Holly is a poet, essayist, and immigrant who writes about feminism, politics, and Elvis. Her prose has been featured in several Medium publications and she is a co-host of The Art House’s Moving Voices open mic night.
I’ll be the first to admit I thoroughly enjoy all the “holy shit, Australia” posts that circulate around here but I feel like there’s a very important caveat when it comes to the discussion of swooping season that no one seems to mention.
For those not aware, swooping season is when the magpies start to nest and turn into mini dive-bombers comprised of talons, feathers and spite. It’s not fun. I bled heavily after a particularly vicious swoop when I was a kid, and I’m definitely not the only one.
But here’s the thing: swooping is not an innate behaviour. It’s a learned one. I realised this the moment I moved out of home and began my decade long (entirely unintentional) habit of moving to a different suburb every two years.
I’ve met a lot of wildlife, walking everywhere as I do. And I’ve met a lot of magpies – hella intelligent creatures that are probably thinking “what the fuck is this chick doing” every time I say hi to them as I walk past.
When I first moved out of home, I automatically started taking notes on areas I saw magpies in preparation for swooping season. It was just the done thing. It wasn’t until September came and went and the magpies in my area continued their quizzical but otherwise completely non-aggressive behaviour that it started to twig with me.
The next few years of moving around solidified my suspicions.
Anytime I lived close to a school or in an area with a high concentration of families with young kids, the magpies would swoop. Any suburb (usually inner city) with a high concentration of childless households and/or share-houses: no swooping to be seen.
And it’s any goddamn wonder.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve yelled at kids for messing with wildlife. I grew up in the outer suburbs, so there was no shortage of mini-assholes with an empathy shortage. Australian kids will poke anything they can reach with a stick, and throw rocks at everything else. Including birds nests.
Magpies are intelligent as hell, and they remember shit for GENERATIONS. Some human-shaped fucker throwing rocks at them and their nests? That’s something that’d stick.
So anytime you read one of those “lol the birds try to kill us here” posts, remember: it’s not the birds that started that shit – it was the asshole humans.
Adding on to the fact that magpies are super intelligent:
In primary school there were these really huge gum trees in which a family of magpies took up residence one year.
(an important thing to note is that I grew up in the country with A LOT of magpies -that were basically like relatives for the amount of time they spent on the veranda- and never encountered any swooping)
So one morning walking in to school I noticed that all the kids ahead of me were giving the really huge gum trees a wide berth, with other kids shouting warnings from the buildings. Being an airy-headed little kid, I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were actually saying, so I just kept walking straight under the trees.
Nothing happened.
I got to the buildings and asked why everyone was making a big fuss about the trees, and one of my friends just pointed back the way I came and said “the birds!”
And sure enough, any of the other kids that tried to walk under the trees got immediately swooped and chased to what the magpies thought was a good distance from their nests.
Magpies not only remember humans that are mean to them, but they recognise humans that have been given the seal of approval by other magpies.
(D) If she did not zealously advocate for her client, or purposely tanked the case, she would have faced disbarment from the legal profession. (SHE WOULD HAVE LOST HER JOB)
(E) In the 1980 audio interview, she talked about how her client somehow passed the polygraph that she’d hoped would have helped prove his guilt, and then laughed while saying that since then she never trusts polygraphs, ever.
(F) Even the picture used is not the actual victim, and you can be damned well sure they used a tearful angelic blonde little white girl to drive the hate.
but tldr;yes she defended a child rapist , no she didn’t really have a choice despite finding the case disgusting, because as a civil attorney YOU LEGALLY STILL HAVE TO REPRESENT THEM NO MATTER HOW ICK IT IS (this is what LAWYERS DO, they have NO CHOICE). She was essentially forced into it by her firm, and she made the guy take a polygraph test hoping that would prove him guilty. But when it didn’t prove him quilty (since he passed the polygraph ) she said she forever lost her faith in those tests.
Also, just FYI, in case you’re looking for a law degree, please know that this is STILL required of attorneys today. If you request to get removed from a case because you don’t like it and the court keeps you on you are legally bound to do so irrespective of how you feel about it.
No one is saying that every it of what that man did isn’t super horrible or gross.
But …
being legally bound to defend a rapist
≠ being an advocate for rape.
Also – bit of history for ya– despite this one gross case (among other civil cases no doubt) the Rose Law Firm she working for was known for actively taking cases for and defending groups like The Black Panthers. #tbt
Please do REBLOG/SIGNAL BOOST this post – the amount of anon messages I’ve gotten in the last 24 hours about this exact topic is uncanny.
People need to know the truth.
i’m really relieved to hear this
the greatest success of the republican party this election has been the demonization of Hillary Clinton, to the point where people actually believe she’s on the same level as trump.
she isn’t.
EVERY DEFENDANT IN AMERICA IS ENTITLED TO AN ATTORNEY. PERIOD. END OF STATEMENT.
Jesus God, I hate Internet meme.
One of my mother’s dearest friends is a public defender and I can confirm the non-negotiable aspect of this. She’s told us stories of murder and rape cases where she’s had to defend people she knew were guilty. IT WAS NOT A CHOICE, it was her being legally required to fulfill the CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS that even the most heinous criminals still have.
I’m so tired of trying to combat the literal lies and slanders people actually believe about Hillary. It’s exhausting.
Just a reminder for fans of the Founding Fathers that John Adams (yes, that John Adams) defended the British soldiers who had fired on the crowd in the Boston Massacre because they too had the right to be represented by counsel, even though he didn’t want the case and knew he would get hate for taking it.
“The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country.”
I’ve seen a lot of curious people wanting to dive into classical music but don’t know where to start, so I have written out a list of pieces to listen to depending on mood. I’ve only put out a few, but please add more if you want to. hope this helps y’all out. 🙂
a lot of these pieces apply in multiple categories, but I sorted them by which I think they match the most. have fun exploring classical music!
also, thank you to viola-ology and iwillsavemyworld for adding on! if you would like to add on your own suggestions, please reblog and add on or message me so I can give you credit for the suggestion!
Waiting for Winter 