Winter 2006 | Class Notes

Hot Mama
Profile:
Marni Smilow Levitt '92

Kids, caffeine and a little music-making on the side. While it’s a far cry from sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, it’s still a pretty good gig for Marni Levitt, mother of four, general counsel for a regional medical center and back-up singer for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). The band, made up of seven suburban mothers, formed last year under the motto “our music is better than any pill.” They specialize in hard-driving rock songs with irreverently funny lyrics. Their CD, “Kiss My Axe,” has 16 original tunes with titles like “I Want a Nanny” and “I Hate My $*&^@! Family.”

HRT also has quite a following. Born in the basement of the lead guitarist, they first tried their hand at an open mic night in New York City “just to see how it felt to perform in public,” Levitt recounts. They followed up with a gig at Back Yard Jams in Stoughton, drawing 75 people. Word of the rockin’ mamas spread; they sold out the 700-seat Stoughton Theater a week in advance. “I was getting five and six calls a day from people saying, ‘I need tickets.’ It was crazy!” she says.

“I think our songs touch a chord with people, they speak to the absurdity of every day life,” says Levitt of HRT’s popularity. Though their subject matter is tongue-in-cheek, the music is classic rock. “The lyrics are clever, but we’re proud of the music,” she notes. “Even without the words, the music would still be really interesting.”

Now that they’ve cut a CD and performed a sold-out concert, what’s next? “Right now, we’re just enjoying having fun and making music. After that — who knows?” says Levitt. For band bios and to download songs, check out www.hrtrocks.com.
—Maura King Scully

PHOTOS: MICHAEL MANNING

Moore for the Troops
Profile:
Paul Moore '88

The Paul S. Moore Law Office in Nashua, New Hampshire, looks like any other well-appointed small practice. There’s a comfortable reception area, diplomas on the wall and coffee for waiting visitors. But peek behind the conference room door and you’ll find a decidedly un-legal sight: floor-to-ceiling boxes of beef jerky, trail mix, ibuprofen and medicated foot powder.

Welcome to Mooremart, a volunteer effort providing care packages to US soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“My brother, Brian, is in the New Hampshire National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and redeployed to Afghanistan earlier this year,” explains Moore, who serves as a part-time district court judge in addition to heading his law practice. “When troops moved beyond the supply lines, we heard from Brian that soldiers missed some of the comforts of home.”

Moore and his family sprang to action, assembled boxes of the most requested items and shipped them to men and women in Brian’s unit. “This is even better than Walmart!” remarked one soldier upon opening the care package.

Thus “Mooremart” was born.

Moore challenged those first recipients to spread the word to other troops and email their requests to him. To date, he’s shipped 500 computer paper boxes, averaging 25 boxes per month. The family solicits supplies and donations for shipping from veterans’ organizations, local businesses, and school and church groups.

In addition to personal care and food items, Moore now includes school supplies with each shipment. “Afghan schools are reopening,” he notes. “Brian told us he’d drive through villages and kids would run alongside the truck, asking not for candy, but for pens.”

“This is not a political issue to us,” says Moore, who served in the Army until a parachuting accident left him with paraplegia. “US troops are doing good things over there, restoring electric power, laying sewer lines, and clearing road mines that isolated villages for 25 years. Most times, that gets lost in the media.” Through Mooremart, “We’re doing what we can to help out, not only my brother, but also the Afghan people.” — Maura King Scully

PHOTO: MICHAEL MANNING

To the Rescue
Profile:
Ethan Eddy '05

Thirty minutes into his new job as an associate with the public interest law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal in Washington, DC, Ethan Eddy found himself in the middle of a political storm: the Department of Justice had just slashed the amount of remedies it originally sought in the federal racketeering lawsuit against major tobacco companies from $130 billion to $10 billion. Eddy was charged with filing a motion to intervene on behalf of his firm’s clients, a variety of nonprofit advocacy organizations.

“It was all over the news because public health groups saw it as a betrayal of their interests, and observers widely noted their speculation that the Justice Department’s decision was politically influenced,” said Eddy. “One of our goals was to keep the $130 billion on the table.”

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Eddy and his firm were once again caught up in a storm, literally. They immediately set to work on an emergency pro bono project for animal rescue organizations when the federal government and other authorities denied animal rescuers access to the city.

“Within 90 minutes, we prepared a comprehensive legal brief summarizing the reasons why, under Louisiana state law, the animal rescuers were not only allowed, but in fact required to rescue animals trapped without food or water. Our findings were grounded in part on unique provisions of French common law still in force in Louisiana.”

After preparing the brief, Eddy spent two weeks volunteering with animal rescue efforts in Louisiana and southern Mississippi. He also prepared legal updates from the field about issues faced by animal rescuers and animal shelters, and came home with a new family member: Gus, a dog who was suffering from heartworm, mange, starvation and dehydration when he was pulled off of a New Orleans rooftop 10 days after the storm.

“My partner, Emily Read [’04], and I are lucky to be able to help Gus,” Eddy said. “But few of the animals rescued from the storm were so lucky. Most went into an overcrowded animal shelter system that euthanizes nearly 10 million dogs and cats each year. The hurricane rescue efforts underscore the urgent need for legal reforms to address companion animal overpopulation.”