Five

Guess who turns five today?

Yup...five whole years, which alternately seems like about 25 and then ten minutes. The girls opened their presents this morning (a couple toys, some coloring books) and then decided to wear their brand new T-Shirts to school. For MA, that meant a Frozen shirt that sings Let it Go on command. I am not entirely sure that her teachers will find that nearly as adorable as I do...:-)

That's all:-) Scooter rides and sushi for dinner, at the birthday girls' request!

Coming together

Things are looking good for Tinkerbelle on the job front...she called and emailed a bunch of places that I had sort of suggested for her and got all of the details on applications, deadlines, etc. She's got three really good leads on summer camps that hire kids her age and that would work out perfectly (lesson to teenagers...you want a job? Ask. The kid who goes out of their way to say they want it will probably get it.)

All three of them are taking applications and will be interviewing in a couple of weeks, and she already has times scheduled to interview in early May, all on the same day. She's going to come out here on a Thursday night, go to her three interviews (and more if she can get them lined up) on Friday and then stay for the weekend. Honestly, I'd be pretty surprised if she didn't get more than one of the jobs. Unless they are hesitant because she isn't really a Boston kid, which they all know already and seemed fine with, she will probably get to pick from the three of them. Again, when hiring kids at that age, employers are going to be drawn to the kids who seem assured and confident and serious about the job. The one who says "Hey, hire me! I would LOVE to work here!" is probably the one who will get hired.

I'm pretty excited by this...more so than when I first heard the idea. She seems really serious about it, and having a five-day-a-week job will be great for her. She'll stay busy, meet some kids her age, earn some money and get to be a little more grown-up than usual. She's going to have to get herself up, get ready and get to the T on her own every morning, which is kind of a big deal for a 15 year old ("on her own" is maybe an overstatement...I'll know if she oversleeps!) Not that it is exactly rocket science, but I think she will feel like she has some autonomy and some responsibility...hopefully that's good for her.

So, we'll see...but it is looking like my summer visitor is en route!

Penalties

Quick note today...

Emotional day around here yesterday, as the surviving marathon bomber was convicted of all 30 charges against him, including all of the Federal charges that carry the potential of the death penalty. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this...not about his guilt, but about the trial and the penalty phase.

To recap: he admitted to placing the bombs. He admitted to shooting the MIT cop. His lawyers acknowledged in their opening remarks that he was unquestionably guilty of murdering four people. Those charges, taken alone, would have led to his four-times-over guilt of the single worst charges under State law. In other words, four times the maximum penalty. And by most accounts, he was willing to plead guilty to those murders.

The only charges in dispute were the Federal charges, which basically amounted to "Terrorism". There was only one reason to charge him with this: the death penalty. Murder charges are State charges, and Massachusetts does not allow for the death penalty. Terrorism charges are Federal, and carry that potential. The purpose of trying him at all was to convict him of a charge that he was not willing to plead guilty to: the Federal terrorism charges.

I guess I just don't see the point of the trial. Not that it was a huge circus, but it kept this animal in the public eye for two months, it allowed for this bizarre pop-star style fetishization of him, tied up enormous law enforcement and legal system resources and forced the re-living of all of the raw emotions of that day.

And for what? So we can execute him...after we exhaust 10+ years of extraordinarily expensive appeals? After we let that ridiculous fucking Rolling Stone cover be plastered on the news 100 more times every time he is in court for some minor hearing? (Side note: someone needs to put that fourth-rate rag out of its misery already.) So that we can make him a martyr for a cause that he just spent two months claiming he didn't really care that much about..?

The death penalty is super expensive. And it's irreversible. And it doesn't deter crime or, obviously, rehabilitate criminals. The only real argument for it is that some people are just so incredibly horrible that this is the only punishment of appropriate severity. By that benchmark, clearly, if anyone deserves it, this shit does...

But, I dunno...I'm just not feeling like we get much out of this other than a little bit of vengeance. Frankly, sending him to Florence ADX seems a much worse fate.