Aren’t my coworkers awesome?

If you’re an Obama fan, you’ll surely think so after reading this open letter that several of them signed. As you can guess by the title of the blog featuring it – “Habeas lawyers for Obama” – the signatories are habeas counsel to Guantanamo detainees and are throwing their support behind the Illinois Senator, whose efforts to restore the rights of habeas corpus and limitations on executive overreach are unmatched by any others among the current crop of presidential contenders. More information regarding the merits of our claims, as well as my own involvement with the case, can be found in this past post.

The letter’s main text reads:

HABEAS LAWYERS SUPPORT OBAMA

January 28, 2008

Dear Friends:

We are at a critical point in the Presidential campaign, and as lawyers who have been deeply involved in the Guantanamo litigation to preserve the important right to habeas corpus, we are writing to urge you to support Senator Obama.

The Administration’s Guantanamo policies have undercut our values at home and stained our reputation around the world. All of us are lawyers who have worked on the Guantanamo habeas corpus litigation for many years, some of us since early 2002, and we were all deeply involved in opposing the Administration’s attempt to overturn the Supreme Court’s Rasul decision by stripping the courts of jurisdiction to hear the Guantanamo cases. We have talked with Senator Obama about why the Guantanamo litigation is so significant, and we have worked closely with Senator Obama in the fight to preserve habeas corpus.

Some politicians are all talk and no action. But we know from first-hand experience that Senator Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership on this critical and controversial issue. When others stood back, Senator Obama helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Administration’s efforts in the Fall of 2006 to strip the courts of jurisdiction, and when we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration’s bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us. Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo. He has understood that our strength as a nation stems from our commitment to our core values, and that we are strong enough to protect both our security and those values. Senator Obama demonstrated real leadership then and since, continuing to raise Guantanamo and habeas corpus in his speeches and in the debates.

The writ of habeas corpus dates to the Magna Carta, and was enshrined by the Founders in our Constitution. The Administration’s attack on habeas corpus rights is dangerous and wrong. America needs a President who will not triangulate this issue. We need a President who will restore the rule of law, demonstrate our commitment to human rights, and repair our reputation in the world community. Based on our work with him, we are convinced that Senator Obama can do this because he truly feels these issues “in his bones.”

We urge you to support Senator Obama.

We encourage you to forward this message to anyone who might be interested.

Signed, eighty-eight hardcore advocates for justice, the Constutition, and the true principles of a free society (I’m paraphrasing). It’s worth mentioning that these advocates are not smalltime. They consist mostly of law professors and litigators from the upper echelons of legal practice. And they chose their words carefully: language that we need a president who won’t “triangulate this issue” cannot be anything but a direct swipe at Hillary, and one as hard-hitting as it is well-deserved. Hillary can be counted on to do whatever is in Hillary’s best interests at a given moment. This issue, which cuts at the core of our rights and values, is too important to risk being abandoned for politics’ sake. Obama’s the real deal. And this is proof that at least eighty-eight accomplished, principled lawyers agree.

These lawyers were the reason I took this job, and they’re a source of continuing inspiration as I prepare to become a lawyer myself.

… but someone’s gotta do it

While that someone does what he’s gotta do, he might as well have fun. And oftentimes, it begins with poking fun at himself.

My first day back at work (only two days after the accident), my secretary came into my office, saw me with a cast on, and just started laughing. I don’t blame her in the slightest. I started chuckling, too, doing my very best then and thereafter to project a sense of good humor to others. I’d be the first to agree that this whole breaking-my-foot thing is pretty absurd, and in a funny sort of way.

Despite being ushered in by a temporarily debilitating injury, January has been my most productive and social month in recent memory. Crazy, right? Seems logical that walking on crutches would make my daily routine more sedentary, but no; gimp leg notwithstanding, I’ve enjoyed many a night and weekend out these last four weeks. As the swelling subsided, so did any sense of frustration and self-pity. Thank the Lord on high it only took a few days. The very week my foot broke, I ventured out every single night.

I have the people in my life to thank. No question. Family members, good friends, co-workers, and even perfect strangers have all gone out of their way to make things just a little easier for me. Guess I should thank the strangers, too. Acts of kindness have been as numerous as they have been affirming, from Lizz driving me to and from work every Friday to an elderly gentleman pausing a few moments to hold a door open. These kindly door-holders haven’t been limited to old men – they span gender, generational, and racial lines (much like Obama’s coalition! Hey-oh!). I can hardly hobble anywhere without someone lending a helping hand. Of all the things that have made the hardships and inconveniences of crippled life bearable – enjoyable, even – good company takes the gold, with mobility devices and entertainment options finishing far behind.

To all of you, thanks for being so accommodating. Especially given that my injury resulted from my stupidity alone, I owe y’all.

Gimpin’ ain’t easy…

For the last two weeks, I’ve been adjusting to one-legged life. Not the easiest life, let me tell you. I had never truly appreciated having mobility until I was given a cast and directions to stay off my right foot altogether. Even simple things like brushing my teeth and changing underwear are no longer so simple… to say nothing about the complexities and nuances involved in showering, with one leg bearing all my weight and the other wrapped in a trashbag.

Transitioning from fully mobile one day to hobbling along the next was far more painful than I had let anyone realize. My first week on crutches knotted up my back and damn near destroyed my wrists. At first, I told myself “Eh, crutches can’t be that bad, right?” The first day, that proved true. Granted, I kept trying to defiantly walk on my freshly-splinted foot and throw down the crutches in protest, but to get any sort of distance, the crutches were sort of necessary. Thank God I had spent the last year building upper body strength – walking on crutches would have been a nightmare for my arms and shoulders otherwise. Contrary to common knowledge, when using crutches, you’re supposed to put all of your weight on your hands during strides, instead of simply resting your armpits on top of the crutches. Many aren’t strong enough to follow those directions, but not wanting to risk underarm nerve damage, I always put full weight on the handles while crutching. “Great upper body workout,” I figured. Just one problem: my wrists weren’t accustomed to supporting the full weight of a 6’6″ guy with such frequency. So, instead of feeling the usual armpit soreness that first-time crutchgoers tend to feel, I woke up the next day with awful wrist pains that nearly kept me from going back to work.

Yup, you read that right. “Nearly” kept me from going to work. Instead of having the good sense to stay home, rest, and wait until my foot could be put in a permanent cast, I picked up that pair of crutches and headed out. The first stop was the Rite Aid on the way to the Metro. The clinic doctor had given me a Percocet prescription the day before… who am I to argue with doctor’s orders? Besides, even having hobbled the mere 600 feet from my apartment door to the pharmacy, my aching wrists were already signaling that my crutches would need some padding. I still find it absurd that I needed pain meds less for the underlying injury (broken foot) than for the fresh pain that the treatment (crutches) had prompted. Why the crutch designers couldn’t make those handles comfortable enough for a single painless day of crutching is beyond me, but as it stood, those handles needed some serious padding. I waited for the prescription to be filled and, seeing no specialized “crutch padding,” took the advice of a friend. With dishrags hanging from my belt and a roll of duct tape around my left forearm, I awkwardly crutched to the counter, paid for the crutch “upgrades,” and sat down on a nearby bench to wrap the rags around the handles and use the tape to secure them. Once my prescription was ready, it was off to the office.

Walking with crutches was agonizing at first, and not just because of the wrist pangs. Stairs were a mortal enemy, slowing me down at best and threatening slippage/tumbling/death at worst. I would have to stop every hundred feet or so to catch my breath, and sweating through my wool coat was far from sexy. Having misplaced my only backpack, I could carry only what could be easily hooked onto a finger or two. And all the while, my constantly searing wrists, arms, shoulders, and back made me constantly contemplate hiding in bed for six weeks straight. Even now, several weeks later, discomfort follows me day and night. The pain of sore upper body muscles and joints has given way to purple, throbbing toes from poor circulation in the cast and midnight calf cramps from leg underuse.

The biggest surprise of the few days after the accident was my bitter attitude toward people around me. To be sure, the aches and pains of initial crutch-wielding would be enough to turn anyone a little sour, but my bad mood bled into my default perceptions of others. Rathern than simply treating others’ random acts of kindness (holding doors, giving up seats, etc.) as blessings, I constantly looked for signs of discourtesy and grew angrier at the sight of any act that could be construed as willful ignorance toward my hardship. It was the strangest damn feeling… and from from a person who believes in the universal, genuine good of people and normally lacks any sense of entitlement. In that sense, being injured was bad for my ego in opposite senses that somehow made for a brutal one-two punch: being in pain and partially immobilized brought on feelings of helplessness and dependence while spurring narcissism and cynicism.

Fortunately, the internal melodrama of those first few days subsided, and my typically good-humored self reemerged from behind the smiling face that I had previously painted on. Despite my differently-abledness and the occasional urge to toss my crutches out the nearest window, I’ve spent the last few weeks being productive by day and social by night. Whoda thunkit? More on the upside of gimpiness later.

2007 broke my foot on its way out

2007 didn’t hold a candle to 2006. Sure, this last year hosted many a good moment – getting into law school, connecting with new people, good visits with family, adventures across states and seas. When it came to day to day life, though, it was a placeholder at best and a real downer at worst. I’m glad to be rid of it. But before 2007’s shackles were successfully thrown off, that crafty little year got one last little bit of revenge.

Last night’s New Year’s Eve festivities were a rockin’ good time. After our usual toast of hop-packed beer, my friend Mat and I donned our Duran Duraningest attire and spent most of the night at an 80s-themed house party. Cheesy electronica music? Check. Ring Pops that turn your mouth blue? Check. Sporting a tuxedo shirt over a neon undershirt with the ubiquitous green tie around my head? That’s a big check. After watching the ball drop and spending a few extra hours perfecting our Axel F groovings, we met up with some of Mat’s grad school friends for drinks at a bar near Cleveland Park. Shortly thereafter, we went back to Mat’s place in Georgetown and enjoyed some wine (which I think he had just gotten for free at a VA vineyard) before conking out around 3.

It seems I can’t go two months without spraining something these days. Sometime between electric sliding and moonwalking, my foot twisted oddly and became progressively more painful as the night wore on. Of course, my recollection of when/how it happened was made particularly fuzzy by copious amounts of wine, champagne, and spiked punch, which had a similar effect on my memory of, well, pretty much the whole evening. Leaving the 80s party a little after 1:30, I was limping slightly but could still bear full weight on my right foot. By the time we reached Mat’s apartment after 3:00, though, the pain had gone from annoying to crippling. So much so that it would intermittently wake me up. The pain reached an apex this morning as I rolled off Mat’s couch, hobbled to my car, and drove home with a wincing expression that never left my face.

First a sprained shoulder, and now a potentially broken foot. Blimey, ’07 just had to get in one last punch. The last hospital-worthy injury I had sustained prior to 2007 was a hairline break of one of my armbones playing football when I was 14. I wonder if these frequent ER visits of mine will earn me a preferred patient punchcard… you know, one that makes my third visit copay-free.

So long 2007, and thanks for all the fractures. I’m sure I’ll be more forward looking once the pain subsides. Oh, and be sure to check out Dave Barry’s recap of the past year. Brilliant stuff.

UPDATE: Good news: it’s not sprained. Bad news: it’s broken. I got the full cast-and-crutches treatment. Looks like I’ll be hobbling around for the next couple of weeks…