Hoody-hoo!

So! I start my first day at my new job tomorrow. Even though I know the first day is going to be mostly getting situated and filling out lots of paperwork, I'm still excited at getting to meet all my co-workers, plan my courses of action, and get my cubicle set up. Once I actually have my work PC and work area all set up, I'll see if there's some way to take a picture.

One aspect of my job that I'm looking forward to becoming involved with again would be keeping abreast of Web design docs and standards, gaining a fuller understanding of usability and the World Wide Web, and cross-browser compatibility, accessibility and nifty CSS tricks. Back when I worked for the Board of Education , I immersed myself in these aspect of web design. Granted, that was partially because my work with the BoE meant that I had to make sure that all of our website were cross-compatible and accessible to disable users due to gov't regulations... but the more I delved into everything behind what makes the web work, the more I was fascinated with the underlying ideas, how it tied into design, separating form (the design of a site) from content (the stuff actually ON the site)...

I heard from my old boss at the BoE last week, and it was quite a pleasant surprise to hear from him after so many years.

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Paris, TX seems to be in the news a lot lately for some unsavory things...

Here's some background. In Paris, a white teenager burns down her family's home and receives probation. A black one shoves a hall monitor and gets 7 years in prison. The girl, Shaqunda Cotton, had no prior arrest record, and the hall monitor--a 58-year-old teacher's aide--was not seriously injured. But Shaquanda was tried in March 2006 in the town's juvenile court, convicted of assault, and sentenced to 7 years.

Looking at prior things she was written up for... let's see, according to the article... The school officials here had cited this girl for pouring too much paint in a cup in art class, and defacing a desk that school officials later conceded bore no signs of damage.

This article from The Paris News places a lot of the blame on her mother. Some of her defender's point out that her mother certainly is the reason why Shaquanda has been targeted From the Tribune:

"Shaquanda started getting written up a lot after her mother became involved in a protest march in front of a school," said Sharon Reynerson, an attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid, who has represented Shaquanda during challenges to several of the disciplinary citations she received. "Some of the write-ups weren't fair to her or accurate, so we felt like we had to challenge each one to get the whole story."

Now, the PAris news article says that she could be out in as little as a year instead of the full 7.

Three times she has tried to injure herself, first by scratching her face, then by cutting her arm. The last time, she said, she copied a method she saw another young inmate try, knotting a sweater around her neck and yanking it tight so she couldn't breathe. The guards noticed her sprawled inside her cell before it was too late.

She tried to harm herself, Shaquanda said, out of depression, desperation and fear of the hardened young thieves, robbers, sex offenders and parole violators all around her whom she must try to avoid each day.

"I get paranoid when I get around some of these girls," Shaquanda said. "Sometimes I feel like I just can't do this no more--that I can't survive this."

A 14-year old with no prior record. Got SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON. For shoving someone. She's in jail with kids who are "most violent or most habitual" and it's a "last resort" type of facility.

How could it ever be at all justifiable to send a kid there? In what way will she emerge a better person? Even if you think she deserved punishment, needed to get away from her mom, is lying through her teeth - a 14-year old kid doesn't need one single friggin' DAY in a last resort JAIL.

She might need to be removed to foster care or placed in therapy or given probation... but JAIL? Hell, that jail?

Also, the Tribune article states that Shaquanda wanted to enter the school before it opened to go to the nurses' office to get her ADD medication.

The Paris Times article also that the monitor was treated for injuries immediately while Shaquanda sat in the office with a contusion on her head and a sprained neck.

A follow-up article on the aforementioned white teen arsonist here says:

While issues of adequate supervision were brought up in the original trial, juvenile probation officer Debbie Kennedy testified Tuesday that the girl’s mother has made sure all appointments have been kept, the girl is receiving weekly counseling from multiple sources and is reportedly taking prescribed medication.

Kennedy also testified that although local resources are being utilized, the girl’s behavior has not changed.

The youth’s attorney, Ben Massar, says he believes the county judge made a prudent decision about “a difficult situation.”

“She has emotional problems that need to be dealt with, but I don’t think she is going to reoffend and I don’t think TYC would be the place for her to receive the help she needs,” Massar said.

“I think the judge looked at this juvenile as an individual, took the case seriously and did what he thought was in the best interest of this child,” Massar said. “I believe he listened to my arguments and sees potential here.”

So why didn't Shaquanda get that selfsame consideration?

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To counter act outrage fatigue, I recommend three doses of YouTube.

First up, the most awesome example of popping-and-locking ever:

Next up, a double-shot of bored or disaffected voiceover artists messing around and creating alternate takes for ads and promotional videos. First up, we have an old used car dealer: (audio NSFW)

And this one for AFSCME, which while being hilarious, also has audio NFSW:

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I've also done some writin' lately. I finished and submitted one article for !up for publication soon, and I'm in the thick of another. I still have my column every Friday at 411Mania Games, but I've also done some branching out; In addition to my interview with 2 members of the Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja Team, I also interview two people for the Politics Zone: Political cartoonist August Pollack, and blogger Julia of Sisyphus Shrugged.