Monday, May 18, 2015

Six Long Years

Six years.  I've been doing this thing for six years now.  The first post was May 18, 2009.  I just looked up the numbers.  When this one is published, I'll have put up 1198.  There are another couple of hundred I've started but abandoned for one reason or another.  

 This is a hobby, not an obligation.

 I began when I returned to private practice after 5 years as legal director of the ACLU of Ohio.  I figured it would generate business.  Quickly, I concluded that I had neither interest nor skill at writing the sorts of things that were likely to generate business.  I write this because it gives me satisfaction. Bill Otis says I'm so hyperbolically defense oriented that no fair minded people will read this.  That's the pot calling the kettle black, but I'm OK.  Bill's welcome to drop by or ignore me as he sees fit.  So are you, whoever you might be.

 But my business plan.  Pfeh.  In terms of raw profit, the blog has pretty clearly cost me more than I've made from it.  (Fuck you, Rakofsky.)  Anyway, I'm out of private practice now, so there's no shot at a profit motive.

 And yet I persist.

 Thanks for reading.
Posted by Jeff Gamso at 9:11 PM

13 comments:

  1. shgMay 18, 2015 at 9:16 PM

    Thanks for writing. And fuck Bill Otis too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 21, 2015 at 12:19 AM

      The defense bar's analytical refinement takes a step up.

      Bill O.

      Delete
    2. shgMay 25, 2015 at 11:48 AM

      Cute quip, Bill. Shame you can't find the time to offer similar depth when your "analytical refinement" is being shredded. But hey, that would require thought and guts, and there's probably somebody out there who you're sure needs killin', and you're too busy screaming for blood.

      Delete
    3. AnonymousMay 25, 2015 at 12:54 PM

      My analytical refinement did well enough in the federal courts of appeals for 25 years. Admittedly in that forum, I never heard "fuck Bill Otis," not from the most juvenile or ill-tempered people I ran into. There is simply no point in trying to have an exchange with someone who thinks that's acceptable.

      Delete
    4. shgMay 25, 2015 at 1:12 PM

      A facile excuse for avoiding a challenge. No doubt your delicate eyes never saw such "juvenile or ill-tempered" language before. You are such a fragile and special little snowflake.

      Delete
    5. AnonymousMay 25, 2015 at 1:30 PM

      25 years of cutting and pasting respondents briefs for the government? What an impressive intellect, Bill.

      Delete
  2. nidefattMay 18, 2015 at 9:43 PM

    "There is, of course, something distasteful and absurd in the very project of parsing this lexicon of death. But as long as we are in the death business, we shall be in the parsing business as well." And Gamso will be in the blogging business. I think a lot of us, particularly those that do capital work, take a lot of comfort in that. Here's to another six years, to mercy, and to the grace that gets us by.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 18, 2015 at 9:56 PM

    I read everything you post on an RSS reader (old school) so I never comment. This post inspired me to fire up a browser just so I could let you know that – from one appellate public defender to another – your shit is critical. Keep writing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jill McMahonMay 19, 2015 at 1:20 PM

    Keep on keeping on.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jill McMahonMay 19, 2015 at 1:20 PM

    Keep on keeping on.

    ReplyDelete
  6. David M.May 19, 2015 at 1:24 PM

    Thanks for writing. I like the way you blend integrity with surliness.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousMay 20, 2015 at 12:16 AM

    Thank you for keeping at it. I'm glad you're getting something out of it, and I hope you'll keep at it for a while longer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. REversMay 20, 2015 at 10:34 AM

    If nothing else, having a cretin like Bill Otis dislike you is validation of your efforts. Thanks for making the blog available.

    ReplyDelete

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