UPDATED BELOW

Its halloween! And I'm sure the first thing you think of when you think of halloween is voting, right? No? Well, perfect, that's why the smart folks at Chicktellectual.com have asked me to do a voter guide.

I’ll be covering statewide offices and ballot questions, but the state board of elections makes the complete ballot available, as well as info about where to vote.

There is a Primary on Tuesday September 14th, and frankly I could understand if you did not want to take the time to figure out who deserves your vote. I hate clichés like, “the lesser of two evils,” but in this state’s politics it is a hard one to avoid. Although, sometimes even calling these folks evil is giving them too much credit. While I am a lefty, I have discovered that in this City, just going with the person who sounds the most liberal can cause you to vote for some real SOBs.

The good news is that there are not a lot of races.

[Editors note: In honor of International Free Hugs Day, February 13, 2009, Chicktellectual.com is proud to promote the hugging of Lawyers by publishing this article.]

Like lawyers, killer whales (orcas) are often misunderstood, but are, in fact, quite huggable.

   Now I am not defending all lawyers or claiming that there are no slimeball, money-hungry attorneys out there, true to stereotype. But most of the lawyers I know are well-intentioned, albeit socially awkward, folk who made the unfortunate decision of going to law school. A lot of my fellow newly admitted attorneys were idealistic at the outset of law school and even motivated by the opportunity to help people and participate in the process of justice. Seriously. Others, probably the majority, graduated college with fabulous GPAs and the horrifying prospect that they had absolutely no idea what to do with their lives. These directionless overachievers proved easy prey for overbearing parents and societal forces of "practicality" (ugh!). Still other students craved the excitement of Law & Order-esque courtroom drama, and hoped their future careers in law would be chock-full of these scenarios.

You're hot. You're smart & you know what's up. Chicktellectual Detox helps you figure out what to do while you're waiting for the rest of the world to evolve.

As chicktellectuals, we get the best of both worlds in many ways: we can have a great career and a great love life. But society sends us conflicting messages that say achieving it all isn't possible: we hear that careers are only for men and for women who act like men. We're left feeling like women who value relationships can’t also value their careers, and that successful women can't also be nice women.