• tour of courtroom, judge's bench, jury deliberation chambers
• meetings with sheriff, judge, RCMP officer, Crown counsel
• super accomodating judges with excellent senses of humour
• watching trials in progress
• mock trials for the Big Bad Wolf
  (Which by the way, prosecution had a horrible case. No wonder defence found it so easy to poke holes.)

It was such an amazing learning experience! From the truth about defence counsels, to the pillars of sentencing, to the fact that lawyers actually have family lives--there's so much to take in!

Going back to regular school is going to be so, for lack of a better word, blaaah after this. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the experience


... and start counting down the days till I graduate. :)

7 April 2009

Our political process sucks !

There. I said it.

You may now call me a traitor, an ungrateful immigrant, an ignorant teenager who needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.

In the meantime, let me tell you a story.

The other night, I went and volunteered at a candidate's campaign headquarters(HQ). I was actually pretty excited about it and was eager to do anything to help.

Arriving at HQ, I was taught how to "man" the phones. There I was, script on computer, random phone number in sight, and surveying away. I ended up calling more than 60 houses that night. But the funny thing was, I didn't feel accomplished at all.

I left that place feeling violated. I felt sick and disgusted by what I was doing. Calling random strangers up, trying to get on their good side, not caring what time it is (dinner-ish).

I learned a couple of things that night:

1. Politics is a numbers game.
   It doesn't matter who actually likes you and how good your platform is. What matters is translating that support into numbers in the voting polls.
2. There are people who are just apathetic.
   They don't care who gets voted in. Usually, these people are the most outspoken critics of the government.
3. There are people who are extremely partisan when they vote.
        "Sorry, I only vote [insert pary here]."
        "Oh! He's a [party A]? Okay, I'll vote for him."
   And all these without even knowing what the candidate's platforms are.
4. People hate being called during dinner time.
   No duh.
5. Telemarketers have pretty crappy jobs.
   People usually hate you. And it's not your faut you sound like robots.

I didn't even mind that people were rude or outspoken. But it bugged me how issues didn't matter.

Politics, at least from what I've seen, isn't really trying your best to make a difference in your community. It's about getting that spot at Parliament Hill, getting that hefty pension plan secured. It's about photo ops and putting on a face of actively caring. It's about popularity and fame.

We need better representation--and younger people--in Parliament (and Legislative Assemblies)! People who are actually in touch with what this society needs.

I wonder, if politics didn't pay so much, would anyone even bother doing it?