Raising awareness with Joel’s mom

May 4, 2009

Today, I spent the day with Joel’s parents at the annual Mayfair in Harvard Square . Judie, Joel’s mom, brought her harp to help raise awareness and money that we desperately need for the case. The Harvard Square Business Association was nice enough to let us have a small space without paying the participation fee (which, in hindsight, would have been more than what we actually made).

It was not quite 11 a.m. when I reached our small spot on the curb at the end of Brattle Street. The weather was fairly warm but the sky was grey and the wind was chilly, with possibility of rain in the afternoon. I crossed my fingers. I had never met Judie before, nor seen her picture, but when I saw a woman wearing a bright poofy yellow print dress and pink rose cardigan, I knew it was her. She had brought a stuffed toy monkey with her, matching the little monkeys jumping around on her dress. Her energy was contagious. We set up a poster, a donation basket, and sat the monkey in front of Judie’s harp.

Judie played almost non-stop for several hours while Debbie and I handed out fliers and answered questions to people who wanted to know more about the case. Her repertoire was diverse– from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz. The beautiful tones of the harp created a surreal calmness amidst the bustle of the fair, like being in the eye of a storm.

We wrapped things up in the late afternoon because the rain was getting too heavy (Arthur, Joel’s dad, had been holding up an umbrella over his wife) but decided it had been a good day. Although we did not make a lot of money, several hundred people now know about Joel’s case. The Internet may be good in getting the message out to more people, but communication gets so much more personal at the face-to-face level. Even with people whom I did not exchange a word with, I saw their expressions as they read our poster and knew we were on the right track. -yvette

See pictures of today here [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpenguin/sets/72157617570130867/show/ ].

PS. Some people asked today: if you’re representing Joel pro bono, why do you need money?

That is a good question, and one that should be clarified. Although Prof. Nesson and the students are not being paid by Joel, taking a case to court is costly. For instance, some documents that are essential to the case (like deposition transcripts) are not in the free public domain and cost hundreds of dollars. Also, bringing in expert witnesses also takes money– even if the expert witness is not being compensated for the testimony, someone has to pay for their travel costs. And those are only a couple examples.