie- obviously a marriage of convenience. There was an air tight prenup in which Bonnie agreed to give up her "business" of scamming men.

Just a few months after they wed, Bonnie was dead.

May 4th of 2001. On this night, Robert took Bonnie to dinner at his favorite fancy Italian restaurant, Vitello's. After they had eaten, the couple walked out to the car. Robert claims he left Bonnie sitting in the passenger seat of his car after he realized he'd forgotten his gun inside the restaurant. When he returned to the car, Bonnie was bleeding profusely. Though Robert said he thought she'd been beaten up, she'd been shot. She was gurgling when Robert found her; by the time the ambulance reached her she was dead. Bonnie was 44 years old.

By all accounts Robert ran around like a chicken with his head cut off- he went to a nearby residence to ask for help, he then ran back to the restaurant for help. He was screaming, crying, even vomiting- just hysterical. Some say this was his best acting yet.

During a search of Robert's home, Police found 12K cash inside one of his dressers. There was also a box of bullets just like the ones that killed Bonnie- in the 100 count box exactly 3 were missing. That's exactly the amount of bullets that was used in the murder.

Robert did have motive, all the motive in the world. The star had found that Bonnie was still scamming people, which he absolutely despised. Friends say he was very afraid that Rosie was destined to have a horrible life if Bonnie raised her, that she'd become a scam artist like her mother- he expressed concern that Rosie would become a prostitute. But there really wasn't any concrete evidence against the star. It was all circumstantial- like why did he take the woman he hated out to dinner? Why not park closer to the restaurant? His leaving a gun in the restaurant while his wife was shot made him look so guilty. He told police that he was packing heat because there had been threats against Bonnie's life, that there had been attempts to kill her. There was some gunshot residue on him when police tested him that night, and a friend of Bonnie's said that right before her death Bonnie confided she was afraid Robert was going to kill her. Still, he may never have been charged with the murder at all had a couple of stuntmen named Robert Hambleton and Gary McLarty not told police that Robert had tried to hire them to kill Bonnie- and there was proof that Robert had called them. The year after Bonnie's death, Robert was arrested for her premeditated murder.

Of course Robert was wealthy, he could afford the best defense money could buy. We all know that goes a long way in a murder trial. The defense team managed to discredit the stuntmen. About that gunshot residue- I'm not a forensics kind of girl, I enjoy the psychology of murder. But this is how i heard this explained: There was very little gunshot residue on Robert that night- just 5 gunshot particles. But the gun that was used to kill Bonnie, a German WW2 handgun found in a dumpster near the scene, was old and left a lot more residue than usual. The weapon was tested and found to leave 2,440 residue particles when fired twice. So while there was a bit of residue, it wasn't a red herring. The defense claimed that the residue found on Robert that night could've been from handling a different gun, he was a gun enthusiast who had a license to carry. Prosecution claimed he must've gotten rid of it somehow, wiped it off or something.

It's more than likely that some of the jurors thought he probably did it, there just wasn't enough evidence to find him guilty of capital murder- especially in a death penalty case. In March of 2005, Robert was found not guilty of Bonnie's murder.

Just months after the murder trial was over, not unlike OJ, Robert was promptly taken to civil court where it is much easier to be found guilty. In November of '05, Robert was found liable for his wife's wrongful death, he was ordered to pay Bonnie's children 30 Mil- an appeal knocked that figure down to 15 million. After all the lawyer fees and paying Bonnie's family, he was bankrupt. Robert was poor for the first time in his life, depressed, cooped up in his small dwelling where he became a hermit- he spoke to no one. Rosie, who is 18 today, was reportedly raised by Delinah Blake, Robert's adult daughter. They have had zero contact with their father. The latest news on Robert Blake was last year when he filed for a marriage license to marry a long time friend, 55 y/o Pamela Hudak. There's no news on whether the two actually did wed.

Whatever Bonnie did in life does not make her deserving of this ending. Very few people deserve that. I do apologize for trashing her, but it's important to realize how many enemies she had. While Robert had plenty of motive, he wasn't the only one- she had quite a few victims herself. My opinion on this case has changed considerably since i began researching this. If you asked me last week what i thought of Robert Blake, I'd have said guilty. I'm not so sure now. If he did do it, which is very possible, I believe he paid someone. I don't believe he physically pulled the trigger. I do not blame the jury- I doubt I'd have convicted him with the death penalty on the table, either. If they'd have tried him without the death penalty option, he may have been convicted. Maybe he'll make a death bed confession some day. Though that's unlikely- he's too narcissistic. If Christian Brando had a part in this, It's unlikely we will ever know. He's already deceased- as are both stuntmen.

What do you think?

[mourningsickness]

Claire Vaye Watkins’s ‘Gold Fame Citrus’

Claire Vaye Watkins’s debut novel, Gold Fame Citrus (Quercus, 2015), opens on an arid Laurel Canyon, whipped by unrelenting ‘crazy-making’ Santa Ana winds. A dry place that has birthed a host ‘countercultural’ figures – from Joni Mitchell and Jim Morrison to Marilyn Manson –, for nearly two decades “passing through” Laurel Canyon was a compulsory pitstop on the road towards superstardom. It has been mythologised in various cultural iterations – most famously Graham Nash’s ‘Our House’, written about then-lover Joni Mitchell, whose own (better) 1970 album Ladies of the Canyon also drew obvious inspiration from the neighbourhood [1].

More troublingly, the Canyon was also the setting for the brutal murder of silent film actor, Ramon Novarro on 30th October 1968. His killers, brothers Robert and Tommy ‘Scott’ Ferguson, then aged just 22 and 17 respectively, entered his home under the pretext of soliciting their sexual services, believing a vast sum of money to be hidden somewhere in the house. Novarro, a Mexican Catholic, had been one of MGM’s leading Latino stars during the 1920s and a romantic idol, having starred opposite Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Myrna Loy. His homosexuality remained a closely-kept secret throughout his career (Louis B. Mayer reportedly attempted to coerce him into a “lavender marriage”, which he refused), and was the cause of much internal struggle in an era when success was contingent on the presentation of normative sexuality. Then in his late 60s, Novarro had a history of arranging for prostitutes to visit his Canyon home for sex and companionship. The Fergusons obtained his number from a previous guest.

Over dinner, Novarro read the brothers’ palms; during their trial the pair proclaimed him to be a lousy fortune-teller. He was subjected to several hours of torture intended to extort the location of the money from him. Eventually, the pair left the house with 20 dollars retrieved from his bathrobe pocket, leaving Novarro to choke to death on his own blood [2]. These sinister events formed a counterpoint to the Manson Family murders of 1969, which took place roughly a year later, in Laurel Canyon’s northern counterpart – that “senseless-killing neighbourhood” Haight Ashbury [3]. Though the canyon’s entanglement with celebrity soured, it remains a popular residential location. Google informs me that, today, the area is still favoured by stars such as Moby and George Clooney. Both keep homes there.

I read Gold, Fame, Citrus not long after having read Joan Didion’s The White Album (Simon & Schuster, 1979) for the first time, which perhaps explains why I was suffering from a bout of “murder mind” [4]. One of its essays, ‘Holy Water’ takes as its focus the complex, sprawling networks of dams and aqueducts that keep Los Angeles county in water. In it, Didion (a Sacramento native) visits the Operations Control Center for the California State Water Project, one of numerous government agencies responsible for shifting the ‘trillion gallons’ of water that are pumped across the state each week. Here, she writes: ‘Some of us who live in arid parts of the world think about water with a reverence others might find excessive. The water I will draw tomorrow from my tap in Malibu is today crossing the Mojave Desert from the Colorado River, and I like to think about exactly where that water is. The water I will drink tonight in a restaurant in Hollywood is by now well down the Los Angeles Aqueduct from the Owens River, and I also like to think about exactly where that water is’ [5].

At the time of reading, I found this essay vaguely anticlimactic, following as it does the incendiary piece from which Didion’s book takes its title. As someone who lives in a damp English climate, her preoccupation with the bio-political regulation of water supply across the state of California felt alien to me. Coming from a place where water has always felt abundant, I couldn’t fathom the scale of these operations, nor could I place Didion’s strange anxiety. Despite the glut of climate fictions I’ve encountered, I found it hard to imagine what drought might actually look like. It felt implausible in London, a city where the gravest threat it had posed was the hosepipe ban of my childhood summers, or the ugly reservoir grazing the stretch of motorway on the way to my grandmother’s house. Reading Vaye Watkins’s climate dystopia – with its vision of a west coast drained even of groundwater – brought Didion’s essay, along with L.A,'s broader history of precarity, into stark focus.

Doubtless Watkins, herself raised in the Mojave Desert, has also read ‘Holy Water’. Drawing on the ‘Water Wars’ of the 1920s for her own novel’s casting of the near-future, she reveals a similar preoccupation with how California keeps itself liquid. The Water Wars began following the construction of a 233 mile aqueduct in 1913, which saw the Owens River forcibly diverted towards a reservoir in the San Fernando Valley [6]. Following the project’s completion, the aqueduct guzzled so much water that Owens Valley, known formerly as ‘The Switzerland of California’, was effectively transformed into a desert, stoking rebellion among local farmers and ranchers, who sabotaged part of the system in 1924, laying dynamite at the Alabama Gates [7]. This inheritance is made explicit in the book’s preface, which refers to the words spoken by pioneering engineer William Mulholland over his finished project: ‘There it is. Take it’.

Hollywood, for its own part, has already mined the Water Wars narrative. Roman Polanski’s 1974 noir classic Chinatown is loosely based on legal disputes that were still ongoing in 1970, following the LADWP’s construction of an aqueduct in Inyo County that stood in direct contravention of groundwater protections. Indeed, the film’s first victim, Hollis Mulwray, is purportedly based on Mulholland (if you listen closely, you may still be able to hear the producers riffing on those names). Ironically, the film is also tangentially connected to Watkins’s novel. Her father, Paul, was a member of Charlie Manson’s notorious ‘Family’, though he left shortly before the murder of Polanski’s pregnant wife Sharon Tate, later going on to testify in court.

                                                             *

When we first encounter Gold Fame Citrus’s two central protagonists, Luz and Ray, holed up in the former mansion of a Hollywood starlet, we are also encountering this history. Marginalised former residents of California – descended from the feckless grifters responsible for the ‘failed experiment’ of the state – are now known derogatorily as ‘Mojavs’ (GFC, 70). Signs on elementary schools read: ‘MOJAVS NOT WELCOME. NO WORK FOR MOJAVS. MOJAVS KEEP OUT’ (GFC, 23). Those who have chosen not to ‘evac’, remaining behind in Los Angeles, are plagued by a feeling of ‘sostalgia’, a term coined by Glenn Albrecht to describe the alienation and distress brought on by environmental change that lies outside inhabitants’ control [8]. The “good vibes” of LA have endured, if in mutated form. Venice Beach has become a hotspot for raves, but also for black-market trading – of blueberries, Ovaltine, all-cotton socks and other elusive commodities.

Luz and Ray’s days are for the most part consumed with trivial tasks that elide the quiet desperation of their circumstances. Even in this carnivalesque nightmare, traditional gender roles seem to prevail: Ray digs out the ‘shitting hole’ in their backyard; procures crates of stale ration cola; kills a prairie dog that winds up in the library; while Luz (a former model) naps and plays dress-up in the starlet’s abandoned closet. In an effort to shake up this mundanity, they attend a ‘raindance’ on Venice Beach where they encounter a small, pale-haired toddler whose ‘people’ radiate bad vibes. Between them, they make a snap decision to (benevolently) kidnap her, and return to the canyon. They call the ‘baby’ (infantilised because she remains curiously underdeveloped throughout) Ig, after one of the strange sounds she makes. Fearing retribution from Ig’s ‘people’ – a disparate band of punks, seemingly not including her parents – they head east on the advice of a former comrade, Lonnie, whose compound the couple have left on bad terms (Luz having fucked Lonnie, out of obliging boredom rather than actual desire).

When they run out of gas, somewhere on a desert trail flanked by jagged salt-rock formations, Ray heads out to find help. Uttering the haunting last words “I’ll be right back”, he leaves Luz and Ig on the backseat of the oven-like car (GFC, 102). Here, the novel – along with the couple – splits. We follow Luz into the Amargosa Sea (a sprawling, hostile ocean of sand ‘blown off the Central Valley and the Great Plains) and leave Ray for dead (later it emerges he has been holed up in a subterranean prison complex, somewhere in what was formerly New Mexico) (GFC, 72). Though the Amargosa is reportedly lifeless, ‘a dead swath’, it is the source of their salvation (GFC, 72). Their rescuers form part of a lone, nomadic community, a gaggle of lost souls who have dedicated themselves to the dune sea and to their “prophet” leader, Levi. ‘Descended from a long line of dowsers’, Levi is apparently able to glean water from sand, though his methods of extraction are later revealed to be deeply suspect (GFC, 72). The cultish sway of his charisma is, clearly, reminiscent of Manson. In this aspect, Watkins’s novel reminded me of Emma Cline’s wildly successful debut The Girls (Chatto & Windus, 2016), which rehashes many of the same tropes. Like Manson, Levi himself proves to be the worst kind of mirage – an abusive narcissist preying on the vulnerability and soft-mindedness of others.

The encroaching desert, we are repeatedly told, ‘curates’ its inhabitants. Luz, already born a figurehead, has been “chosen". In another life the adult Luz was ‘Baby Dunn’. A propaganda initiative cooked up by the Bureau of Conservation, she was adopted as a symbol at birth, her life and its milestones chronicled by public media. She retains a baby book, stuffed full of newspaper clippings: “Governor Signs HSB 4579; Every Swimming Pool in California to Be Drained Before Baby Dunn Is Old Enough to Take Swimming Lessons”; “Berkeley Hydrologists: Without Evacs Baby Dunn Will Die of Thirst by 24” (GFC, 11). As the ‘fame’ of its title would suggest, the novel is preoccupied with the cult of celebrity, itself a form of self-destructiveness often wilfully sought out. The hardback cover resembles a peach melba, metallic pinks and white leaking over a desert-yellow background, invoking the pastel palettes favoured by Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in the early 2000s. (Tellingly, its lead endorsement is a quotation from Vanity Fair). Though Watkins depicts a canyon bereft of celebrity residents, this “trashy” aesthetic nonetheless gestures towards the car-crash lifestyle that often accompanies certain brands of live-fast-die-young fame.

Like the Laurel Canyon, the Amargosa also spits out new forms of life. If our own species has struggled to adjust, then animals in Watkins’s novel appear more amenable to life in the scorched world. Midway through the novel there is an interpolated bestiary, a compendium of the Dune Sea’s flora and fauna replete with illustrations: a bioluminescent bat, the Mojave ‘Ghost Crab’, a spiny land eel, a carnivorous turtle that has evolved to walk on long legs resembling stilts. The government have led the public to believe no life exists in this “wasteland” so that it can be “nuked” without qualm, Levi begs to differ. For Luz this revelation – that there are animals where they shouldn’t be – marks a source of hope. She carries the primer around with her, reading to Ig from it like a surreal bible – evidence of weird, wonderful life. Luz’s devotion recalls the novel’s opening and her unfulfilled ‘yearn[ing] for menagerie’:

Where were the wild things seeking refuge from the scorched hills? […] Instead: scorpions coming up through the drains, a pair of mummified frogs in the waterless fountain, a coyote carcass going wicker in the ravine. And sure, a scorpion had a certain wisdom, but she yearned for fauna more charismatic. “It’s thinking like that that got us into this,” Ray said, correct (GFC, 7).

Ray’s commentary is astute: few people would shed a tear at the prospect of a future without such a scuttling, ‘repellant’ creature as the scorpion. But the imagined loneliness of a world without them is palpable here. Notably, the book begins with a ‘little live thing’ bursting onto the scene – the wild prairie dog that Luz locks in the starlet’s library. Luz’s exhilaration during this episode intimates some room for optimism in the apocalypse. Perhaps a new vision of community, grounded in a quest to be ‘part’ of something outside oneself, or a broader desire for communion both across and within species. Yet, quickly, her excitement collapses into anxiety. Having welcomed the prairie dog, she begins to fear it might be rabid. Her willingness to have Ray dispatch with the animal suggests that Watkins’s characters are, in fact, less concerned with the conservation of ‘wild things’ than with safeguarding themselves [9].

Despite its commitment to a post-humanist landscape, Gold Fame Citrus seems ultimately to offer us a humanist vision of apocalypse. And while Watkins's book works beautifully as a novel of ideas, her characters often feel tediously out of step with their circumstances. The plot can feel faltering on occasion. As Emily St. John Mandel puts it in the New York Times: ‘The work suffers occasionally from a condition fairly common to apocalyptic novels, which might be described as the “now what?” problem’ [10]. So, too, does Watkins's prose which, though wonderful at times, is also overworked, or try-hard in places (can a dune, for example, really be ‘dreadful’ with moonlight?). These linguistic flourishes, as well as its formal playfulness, are perhaps part of its charm, adding to the broader disorientation of reading the world's end. While some of these digressions I found myself wanting to ‘get through’, others work to haunting effect. In one stand-alone section, the narrator describes a desert monument, constructed as a sinister hazard-warning for generations to come:

The Landscape of Thorns was erected atop Yucca Mountain to frighten our distant and curious descendants on a primal level. It is an assembly of multilingual stone message kiosks and concrete spikes jutting from the mountain, skewering the sky…. Our young people… made rubbings from the message kiosks there… The rubbings say, This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing of value is here. What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us (GFC, 220).

More terrifying still this is based on a real project, backed by the Trump administration [11] .The abject horror of such a prospect, however, is offset by the narcissism of protagonists who seem consistently absorbed with more pedestrian concerns. Critics have praised Watkins for the fact that her characters undergo no redemptive arc, that they end just as fucked up as at they were at the beginning. Certainly, she does not subscribe to a conformist restitution narrative; the end of the world is not a case for new beginnings here. In this sense, the novel marks a departure from the Roland Emmerich fantasy of the post-apocalyptic world “cleansed” and primed for rejuvenation, or the Spielberg disaster-logic of a bad patriarch becoming good [12]. Gratingly though, the same heteronormative, patriarchal dynamics one might expect of a less conceptually interesting text persist: the love triangle that dominates Book Two, alongside Luz’s guilt over her past sexual betrayal, make it feel almost soapy at times. She worries frequently too about her attractiveness, particularly her attractiveness to men – her 'fat Chicana ass', her thin top lip, her filthy hair. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking to hope that I would be hung up on loftier things in the apocalypse (certainly my browser history, with its tally of eBay visits and skincare vlogs, would suggest otherwise). But I’m unsure that bushy brows, or my boyfriend’s enjoyment of my emaciated breasts, is what would keep me awake at night in a future where my primary liquid intake consisted of bottles of expired cola.

In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, Watkins expressed her irritation with the ‘traditional’ genre of dystopian fiction, suggesting that all too often:

It’s just one note. It’s just: it’s dire. We’re plod, plod, plodding along, one foot in front of the other, and the ash is grey – and it’s just the same emotional key struck again and again and again. And I wondered: how come nobody’s ever having sex in the apocalypse? Or telling jokes? [13]

I’m all for having sex in the apocalypse. But surely sex in the apocalypse (and in a world where infertility is rife) ought to be darker, messier and decidedly queerer than this? Instead, the queerest it gets is when Luz submits to an unconvincing tantric partnership with two other women – something she does mostly unwillingly – in an effort to impress the gruff, messianic figure with whom she has fallen “in love”. [14] Perhaps I was expecting something closer to the monstrous, playful sexuality that abides in the work of Angela Carter or Leonora Carrington. At the very least, I hoped that abusive men (or, indeed, ‘benevolent’ men who infantilise women with terms of endearment like ‘baby girl’) might have become extinct. Instead, women still bear the scars of men’s desire – one character in particular, Dallas, does so visibly. Far from anarchic or carnivalesque, sex in Watkins’s apocalypse doesn’t look like all that much fun.

Perhaps one cause of the enduring “brokenness” of its characters, Gold Fame Citrus subscribes to a brand of narrative determinism that dooms us to repeat our mistakes, whether personal or ecological. This transpires most strongly in the novel’s sustained focus on motherhood, together with Ray and Luz's struggle to preserve the figure of the quasi-nuclear family. In this way, the novel appears to harbour a myth of reproductive futurism, wherein survivalism is actually about fighting for our children, not ourselves. [15] It takes the discovery of a child to break through the inertia of Laurel Canyon; notably, it is only once this dream has collapsed, itself becoming unsustainable, that the novel (along with Luz and Ray’s journey) can end. In turn, like Luz before her, Ig is co-opted by a new Manson-esque “family” as a PR object – destined to become the shining face of the campaign to save the Amargosa Sea. In a future plagued by sterility a child is, by its very nature, given over to symbolism. Perhaps this reproductive cliché is unavoidable in dystopian fiction. In his book Liquid Love, sociologist Zygmunt Bauman argues that in our anxious, unsettled times even children have become ‘objects of emotional consumption’, commodities over which we deliberate long and hard before deciding whether or not to ‘invest’ [16]. The act of family-making thus entails a kind of risk assessment; as it transpires, the cost of such attachment proves too great for Luz to bear.

Like love or desire, natural disaster exposes our ineluctable vulnerability to external forces, whether the material impacts nature, or the whims of other. This fact was showcased only recently. Just a few months ago in January 2018, wildfires raged across California’s forests, decimating over 281,900 acres and forcing some 230,000 to evacuate their homes. The chronic drought afflicting the state seems to indicate that, more likely than not, this will only become a broader pattern of events in the future. The fires have also been shown to have long-term negative health impacts particularly for pregnant women, children, the elderly and those of lower socioeconomic status – all of whom have a greater propensity towards asthma, and other respiratory diseases. For humans then, the dystopia Watkins envisions seems already on the cusp of unfolding. And yet, despite the dryness, the desert also teems with life. Ojai Valley, California, originally settled by the Chumash tribe, lies a couple of hours away from L.A. An uncommonly fertile region, wildflowers, olives, apricots, oranges, almonds, as well as “pixie” tangerines all thrive there [17]. Though touched by the fires, this April the valley will witness a rare botanical event: “fire followers”, a particular kind of seed that is activated by exposure to flames [18]. Where most plants can take years to grow after burning, these are germinated only ‘when stimulated by intense heat’: ‘“[Flowers like] cacomite and mariposa lily have co-evolved with fire for millions of years. They’re impossible to start from seed — you literally have to set it on fire, or put it in proximity to smoke, to activate the seed”’. [19] In this parched landscape, it may be the task of the nonhuman to flourish.

Footnotes

[1] See Lisa Cholodenko’s 2002 film, Laurel Canyon.

[2] Less well-known are the 1981 ‘Four on the Floor Murders’, in which three members and one associate of the “Wonderland Gang” drug-ring died a few doors down from the home of then-California Governor, Jerry Brown.

[3] Joan Didion, The White Album (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009), p. 15.

[4] See Maggie Nelson, The Red Parts (London: Vintage, 2016).

[5] Didion, p. 59.

[6] See Wikipedia for a fascinating (and more thorough) exposition of these events: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Water_Wars>

[7] A second diversion in 1941 re-routed water away from outlying farmlands and away from the Mono Lake, forcing its ecosystem (integral to sustaining the patterns of migratory birds) into a state of total depletion.

[8] Glenn Albrecht et. al, ‘Sostalgia: the distress caused by environmental change’, Australasian Psychiatry, 15 (2007), 95–98 (p. 95).

[9] Later, the trustworthiness of the bestiary and its “neo-fauna” are called into question by the fact of Levi's duplicity and psychosis. Though it is inferred that it was probably a fabrication, this remains unresolved at the novel's close.

[10] Emily St. John Mandel, ‘“Gold Fame Citrus”, by Claire Vaye Watkins’, New York Times, 2 October 2015 <https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/books/review/gold-fame-citrus-by-claire-vaye-watkins.html> [Accessed 27 March 2018].

[11] For more on the Yucca Mountain revival see: <http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-stranded-nuclear-waste-20170702-htmlstory.html> and <https://knpr.org/knpr/2018-03/yucca-mountain-legislative-action-budget-request-expected-soon>

[12] See Slavoj Zizek, ‘The Family Myth of Ideology', in In Defence of Lost Causes (London: Verso, 2008), p. 55.

[13] Alex Clark, ‘Claire Vaye Watkins: "How come nobody’s ever having sex in the apocalypse?"’, The Guardian, 31 January 2016 <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/31/claire-vaye-watkins-gold-fame-citrus> [Accessed 25 March 2018].

[14] Levi’s own interest in female pleasure is apparently so lacking that we are – in an offhand detail – he has never once performed oral sex during the length of his affair with Luz.

[15] See Lee Edelman, No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004).

[16] See Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003).

[17] Alex Schechter, '"Fire followers" to bloom in California after deadly wildfires', 27 March 2018 <https://www.aol.com/article/weather/2018/03/27/fire-followers-to-bloom-in-california-after-deadly-wildfires/23396358/> [Accessed 5 April 2018].

[18] Schechter, '"Fire followers"'.

[19] Schechter, '"Fire followers"'.

Bibliography

Albrecht, Glenn et. al, ‘Sostalgia: the distress caused by environmental change’, Australasian Psychiatry, 15 (2007), 95–98.

Bauman, Zygmunt, Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003)

Clark, Alex, ‘Claire Vaye Watkins: "How come nobody’s ever having sex in the apocalypse?"’, The Guardian, 31 January 2016 <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/31/claire-vaye-watkins-gold-fame-citrus>

Didion, Joan, The White Album (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009).

Schechter, Alex, '"Fire followers" to bloom in California after deadly wildfires', 27 March 2018 <https://www.aol.com/article/weather/2018/03/27/fire-followers-to-bloom-in-california-after-deadly-wildfires/23396358/>.

St. John Mandel, Emily, ‘"Gold Fame Citrus", by Claire Vaye Watkins’, New York Times, 2 October 2015 <https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/books/review/gold-fame-citrus-by-claire-vaye-watkins.html>.

Vaye Watkins, Claire, Gold Fame Citrus (London: Quercus, 2015).

Zizek, Slavoj, In Defence of Lost Causes (London: Verso, 2008).

[loycereiber]

Commingled Property

In Utah, divorce courts presume that all property is marital, unless one of the parties prove that the property is separate property, or the property of neither the Plaintiff nor the Defendant. You should always talk to a divorce lawyer before you move forward with a divorce.

In the Deitz case, Husband was living with his mother and brother during the divorce.  At trial, Wife introduced an exhibit which was a list of cars, trailers, parts and tools that she asked to have classified as marital property and sold at auction.  Wife testified that she hoped to have the proceeds of the auction applied to Husband’s child support arrearages.  At trial, the Wife, the Husband, and Husband’s mother all testified regarding specific items of property that Wife asked to be classified as marital property.

The Commissioner’s decision ordered that most of the property listed on the exhibit were presumed to be marital property because husband had failed to properly trace the items as his separate property.  The Commissioner’s decision ordered the items to be sold at auction.  The Judge adopted the Commissioner’s decision the same day.

Divorce Lawyer in Utah

The Husband objected to the Commissioner’s decision stating that “some of the property listed appears to be the property of third parties.”  Shortly afterwards, the husband’s brother and mother filed motions for joinder.  The court denied the motions for joinder saying they were “too little, too late”.

Under the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, you are allowed to claim an interest in property out of which a party seeks a division of marital property, a distributive award, or an award of spousal support to be made a party defendant to the case, at the discretion of the trial court.   The trial court has to believe that the person’s interest in property needs to be protected within the divorce action.

Likewise, the rules allow the Plaintiff or Defendant (a party) to a divorce case to join a person as a party to a case, even against their will, if it is necessary for the court to protect property from which the Plaintiff or Defendant are seeking a division of marital property, a distributive award, or an award of spousal support.  This can be very important when one of the parties is trying to hide assets outside of the court’s reach.

The court of appeals stated that the term “interest” as used in the code and rules usually means lien or ownership, legal or equitable.  The court said that the parties seeking to join in the divorce bore the burden of sufficiently detailing their respective property interests and the basis for their claim of ownership.  Because they had not done so, the Court of Appeals concluded that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying their motions to be joined as a party.

What is to be learned here is that if you have property that is joined, shared or collective in any way with the property of a couple who is being divorced, it is up to you to make sure your property is protected, early on, and with specificity.

Business partners often assume that their interests are protected, however, in reality, they are relying on their friend, partner or family member to do adequate tracing at a time when they are financially and emotionally stressed.  It may be advantageous to be asked to be joined to the case yourself if you have proof to present that the property is not marital property.

Free Consultation with Divorce Lawyer in Utah

If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506. We will fight for you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

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[loycereiber]

Drug Paraphernalia Defense

Many college students and young adults who are just entering the workforce are arrested for drug possession and drug paraphernalia charges. Any drug charge can result in a criminal conviction and hurt your ability to get the job you want or go to the college or post-graduate program of your choice.

A drug conviction can cause a wide range of collateral consequences that you may not have even considered. I’ve seen a lot over the years as a drug paraphernalia lawyer. What if you get a divorce? Will your drug conviction be used against you in a child custody dispute? What if you decide to run for political office, become a corrections officer or become a commercial truck driver? How will a drug conviction affect your options and your future?

Get The Vigorous Defense You Deserve

In Utah, the possession of drug paraphernalia is typically a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail. Frequently, drug paraphernalia charges are accompanied by charges for drug possession or possession with intent to distribute.

How We Handle Drug Paraphernalia Charges

For starters, the state has to prove that the paraphernalia was yours. In many drug paraphernalia cases, the defendant was arrested because he or she was in the presence of friends who had drug paraphernalia. Guilt by association is not enough; the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the paraphernalia was yours.

In addition, the prosecution must prove that the item was intended for use with drugs. If you had rolling papers for cigarettes or other items intended for a legal use, you are not guilty of drug paraphernalia charges. We will challenge every aspect of the prosecution’s case to seek the best possible result for you.

Inappropriate Friending!

A North Texas juror who was booted from a trial has been cited for contempt after trying to “friend” the defendant on Facebook. Court records show 22-year-old Jonathan Hudson on July 19 was removed from the jury in a Tarrant County civil case. The trial, over a 2008 car wreck, proceeded with 11 jurors.

Hudson last week pleaded guilty to four counts of contempt and has been ordered to serve two days of community service Texas recently added specific language to jury instructions that bans jurors from discussing the case on social networking sites. Hudson had received those instructions.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Hudson’s attorney Steve Gordon says his client “made a silly mistake.” “I’ve never seen this before,” prosecutor Chris Ponder “But I’m afraid this is a new reality as the technology is so ubiquitous that we’ll have these types of things occur.”

Facebook and other social media sites have opened up a new world of law. We all have to be careful and make proper discussions regardless of our communication in real life or social media world.

Parenting plan may play important role in child custody decisions

As divorcing Utah residents move through each stage of their legal proceedings, they may feel a sense of relief that they are one step closer to finalizing the process. However, some areas may be more difficult to work through than others, and when it comes time to make child custody decisions, parents may feel particularly on edge. Though they certainly want to do what is best for their children, they likely also want to ensure that they still have the ability to see their kids often.

Because the decisions made during these proceedings can impact individuals’ lives for a considerable amount of time, parties may want to pay particular attention to their custody terms and the parenting plans they create. In order to create an effective plan, parties may want to consider their current circumstances and how those circumstances could change in the future. By thinking ahead, individuals may avoid finding themselves trying to make plans work that no longer suit their needs.

Of course, it can be difficult to determine what needs may come about in the future. Some situations that may be worth considering are how each parent should handle future extracurricular activities and school events. Parents may also wish to include certain terms regarding communication in order to know the best ways to discuss any issues that may arise concerning their kids.

Parenting when both parents are on good terms can be difficult, and when the parents are going through divorce, it may seem even more challenging. Because child custody proceedings can seem contentious, Utah residents may want to focus on their children’s needs and their best options for meeting those needs. If parents are concerned about how to come to the best custody and parenting plan terms, they may wish to discuss their circumstances with their legal counsel.

Free Consultation with a Drug Paraphernalia Defense Lawyer

When you need help on a drug paraphernalia charge in Utah, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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