Wednesday Writs: Murder Most Foul Edition

Em Carpenter

Em was one of those argumentative children who was sarcastically encouraged to become a lawyer, so she did. She is a proud life-long West Virginian, and, paradoxically, a liberal. In addition to writing about society, politics and culture, she enjoys cooking, podcasts, reading, and pretending to be a runner. She will correct your grammar. You can find her on Twitter.

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9 Responses

  1. Oscar Gordon says:

    L4: Hopefully they learned from the last time and they make sure the cameras are broken well before she’s left ‘alone’ in her cell.Report

  2. Jaybird says:

    The masks are a nice touch.

    In high school, we had Matt. Matt was one of those guys who had a full beard at 15. He was built like a shed. The kind of guy who would move a picnic table across a park by picking it up and putting it where he wanted it. We also had Nick. Nick was what used to be called a “late bloomer”. Most guys had puberty kick in somewhere between grades 7 and 9. Nick’s was finally kicking in around grade 11.

    Matt and Nick would go into a liquor store. Matt would go up to the counter with a case of beer. Nick would ask “Dad, can I have a Snickers?” and Matt would throw the candy bar on top of the case of beer.

    Matt did not get carded.Report

    • Damon in reply to Jaybird says:

      I preferred to use a “cut out”. I’d go visit a person, who I was introduced to by a friend, who would buy the beer. I’d tell her how much I wanted, and for a small tax, like a pack of cigarettes, or some groceries, she’d get it. Paying a 20 or 30% premium for easy access to booze was something I’d willingly afford, and the transfer took place not in public.Report

    • Aaron David in reply to Jaybird says:

      I grew up in a college town and finding someone who had just turned 21 was as easy as getting an afterschool job.

      Then again, I don’t think I got carded after about 19. You just had to know who was working where.Report

    • veronica d in reply to Jaybird says:

      I’m not a racist but…

      Anyway, we would buy booze in the nearby black neighborhood. It turned out that, when a few crazy white kids with green mohawks* showed up at the little corner store in the one black neighborhood of Pompano Beach, they would sell us beer — and MD 20/20.

      Damn I drank a lot of MD 20/20. And cough syrup.

      My normie, suburban friends would ask me, “Aren’t you scared you’re going to get robbed?”

      (It turns out white suburban kids in the 80’s had some really weird ideas of what black neighborhoods were like.)

      Actually it’s kind of fun to imagine a bunch of black kids in the 80’s in Pompano Beach watching a gaggle of punks with green mohawks ride by on their skateboards on their way to buy beer (and MD 20/20 and sometimes cough syrup). I imagine they thought some variation of, “Okay, what the fuck are white people doing these days? Are they okay?”

      * Technically we didn’t all have green mohawks, but I did. In any case, we were all good little suburban punkers with convincing punker costumes.Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to Jaybird says:

      I stopped getting carded at 16, thanks to a full beard.Report

  3. L5: Required reading includes Bob Lawlaw’s law blog.Report