This is the second part of my controversial interview with Ken Goldberg. He’s gone through many phases in his life. Today, Ken talks about the gun range, being a lawyer, and more struggles with substance abuse. You can also watch the video of his appearance on the Ali G Show (and no, he didn’t know it was a fake interview.)
Ken Goldberg: Once I got my law degree, I started practicing law with the same population, in large part, I’d been social working to.
Jennifer Barry: That makes sense. You understood them and knew they needed a lot of legal help.
KG: I was perfect for it. Juvenile cases, criminal cases, it didn’t matter, I could smell b.s. from a mile away. I could bust my client’s bad story, I could bust a witness’ bad story. I was bright, although I wasn’t successful, and then I met Gerry Spence. He taught me trial law in 1994, and then I became a minor star in my own little world. I learned what was wrong with my technique, and I became monstrously good. But I wasn’t interested. My history is that when I become really good at something, I lose interest. Continue reading From Gunslinger to Monk, Part 2
When caught in the act, bankers change their stories.
This is a continuation of my interview with Nye Lavalle. Sixteen years ago, he began investigating mortgage fraud when a bank attempted to wrongfully foreclose on a family property. Many of the issues he uncovered more than a decade ago, like robo-signing, are just being recognized today. Lavalle continues to try educate others about problems in the banking industry and the US economy.
Nye Lavalle: That’s why it was funny in Florida when that bank said they lost a note. I would kind of laugh, how do you lose a $2.5 million note? That’s like $2.5 million floating around somewhere.
Jennifer Barry: There is some evidence that the banks aren’t necessarily losing the notes so much as destroying them.
NL: But why would someone destroy a $2.5 million note? The only reason someone would destroy a note would be to cover up endorsements on that note which would have indicated another change of title to whomever really owned that note, so they actually destroyed the evidence.
After a short break from the computer, I’m back with another controversial interview. Ken Goldberg has gone through many phases in his life from runaway to lawyer, and yes, Buddhist monk. With all the violence in his life, it’s amazing that he’s still here at age 58. Ken is proof that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself if you really want to.
Jennifer Barry: Thanks for agreeing to the interview. You’ve had an amazing life, starting at a very young age. I know that you spent a lot of time on the streets in Chicago.
Ken Goldberg: I started out in an affluent Jewish family, and I started running away when I was 13 from a physically abusive dad. I tried to poison my father when I was 10. I finally left home on a regular basis at the age of 15. I would come back home when I was too sick to cope with the streets anymore. At 17, I moved out for good.
I hung out mostly in the ghetto in those years because white, middle class families didn’t want a runaway hanging around. But black families said, “Don’t make any trouble or any noise, and you can go to sleep in that room over there.” Continue reading From Gunslinger to Monk
When people learn I’ve been studying Spanish for four years, so many tell me they wish they could do the same. When I ask them why they don’t learn the language of their choice, I get one (or more) of the following excuses. Today I will help you by blowing up all these excuses so you can cross this off your bucket list.
1. I don’t have the money for classes - If you are trying to learn a rare language that isn’t spoken near you, it’s true, you may be out of luck. Immersion in a program or a visit foreign country may be best, but it’s not cheap.
But for most of us, we are trying to learn a tongue that’s spoken by millions around the world. For a major language like German or Mandarin Chinese, check your local library for CDs, dictionaries, and even children’s books. Radio Lingua has free podcasts in over 20 languages. My favorite resource, iTunesU, has free online classes in everything from Armenian to Urdu. Continue reading 5 Language Learning Excuses and How to Get Past Them
New Comments