Inspiration & Encouragement

Hey there, old friend.   As you know,  it’s been a heckuva year.  We showed up in January, bright eyed and bushy tailed, with grand plans to conquer this new decade.  And we were off to a strong start, with cases chugging along on all cylinders. That is, until the COVID-19 pandemic that swept the earth,…

Eighteen is the age of adulthood, but it’s also the numerical representation of “Chai,” the Hebrew word for life.  Last night just before midnight, MyShingle turned 18 – and I like to view my blog as still full of life instead of a boring grown up, with professional, SEO-driven content and posts on the administrivia…

The only thing predictable about 2020 to date is precisely how unpredictable the year has been.  Two months in, courts shut down and many lawyers’ practices ground to a halt as the Covid-19 pandemic swept an unprepared nation.  Back then, many of us believed that the closures were short term, and that we’d return to…

Last week, the New York Times reported that since May, there’s been a rise in new business start ups by Americans between the age of 55 and 64 — who were already starting new businesses at record clips even before the onset of the pandemic. Some of the new older founders launched businesses of necessity…

Just a short two months ago, I was a virtual venue virgin.  What I mean is that despite the world moving online in the wake of the pandemic, I had yet to attend an event remotely.  As someone who has always enjoyed conferences as much for the IRL connection as for the content, I wondered…

As the saying goes, numbers don’t lie. But numbers don’t always count either. Here’s what I mean.  We know that the numbers tell us that millions of Americans can’t find the legal help they need, a shortfall that has been exacerbated by  the pandemic.  We know that the numbers tell us that discriminatory police practice…

Tonight, at sundown, the Jewish holiday of Passover begins.  Many of my Jewish friends and colleagues have opted to skip the Passover rituals this year, finding a virtual seder and all the other rigamarole too overwhelming in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. But Passover this year brings me comfort and hope because just as…

Decades ago, I attended a lecture series at the National Institute of Health down the street from my house, where the now ubiquitous Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease  was one of the speakers. Truth be told, I hardly remember the topic of Fauci’s talk, nor could I…