Like a meet cute, but awkward
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Date: 03/02/2018 Time: Lunchtime |
Wayne State Jamila's office |
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Cast: | |
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Lunchtime, March 2nd, 2018. The door to Jamila's office is open--as it usually is during her posted office hours--and she's sitting at her desk. The scent of cooked meat permeates the office, but there's no food out on her desk. She's leaning back in her leather office chair cradling a book: Brick Lane by Monica Ali. It looks like she's nearly done with it, based on where the book is open to. Alma passes by Jamila's office and reads the posted office hours. She peeks inside to see if the professor is busy. Alma tries to focus on the book. She knows if someone interrupted her right at the end of something she'd want to stab them and set them on fire As she turns the page, Jamila glances up toward the door and sees Alma standing there. "Hello there, can I help you?" "Yes, I was wondering if you had a moment to help with some questions I have about rights near a border," Alma pulls some papers out of her backpack Jamila smiles and nods. She pulls a bookmark out from the pages in her book toward the front, and slips it in at the page she'd just turned to before closing the book and setting it down on her desk. "Of course," she says with a smile. "Law specifically related to the border isn't my specialty, but I can at least help point you in the right direction." She motions to one of the chairs on the other side of her desk. "Please, have a seat." Alma takes a seat. "I have some family in Chicago who've helped put on
'Know Your Rights' and 'Reporting an ICE Raid' trainings. I haven't been in the
country until recently, and I'm relatively new to Detroit. I know basically
nothing about how the law is different here. There's a web page about how it
can be different within 100 miles of the border or at the border" Alma knows
enough to know she knows fuck-all about legal stuff "Here are some examples of what we pass around. I don't know if this
would be helpful or even applicable here," Alma shows Jamila a one page flyer
for ICE Raids, and two business sized cards. One business card is a short guide
for knowing your rights, and another card is for first defence legal aid, And this shows some of the material we share in a workshop. See? officers sometimes will come to the door and show people a legalistic looking form that has the word 'warrant' on it, but it is not literrally a warrant" Jamila reaches out to take the flyer and card and looks them over before setting them back down on Alma's side of the desk. "The law is mostly the same here as it is in Chicago. There aren't significant differences from Illinois to Michigan, as most of what comes into play is Federal law." She leans forward to tap on the card with legal aide info. "I can get you contact information for local groups here in Detroit that do this kind of work. The rest of this is pretty much just as applicable here as anywhere in the border zone." "Oh thank you very much! This is great help. I've been away in New
Zealand for a while now, and when I came back everything was um all to hell"
Alma isn't sure she should swear as much as she feels. "It was like someone spilled a huge container of dark ink that spread everywhere, and everyone got sick. People used to just help each other. I don't know what happened" Jamila wrinkles her nose and nods. "Yes, things have taken a turn for the worse," she says. "Though, most of the relevant law has been on the books since before the administration changed." Alma rips out a page from her notebook and writes her contact information on it "here is my contact information. Do you have the contact information for the groups handy? I can come by later if it is more convenient. I'm generally in the bio sciences building and I can get email on my phone. I'm doing a corvid census starting with the campus grounds." Alma grins sheeplishly. "Oh yes! Let me see," she pulls open a drawer and pulls out a notepad
of her own along with a pen. She writes down several names and numbers: Legal
Aid and Defender Association, Inc; Criminal Defense Resource Center; Lakeshore
Legal Aid; and a few others. She tears the page off and trades with Alma.
"These should be a good start, ah, Miss Hunters. I'd call them and see if they
have any recommendations as well. Can't hurt." There's a pause as she listens
to Alma, and she smiles. "A corvid census. So...birds?" She sounds oddly interested. Alma gushes with enthusiasm Alma is suddently very excited and starts talking about how intelligent
corvids are. She pulls a decorative leaf from her hair and shows Jamila the
serrated edges and the tapered shape Alma recounts how New Caledonian Crows no
shit literally make their tools. not just tool users, see? They are Tool
Makers. Alma goes on to say that maybe it happened because of isolated habitats
in islands, consider the Alala. "uh... but I need to be in Detroit right now so I'm on leave. But I
have a grant to do this. I'm not an expert on urban ecology and I've got some
pointers from my advisor. Did you know about the Baltimore School versus the
Chicago School... uh well anyway" Alma is aware she may have nerd monologed. Alma tries to stop. "What do you do?" Jamila leans back and listens as Alma's enthusiasm floods all over. She did ask an open ended question, after all. When she does, finally, get an opportunity to speak again--because there's a question posed to her--she smiles and leans forward. "I only just started teaching here at the beginning of the term. I work in the civil rights space, focusing on intersectionality. I primarily focus on the legal experience of black, queer women." Alma artfully jabs serrated leaf back in to her ponytail <<OOC>> Alma says, "alma's crow has more art skill than alma does so it's not actually that artful" You say, "I'm just learning about intersectionality and so many issues. I can be obsessed with ideas and birds more than people." Alma frowns, a little dissappointed in herself. people? how do they work? eh. "I should check your syllabus out. I like reading. I've been reading a lot to try and figure everything out." <<OOC>> Alma says, "because of course reading is how you figure things out" "uh, I should go. I need to eat lunch and then scope out some spots for sensors. oh oh wait, does Detroit use a gang database like Chicago does... wait, I'll look that up. bye!" Ed.'s note: Alma has been getting more embarrassed and by this point wants to dash out. "My classes are probably not the best intro, since they're geared toward law students," Jamila says. "But, if you're looking for some reading material, I'd strongly recommend On Intersectionality: Essential Writings by Kimberle Crenshaw. She's been leading this field of thought for decades, having coined the term." There's a brief pause. "She was also my advisor at UCLA," she adds with a smile. Alma says, "Oh that makes sense. oh! I'm going to check her out!" | |
