Here is a map of unemployment changes in the country's largest metro areas, according to Moody's Economy and Brookings:



Is it just me, or is it odd to see a map of the U.S. that is red on the coasts and blue in the middle?

We are all affected by the current state of America's health care system. I would venture to say that even Republicans are affected, though they are loathe to admit it.

Those of us who are unemployed may be more directly affected by yesterday's vote to pass the health care reform bill. I, for one, have no health insurance since losing my job, cannot afford COBRA, and would have benefited immensely from a public option. Millions of Americans are in a far worse state than me, with actual health issues that require medication and treatment. These people may have no coverage at all or may be covered by Medicare or Medicaid, and may be being denied coverage even with those plans.

I have heard a lot of chatter from the Left around this health care reform bill. Today mostly I see people claiming victory. Overall it seems to me the Left has gone the way it often does these days, with an "it's better than nothing" attitude. It may be better than nothing, but when did we become a group of people who believe that "better than nothing" is the best we're going to get, and that we shouldn't fight for more?

Even the voice of Pro Choice America, representing the interest that took one of the biggest beatings with the version of the health care reform bill that passed, rolled over and took one for the team:

NARAL's official statement.

Although his opinions can be very over-the-top and slanted, Michael Moore has something to say about the health care bill, and is one member of the Left who isn't sugar coating it:

Michael Moore's take on the health care reform bill.

At least as far as the pro-choice issue is concerned, you can do something about it:

Let the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) know where you stand.

All in all I think we can all agree that the version of the health care reform bill soon to come across Obama's desk is a step in the right direction. Now, what will it take for us to become a group that not only steps, but leaps?

As you may recall from my previous post, my uncle is the person who took a special interest in my career and guided me toward the law. I will not say he pushed me into it or forced me into it- it was completely my choice. However, he did sell me on the idea. And I bought in.

My uncle loves me very much. He didn't have children of his own, and he has been a part of raising me and my brother our entire lives. He is very much like a second father. In many ways he is more of a traditional father- he is the one with expectations and who I feel more likely to disappoint by going my own way. For my uncle it was very much his success that I followed his advice and chose the law.

For the past eight years I don't think the two of us have talked about much else. Whether he was lecturing me or joking with me, the law has been the common ground between my uncle and I for nearly a decade.

When I learned that I was laid off, I decided to wait to tell my father and my uncle until I knew what my plan of action was.

I waited to tell my father because I knew that he would worry. My father is ill and has enough to worry about. I waited to tell my uncle because I was downright afraid of his reaction. He wasn't going to yell at me or hit me or anything, but he was going to be overbearing and full of lectures and opinions and ideas for how I could get my career back on track. And deep down inside I knew I didn't want to get my career back on track, at least, not in the way he had in mind.

By the end of my 30 days' notice with my firm I knew that I was leaving the law and that I wanted to focus on writing. I had some semblance of a plan. At the very least I knew what I did not want to do, and so it was time to "come out" to my dad and my uncle.

It really did feel to me like a coming out. It carried with it all the same fears and anxieties. Fear of rejection, fear of disappointment, fear of being told that I was a let down to my family. And in many ways those fears were realized.

It has come to my attention based on the questions people have asked me in person, in comments here, and on my facebook profile, that I may have failed to clearly communicate that I am not going back to the law, and why.

The short answer is the law is not for me. The long answer is, well, a bit longer.

It makes some people feel better when I note the following, and so for your sake I note it here. When I say that I am not going back to the law it is perhaps more accurate to say that I view the law as a carer that I will always have to fall back on.

However, if and when I go back to the law it will be because I have failed in my attempts to be successful in my other endeavors. I have yet to fail at anything I have put my all into in this life, and I do not plan to fail now.

Eight years ago I had my BA in Literature (Creative Writing) from UC Santa Cruz and I had plans to go on to get my MFA in creative writing. My eventual dream was to be a professor of Literature and Creative Writing at a university.

My uncle the lawyer seized what he saw as a window of opportunity. Before I applied to graduate schools he took me aside and gave me his sales pitch on why I should go to law school and get my JD instead. His main selling point was that a JD would open up more opportunities than an MFA, and that if I truly wanted to be a professor I would be of more value to a school with my JD than with my MFA. The secondary selling points were that a career in the law offers job security and a great salary.

I bought in. I really did enter law school believing there would be a world of possibilities open to me because of it, believing that is was one path to becoming a professor, and believing that I would not become a practicing lawyer.

However, by the time you have been through four years of law school you don't believe you've got any choice other than to take the bar exam. And once you've passed the bar, you don't believe you're qualified to do anything other than practice law, nor do you see any other way of beginning to pay off the enormous student loan debt you've incurred.

And so I came to find myself practicing law.