May 21, 2001

9:50 AM

The feel good story of the day.Cupcake Brown, a former prostitute and drug addict who nearly died alone on the streets, knew she would cry yesterday when she graduated from the University of San Francisco law school near the top of her class. She wasn't alone.
posted by msacheson (2 comments total)

Let me go on record denouncing everyone who underestimate the "sex workers." Some how the world conditions us to think that anyone who either shows some skin, does porn, or is in the sex-service business are of low self esteem and some how otherwise incapable of anything intelligent. THIS IS A MYTH. I think the world and we -- the society should drop our prejudice against these people.

I recently wrote a paper on Danni Ashe (I was inspired by Steven Den Beste's constant mentions in MeFi how Ms. Ashe taught herself HTML and web design and started her own website). After interviewing her, I can say she is defintiely smarter than a whole lot of people I know and could single-handedly out smart 80% of everyone with a Harvard MBA.

Sometimes I wonder if the rest of the world is just jealous of people in the sex-business.

I just hope Ms. Brown's future clients are not prejudiced by her past.
posted by tamim at 10:26 AM on May 21, 2001

Wow! What is interesting and, in its way, cool, is that the bottom line is not that she is becoming a "helping" lawyer but joining an elite corporate law firm in San Francisco, and making $125,000 a year on her first day on the job.

Most first year lawyers in big firms are 25/26 year olds who are moving seemlessly from a quarter-century bubble of upper-middle-class privilege (courtesy of their parents) into a life-long bubble of upper-class privilege (albeit one that requires plenty of hard work, even if done in pleasantly appointed surroundings).

I hope that her story will make the many, many young lawyers who take their good fortune for granted think a little harder about the social trust they bear as attorneys.
posted by MattD at 10:28 AM on May 21, 2001