Hangin' with the Gov.

Here is a picture of Rick, Judy and me with Mark Warner, the Governor of Virgina. This was a very political weekend for me. On Friday I joined some of the other Law Students for Choice in a "Burma Shave." For those who are unaware, a burma shave is a sign-waving rally on the side of a street to get people driving by to honk at you. This particular "Burma Shave" took place on Belvedere between Franklin and Main, right on the edge of VCU's Monroe Park campus. It was organized by Planned Parenthood and there were about twenty of us. We held signs spelling out the phrase, "Judge Roberts, where do you stand? Will you uphold the law of the land?" (I was holding "stand?" as well as a smaller "Stand up for choice" sign.) It was pretty obvious by Friday that Roberts was going to be confirmed, but i feel that we were sucessful in getting people to think about reproductive rights as they drove home from work. Many, many people honked their support, while only two or three people in the hour and a half we were there gave us thumbs down or yelled pro-choice sentiments at us. My favorite expression of support came from a young woman, probably a VCU student, who yelled at us while waiting in traffic: "Keep your Bible out of my vagina!" A little raw for our purposes, but hilarious nonetheless.

Saturday was the Pig Roast at the governor's country house. Rick and Judy had scored the invite, and I was thrilled to go. I plan to write him a thank-you note for all that the Commonwealth has done to welcome the refugees such as myself. There was fairly tasty barbeque and beverages aplenty; but not really too much moving and shaking. Fairly sedate, as we were all too hot to move in the 90+ degree weather. But the estate was really gorgeous, set right on the Rappahannock River and huge grounds with animals and such. So basically Rick, Judy and I waited in line for about an hour to shake hands and get this picture with the Gov (eating while in line-- smart!) and then we walked around the property to check it out and left. Overall worthwhile, but I was very tired by the time we returned from being outside all afternoon and was unfortunately not very productive that evening.