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Mark Shaiken Biography

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“There are some important differences between heart people and head people. Heart people dream. Head people implement. I like to dream although I was able to learn to implement as well during my life as an attorney. At this point, I prefer to dream. It is so much more fun and reward- ing and after a life of dreaming with, at best, mixed success, I am better at it now. Head people know the what. Heart people want to know the why. The why is very important to me. A law career is not much of a heart endeavor at all.”

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Book:And... Just Like That: Essays on a life before, during and after the law
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“I just find music to be one of the great creations of humankind. It breaks boundaries, it brings people together, and it seems to transcend differences. It bonds us to each other. It does all of that without regard for whether it’s jazz, or rocka- billy, or blues, or rock, or folk, or R&B, or soul, or gospel, or country, or classical, or whatever your genre of choice might be. It does all of that, whether it’s Vivaldi’s violins, or Paul Desmond’s haunting alto sax, or James Burton’s twangy guitar. It’s important stuff to us humans, and it’s important stuff to me.”

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Book:Fresh Start
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“And do you want to know what else I do a great deal of the time? I dream. Dreaming always was, and always will be, good, at least for me. There is nothing wrong with adding to the long list of things I will not necessarily be able to do in my life. Dreaming about them makes me feel good. Coming up with new pipe dreams is not such a bad thing at all.”

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Book:And... Just Like That: Essays on a life before, during and after the law
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“Now, the District was in the throes of slow but steady revital- ization and revival, driven on the backbone of the Kansas City African American community’s strong cultural roots, immense pride, art, community, baseball, barbecue, booze, and jazz. Historically segregated, but always shared by Black society. How different from the White society whose historical dividing line began just blocks away. Also historically segregated, but rarely shared.”

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Book:Fresh Start
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“A period of protracted, repeated, profound, emotional turmoil, beginning sometime in the second or third year of the practice of law, and continuing off and on, mostly on, many times for the rest of the legal career, characterized by a rather significant, continuous, and oftentimes all-consuming, desire to explore alternative possibilities; to explore a change, any change at all, and to effect the change. These periods are typically coupled with a constant search for a new dream to pursue, potentially followed by additional periods of intense regret as dreams are not fulfilled.”

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Book:And... Just Like That: Essays on a life before, during and after the law
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“as I begIn my journey away from the law life, you should know, or already have figured out, that I think the law looms and it consumes, fumes, presumes, entombs; it lurks in the classroom, the conference room, the boardroom, and the courtroom; sometimes it assumes; it is often the legendary professional jealous mistress, hiding within a law firm with a nom de plume that sounds austere and thoughtful and august and distinguished... and sometimes, just sometimes, despite itself, it manages to bloom. It is larger than life. It makes few concessions for dreamers, and perhaps dreamers have no right to expect concessions. It took me a very, very long time to learn this: while there may be better ways to go through life, at the same time, there are many, many worse ways to go through life.”

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Book:And... Just Like That: Essays on a life before, during and after the law
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