AALS Externship 2020 Newsletter, Year-End Issue

The last couple of months have been tough.  They’ve also been a rock-solid testament to what we’ve known all along.  Our externship community is STRONG, SMART, AND ESSENTIAL.  We’ve pulled together to support and care for each other.  And we’ve pulled together to share our nimble and clever approaches to take care of our externs’ education, wellbeing, and professional prospects.  We are grateful to each and every one of you for the joy and energy you’ve brought into our national externship circle.

And it does feel like we’ve gotten to sit together in a cozy circle every Friday since March 13^th and get to know each other – perhaps even more than we would’ve in an in-person conference.  Our weekly zoom meetings have focused on the urgent changes needed in response to COVID-19 shutdowns -- teaching remotely, assuring effective assignments and supervision, planning for summer programs, and the like.  

Each Friday, we’ve had more attendees than the prior week – starting with roughly 25 to over 70 in the last few weeks.  Almost 150 colleagues have participated, representing over 100 schools.  Scores of people have been to all or nearly all the sessions.  Many have stepped up to organize and host the gatherings. And we all learned a thing or two about zoom functionality. 

We send you our gratitude and warmest wishes for your wellbeing.  As the summer approaches, we hope you find invigorating fun (and enjoy Lauren and Sue’s Taking Care in COVID-19 piece!).  After you’ve rested up a bit, think about joining one of our subcommittees (please . . . you’re all so amazing and should be more involved in AALS Externships). Email to let us know if you’re interested. 

LOVE TO ALL <3

Anahid and Meg

agharakhanian@swlaw.edu

reuterm@umkc.edu

There is no right or wrong way to take care of yourself in a time like now. Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to do the things that bring you the most joy. Our AALS Externships Membership Committee collected these responses on how some people are taking care in COVID-19.

M O V E  Y O U R  B O D Y

“I run. I ran before this and I am so thankful to have that outlet. With trying to keep everyone else going, I can’t seem to structure much more intentional self-care into my day. I take extra time on my runs now, however, breathing deeply and feeling my lungs functioning and my heart beating and being grateful for a healthy body that is working how it is supposed to.”

“Doing a daily yoga practice and sit - sometimes short, but just doing a mountain pose and a warrior pose can give me strength and energy to face the day.”

“I resumed knitting.”

“I am loving being able to take exercise classes at night after my kids go to bed!  I’m a night-owl, so those 5:30 am boot camps have never been an option for me, but to be able to slough off the stress of the day with some mindful movement, strength training, or yoga has been amazing.  I’ve been particularly loving an online dance class with Heather Alaine (who also teaches yoga at Berkeley Law) – blasting the music and shaking it all out has been an amazing way to end my day.”

“I am very lucky to be able to drive out of a populated area at least every couple days and walk in one of the many parks near me, by a lake, or in an empty sporting field.  It’s refreshing to do lots of stretching outside, walk as much as time allows, especially inclines, and to play with bubbles and bubble wands in the wind with my little one.  Or to just chase her back and forth as she tries to throw or kick a ball, and to point out what we see along our walk.  This reminds me that despite this unprecedented crisis in our lifetime, I have many blessings.  Mobility, health, stability, resources, and family among them.”

 “My trainer did an on-line session, and walking is essential to me to enjoy nature and to get out of the house.”

T I M E  W I T H  P E T S 

“Daily walks with my friend's dog - putting it on my schedule and making it happen - just breathing and taking in good dog energy walking by the Pacific Ocean (sorry folks inland) helps.”

C O O K I N G  T H E  T I M E  A W A Y

Testing new cookbooks:

• Joon (Persian Cooking Made Simple)
• Rika’s Modern Japanese
• The Food of Sichuan

And finding humor when you are just at capacity:

“Today during my WFH lunch break, and while serving as cafeteria employee at my kids’ new home school, I managed a mini-facial while draining the mac and cheese. Ah, that refreshingly dewy glow. Next up, downward dog grooming and meditative vacuuming.”

“I used to love to cook before this—three meals a day for weeks on end business. Now I’m like, ‘Here’s a Poptart and there are probably some Cheerios in the couch cushions. Knock yourselves out.’”

O U R  F A V O R I T E  M E D I A 

“Anything by Tara Brach—her podcasts, her meditations, her two books—Radical Acceptance, Radical Compassion. I also just watched Hillary. I went in reluctantly, too hard to relive all that, but I thought it was well done and a piece of history we should all watch alone, with our families, with our friends—whoever.”

“I’ve also been reading Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff – intrigue, diplomacy, money, murder, a strong powerful woman … this book has it all.  I’ve been loving cuddling up at night with my 10-year-old after the littler ones go to sleep and reading her the juiciest parts – I figure I can count it as home-schooling. ;)”

Other books to add to your TBR (to be read) list:

• The Razor’s Edge (W. Somerset Maugham)
• Wine to Water (Doc Hendley)
• The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd; I was late to the game on this one but LOVED it!)
• The Boys in the Boat (Daniel James Brown)
• In Wisdom’s Mind (Jensen Moock)
• Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (Jenny Lawson)
• A Woman of No Importance (Sonia Purnell)
• The Devil’s Garden (John Cencich)

G R A T I T U D E  &  S P I R I T U A L I T Y 

“My daily gratitude practices - read a gratitude thought for the day to start the day and then 5 things I am grateful for at the end.  I promise it helps with sleeping and finding goodness in many things.”

“I’ve been spending more time with bible study.”

“I meditate and my teacher did an online meditation group.”

“I’ve been a Zen practitioner for well over a decade.  That said, in this pandemic the preposterousness of total work-from-home, being Daycare for my rowdy 18-month-old, and trying the logistical gymnastics of two working parents and a toddler constantly in a small apartment, has smacked me squarely upside the head.  So one self-care habit I look forward to is AM silent meditation with the window and the weather.  I wake up early before everyone else, avoiding looking at any tech device except to set my timer, and face an open window.  Lights are off, and in this part of the country it’s very dim outside early in the mornings.  I keep my eyes open yet slightly downcast.  I breathe in whatever weather is happening that morning.  Sometimes I smell cold rain on the sidewalk and the damp breeze rustling trees.  Other times I breathe in crisp, dry air.  Following my breath naturally, I count each out-breath.  After reaching 10, I start counting again at one.  (This is typical zazen meditation practice).  Of course, distraction may come, and I just notice that, and start back again counting out-breaths at “one.”  Whether I get 5 minutes or 35 minutes from one day to the next, I treat myself to that.  If I could figure out where our candles were hidden when the baby started crawling I’d light one each morning too.”

If you have other ways you are taking care in COVID-19, please send ideas to Sue Schechter, Field Placement Director, UC Berkeley School of Law (sschechter@law.berkeley.edu). Many thanks are in order to Lauren Donald at University of Tulsa College of Law for leading this effort.

And whatever you are choosing to do to take care of yourself, remember:

• You cannot take care of others if you are not taking care of yourself, or you will at least do a much better job taking care of others if you start with yourself.
• You can only do what you can do—recognize when you are tired, not focusing well, and need some downtime. How many zoom calls can one human do in a day?!
• Your safety and your family and community's health come first—while the work we do is important, we need to take care of life at home, whatever that means to you.

May you be you be safe, may you be well, and may you find peace in this sad and scary time,

Sue and Lauren