[Hugh Brown]

The current age of consent in California is 18, which means your older friend may be committing statutory rape under California law. This, of course, only applies to actual sexual activity - but your friend is taking his chances.... Frankly, I'd be a bit suspicious of a 25 year old that was pursuing a sexual relationship with a 16 year old, straight, gay or whatever...

User Detail :  

Name : Hugh Brown, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 34, City : Tallahassee, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : Attorney, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Hugh Brown]

I don't understand some of the objections to Kwanzaa I have seen here. The objections seem to come from Christians that object to an 'invented' holiday that they fear will overshadow the 'real' holiday of Christmas, and that somehow God will also be offended. Do these people realize that Christmas is also an invented holiday, and that it didn't exist before 349 A.D.? Tired of the pagan celebrations, the Bishop of Rome, with the blessing of the Pope, invented Christmas to overshadow a constellation of pre-existing pagan hoilidays including the celebration of the birth of Mithras (Dec. 25) the feast of Saturnalia and various other Celtic/pagan winter solstice celebrations. Given this, why not have a holiday for African-Americans? I'm far too white to observe the holiday myself, but I think it is a postive thing and should be encouraged. Besides, how can you have too many holidays?

User Detail :  

Name : Hugh Brown, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 34, City : Tallahassee, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : Attorney, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Hugh Brown]

Pro: Money.
Pro: Information. As an 'insider' in the system, you have access to information that mere mortals do not.
Pro: Status. People treat you with respect (but see the Cons below) - and many will actually fear you.
Pro: Power - actual power to make changes in society. It's addictive and corrupting sometimes.
Con: People tend to think that since you are a lawyer, you must know all about X (never mind that your area of knowledge is restricted to Y).
Con: Some people are afraid of you - this can be good, but also not so good. My in-laws are migrant farmworkers. Every time I walk into a room the conversation stops. I'm just a guy, but sometimes I get treated like I'm some kind of freak.
Con: Alienation. This can be true of doctors, accountants, software engineers or other kinds of specialized professions. Your spouse, family and friends can't relate to or often understand what you do or why you are tired or irritable. It may all seem like smoke and mirrors to them. Beware of talking shop with other lawyers when civilians are around - it drives them crazy.
Con: Hard work. Being a lawyer involves a great deal of boring, studious work on a daily basis. The hours can be very, very long.
Con: Confrontationalism. Sometimes it is hard to leave the brutal cross-examination method at work. Trying it out on your wife, kids and/or pets is not a good idea. You will find that you hold people to precise definitions, and say things like 'but what evidence do you have that I ate the last twinkie, eh?' The divorce rate for lawyers is very high.
Con: Stress. Yelling at people and getting yelled at, not to mention being relied upon by desperate people whose lives or livelihoods are going to be directly effected by your performance, can give you heartburn, heart attacks, baldness, alcoholism, etc.
Con: People hate you for no other reason than the fact that you are a lawyer. If you win a case, at least one person hates you. If you lost, at least two people hate you.
Con: Forced socialization. Being diplomatic all the time is a real pain in the butt. Most days I want to come home and crawl under a rock for a few hours. You will experience periodic loss of faith in humanity (another side effect of knowing people's ugly little secrets).
Con: Not all lawyers make decent money. In fact, considering all the trouble you have to go to, starting salaries are really bad.

User Detail :  

Name : Hugh Brown, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 34, City : Tallahassee, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : Attorney, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Hugh Brown]

For many in the still largely agricultural South, their first and probably only exposure to any Spanish-speaking person was a Mexican migrant farmworker. This is particularly true in rural areas. Also, Mexico is the only Spanish-speaking nation bordering the U.S. so people tend to assume you have come across that particular border. Lastly, the average Gringo-American cannot distinguish between differing Spanish accents (or even between Spanish and Portuguese, for example). My wife is Mexican and we live in Florida, that has a high concentration of Cuban immigrants. In the country, people always assume she is Mexican. In the city, they tend to assume she is Cuban. I've gotten to where I can actually tell the difference by the accent (Cubans talk REALLY fast compared to Mexicans). I notice you are in SC - most of the people you meet have probably only heard Spanish or a Spanish accent from Mexicans. Educate them that you come from a different culture - as different (or more) than the U.S. is to England or Australia. It just may not have occurred to you that you are something else!

User Detail :  

Name : Hugh Brown, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 34, City : Tallahassee, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : Attorney, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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