Adverse Witness
THE VIEWFROMMY DESK
Lisa Terwilliger AW
Does it feel like fall yet to you?
Sadly, it doesn’t to me. There is no slight decrease in temperature, no pumpkin spice anything, and most importantly no CCBA events as we’ve come to know them. Over the past 14 years September has been synonymous with spending time with our members. The September events have always been like an adult version of the “what I did over the summer” essays we all wrote in school. THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT! Not better, not worse, just different. It will be up to us to weather the storm and come out on the other side, stronger and more in tune as a community. Herman Melville said, “Real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but it often bestows it, and in everything imposingly beautiful, strength has much to do with magic.” I have come to believe that the CCBA is a magical organization; professional and yet deeply personal. Strong bonds exist here. We care about each other. We are passionate about the law and our fellow Neapolitans. We are a community. A community that I know will withstand this test. No one really knows what the rest of this season will bring, but I’ll go back to my buddy Herman (I’m quoting him so much that we feel like old friends!), “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” This is exactly the approach the CCBA Board and I took as we planned this upcoming season. It will not be what we are used to, but we are making the best of it. In person events will be temporarily replaced with Zoom meetings. While we’ll miss visiting before the luncheons, we’ll get the same CLE without the commute. It will also be cheaper, as we’ll be charging only $10 for each event, which will go to the Foundation – a win/win! We’ll also be able to bring in speakers that are normally out of our reach due to time and distance. Score! When we do get back together, just imagine how much we’ll have to discuss!
We are also using this time to get to know different aspects of our members. In this issue you’ll see pictures depicting life for our members now….Zoom screen shots, the new workday dress code, and what we are calling hidden talents and quarantine hobbies. I love this fun new view of our members. I hope you’ll help me make the picture pages of the Adverse Witness vibrant and special with your own submissions. This is a unique opportunity to bring a new community dimension to the AW. I’m looking forward to it. If you’re reading this, you’ve likely already renewed your membership (and are slightly bored), but if you haven’t I encourage you to do so now. This year is a litmus test for associations like the CCBA. Your continued participation and support is not only necessary, but also proof positive that we are an integral part of your professional lives. Together we are stronger. We can offer each other support, guidance, humor, and a nudge when it’s needed. But my words pale in comparison to those of the truly eloquent Herman Melville. We started with him, so it seems like a good idea to finish with him as well. “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” Our connection with you is the reason we exist. Thank you for leap of faith you are taking in joining us on this unparalleled journey
September 2020 Vol. 192
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