Words

So I've decided to start my own blog about what is important to me; my dreams, aspirations, thoughts, ideas, and yes, a few let downs. But mostly good things, trying to keep it all positive because I've learned that being positive and taking responsibility for your own happiness is what truly matters. So inspite of, not depsite all the bad things out there, I choose to be happy. I choose to be part of the solution, not the problem. I choose to use words like; believe, success, achieve, happiness, and aspire. And so this is where I'll begin telling my story. I hope you settle in, put on your seat belt, spit out your chewing gum (so you don't choke when you laugh or cry); and get ready for the ride! I hope you enjoy it!

In July, 2010 I was offered a job with the Florida Innocence Commission as the Assistant to the Executive Director. I accepted and moved to Tallahassee and work at the Florida Supreme Court. You can read about the Florida Innocence Commission at this site: http://flcourts.org/gen_public/innocence.shtml. I love my  job, I love the people I work with everyday and I am honored to be included in such a great work for the state of Florida.

I work with a diverse group of people within the judiciary and legislative arenas, and that includes law enforcment. I am learning so much about how our local and state governments function and I'm fascinated everyday with what goes on here in Tally, and how quick things change. The most important decision that has come from this is that I decided to take the LSAT and apply to law school. This has been a dream of mine since probably fifth grade when I used to check out law books from the library and bring them home to read! And then later in life my passion has always been to fight for those who cannot speak for themselves. I became involved in the Guardian at Litem program and was on the National Advisory Committee for SafePlace. I learned that there are so many women and children around the world that need a voice. They cry, yet no one hears. So I made a decision to study, and took take the LSAT so I could go to law school and become that voice for those who did not have one. My goal is to pursue my JD this fall, and steer towards Advocacy Law.

The culmination of our Commission's work transpired over the past several weeks with a senate bill and a house bill to support recommendations from our Commission to standardize procedures for law enforcement across the state of Florida. These two bills are reforms to eyewitness identification procedures with photo line-ups and live line-ups. The session isn't over until May 6, so there is a long way to go, but the senate version passed it's committees, and the house version was amended in support of law enforcment. What I've taken from this are two things; that no one wants anyone to be convicted of a crime didn't commit, and there are always two sides to every story. But in the end--justice does have a price.