Bulman Farewell

Though our time on Earth doesn't always fall into neat categories, our lives do have discernible chapters.  Some of them are pleasant; others we'd just as soon forget. But for most of us, the events of our childhood have special significance, since what we learn and live through as kids colors everything that comes afterwards.

I spent seven years at Bulman Elementary School in Redford, Michigan.  Looking back, it was the longest chunk of time I spent anywhere, outside of my parents' house, until I began my 30-year career at the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. Many of those days dragged on interminably --- especially in Sixth Grade, where I confronted Unreasoning Adults for the first time in the person of my sixth grade teacher (who, may she rest in peace, shall remain nameless). But for the most part, my gradeschool days were filled with adventure and fun, of the sort that many kids today miss, owing to the Unreasoning Adults that seem to dominate much of modern-day America.

Learning came between the more important interludes of school:  recess, gym, and lunch, where lessons learned on the playgrounds stayed with us for the rest of our lives.

Parents took a healthy interest in what was happening at school --- with the Mothers Club filled with concerned, caring parents who did what they could to supplement our education with events, field trips, and baked goods.

Year by year, our growth and developing sense of self passed unnoticed --- except by the caring grownups around us, who were gently guiding us along life's early pathways, taking pride in every step of progress we made along the way.

Today, much has changed, and many of those changes are not for the better:

Recess, so necessary for young boys to discharge energy otherwise spent fidgiting and making mischief, is often looked at as wasted time that could be better spent sitting still and listening.

I was fortunate enough to be in an "accelerated" program for the smarter kids in our grade school. This gave the teachers more freedom to experiment, and to move through the basics to a more challenging course of study.  Today, this kind of "tracking" is often frowned up...and even by the time I left Bulman it had been abandoned, due to the protests of parents whose felt their kids were suffering by not being part of the program.

Dodgeball --- a source of playground fun for countless kids through the years --- seems to be going the way of the dinosaur, as grownups seem intent on eradicating anything with a hint of risk from childhood.

Even the free-range childhood I remember growing up --- leaving the house after breakfast for a day of unstructured play and adventure in the woods and fields near home, free from the over-protective eyes of adults --- is on the verge of extinction, sacrificed to the anxieties of the age. Back in the Middle Ages when I was a kid, free play was how we learned about the world, about friendship, and about how to settle our own problems; today, parents who let their kids walk about unsupervised are often called names and viewed as neglectful parents.

Perhaps some of this is simply a reflection of the times. But I think it mostly reflects our own fears and doubts.  In that, we are probably shortchanging the children of today, structuring their lives in ways that prevent them from confronting the small challenges and risks that will help them confront larger ones later in life. Those adult-sized challenges are there, and growing larger by the day; the world they will face will be a daunting one, filled with many problems left them by the grownups of today.  And I don't think we help our kids and grandkids prepare for the future by teaching them that there are no losers on the playing field, or that Mommy and Daddy will always take care of everything.

Bulman School will soon be only a memory. But walking the hallways for one last time brought back memories that were lingering there, in the footsteps of countless children who roamed the hallways over the past sixty-five years. We all have small corners of our lives where the man or woman we grew to be first took root; sometimes, it's nice to return there, even if only in our minds, to see ourselves as we once were:  filled with promise, and eager to experience the adventure that is life.  In this modern world that is changing under our feet and before our eyes, it's often helpful to know where we came from.  And if we can, it's nice to pay our past one last visit, before it disappears forever.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a retired public prosecutor from Michigan, writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel Clouds of Darkness, the compelling third volume in the Guardians of Peace series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Jeff in the Legal News

A very nice article appeared about me in the local Legal News yesterday.

It was written by Jeanine Matlow, a freelance writer I know, who belongs to my writer's group, the Ridgewriters. Apparently, my story interested her editors enough to have Jeanine do a write-up.

I've been getting calls and congratulations all day. It's nice to be noticed; now, all I have to do is start selling a few more of my books.


JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Sci-Fi Convention: MediaWest*Con

Getting ready for the MediaWest*Con sci-fi convention later this week has led me to a couple of conclusions.

First---I'm really terrible at marketing. While writing is fun---and composing posters and note cards from photos and pictures is quite engaging---trying to find "clever" ways to market myself is for the birds. I hate puffing myself up---and it's frightening to face the prospect that, in the end, nobody will care. And that's really all marketing is.

On the other hand, the sci-fi show could be a lot of fun. I've never been to one before---much less participated with a booth---and I think we have a lot of fun and interesting stuff to offer. Besides my books, we have some rather stunning posters of the heavens, and notecards and posters from outer space as well as Planet Earth.

In the end, I'm kind of looking forward to it...though I really wish there were another way.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Metamorphisis

Change, however unsettling, is often inevitable.

In 1980, I started working for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. Bill Cahalan was the prosecutor at the time, and I started to work there just after the County lifted a hiring freeze. Within a month or so, several other bright young prosecutors were hired---including a gal named Jan Joyce (later Bartee), whose career would track mine almost step-by-step.

Though I never anticipated being a prosecutor---either as a kid, or later in law school---I knew at once I'd found my professional home. The work was fascinating and personally rewarding; I got to write to my heart's content; and the Office was filled with a sense of honor, and of mission. We were trained that our job was seeking Justice---and that when a prosecutor announced that he was representing "The People," that meant all of the people...including the defendant.

Jan and I rose through the ranks together...getting promoted early and quickly, and establishing ourselves as two of the brightest young prosecutors in the office. Ahead of us in the office was Tim Baughman---who'd already established himself as an appellate whiz and something of a legend around the state, and who soon came to head the appellate department. Within a year or two several other promising attorneys joined the staff, including a lady named Olga Agnello, who'd gone to law school in Utah of all places, while her then-husband was pursuing an advanced degree of his own.

By the end of the 1980s, the four of us had not only become friends, but we had formed the nucleus of an appellate staff second to none. Were were all accomplished legal writers and thinkers, and were busy putting our creative minds to the task of reformulating Michigan's criminal law, reforming some of the ill-considered changes brought about in the 1970s, and helping to shape Michigan law for the decades to come. Three of us---Jan, Tim, and myself---went to argue cases before the United States Supreme Court in Washington. And by the end of the 1990s, our legal arguments had helped rewrite state law areas ranging from sentencing to evidence to double jeopardy, and beyond. We were widely thought to be a state resource, writing about and pioneering work in every area of criminal law that exists.

Two weeks ago, the County made a retirement offer to all its executives, an offer too good to resist. It boosted our pensions well beyond anything we ever expected...though the message was hardly a boost to our egos: "You cost too much money," they said, in effect. "We'll even bribe you to leave...as long as you go."

After nearly thirty years in the office, we were given two weeks to make up our minds. But the three of us didn't get where we were by being fools; and much as we might feel outraged as taxpayers by our good fortune, we could recognize opportunity when it knocked.

Olga put in her retirement papers last week.

I filed mine today.

Tim and Jan file theirs tomorrow.

It will mark the end of an era. Not the end of the world...or of friendships, or memories, or good wishes.

But even if will usher in a host of new beginnigns, it will be the end of something quite special.

On January 28, 1895, my grandfather Walter Luniewski was born on a farm in what is now eastern Poland. One-hundred and fourteen years later, his first grandson filed to retire from the job he loved...and hoping to find happiness in pursuing other dreams and adventures.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.