Posts Tagged: Law-School

During the spring quarter of my second year of law school, I participated in the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic. I did some work on the government response to the Occupy Movement, armed conflict in India, and disappearances in Turkey. But most of my time was spent working on a report about the effectiveness of agencies tasked with monitoring working conditions in Cambodian garment factories. Compared to other garment-producing nations, Cambodia actually has relatively good protections for worker rights.

Timor-Leste is a tiny half-island nation at the southeastern tip of Indonesia, about 400 miles northwest of Darwin, Australia. In 1975, Timor-Leste declared independence from Portugal in 1975. Within eight days, Indonesia, which controls the western half of the island, invaded. Thus began a brutal quarter-century occupation and constant violent resistance that resulted in the deaths of at least 100,000 people before Timor-Leste was finally granted autonomy from Indonesia in 1999.

I spent the summer of 2011 working for the U.S. National Park Service in Yosemite. It was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. I was doing legal work—public land use and government contracts. My job was usually a 9-5 day during the week, but my schedule was flexible and the days were long, so I had plenty of time to explore the park. The Park Service set me up a two-bedroom house in the employee village below Yosemite Falls.

In the early summer of 2011, I traveled to Sedona for a brief vacation before starting my summer job. The town of Sedona itself is nestled in the red rock country of central Arizona. It’s surrounded by beautiful rock formations, deserts, and mountains. We spent the first few days relaxing and hiking in the area around the town. On one particularly memorable day, we explored Native American ruins near Sedona. We visited a nearby state park with some small cliff dwellings and painted caves.