This is my first blog and it is exciting. There is so much to write about, but I will pace myself. I plan to blog about current events, whatever is in the news. But I do want to focus on human rights and justice issues and to shine a light on slavery. Yes, slavery still exists. Today, it is commonly referred to as “modern day slavery” or “human trafficking.” A related term that many of us have heard is “fair trade.” We will explore all these matters in future posts and tomorrow I will raise the topic of “cocoa.” Yes, our beloved chocolate and how it relates to “modern day slavery.” I will analyze Supreme Court and other cases in my blogs, too, including those that deal with criminal justice issues. I welcome your comments on my posts, so please, let me know what you think. (My website is still under construction, though, so you may not be able to leave comments just yet. You can e-mail me: marlensuyapa@optimum.net or reach me on twitter or facebook.)
As a brief note of introduction, I am an attorney in New York City and a novelist on weekends and nights, in Connecticut, where I live. I was born in Honduras and raised in the Bronx. I wrote a novel, “The Wedding Gift,” set in 19th Century Alabama, before the Civil War. I will discuss my book on later posts, but you can read a bit about it on the other pages of my website: www.marlenbodden.com
Before we begin today’s topics, I send my congratulations to Justice Sonia Sotomayor on her appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States. On a personal note, I appeared before Justice Sotomayor when she was a United States District Court Judge in the Southern District of New York. I was impressed by how well she treated my client, a poor woman. I think that all appellants in the Supreme Court will get a fair shake from her.
Today I want to discuss an item in my local newspaper in Stamford, CT, The Advocate. A woman who was raped at gunpoint in a hotel’s parking garage, while her children looked on, sued Marriott for damages. According to the paper, Marriott’s defenses are that the woman was “careless, negligent, and failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities.” I cannot believe that Marriott has not settled this case. I thought that people were done with blaming women for being raped.
As to tomorrow’s topic, cocoa, believe it or not, this issue is complicated, so I will break it up into pieces. I will feature two candy giants tomorrow: Cadbury (U.K.) and See’s Chocolate (U.S.).
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