{"id":24410,"date":"2014-12-26T05:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-12-26T09:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=24410"},"modified":"2014-12-26T10:57:57","modified_gmt":"2014-12-26T14:57:57","slug":"anonymous-tip-meet-the-social-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2014\/12\/anonymous-tip-meet-the-social-worker.html","title":{"rendered":"Anonymous Tip: Meet the Social Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Today we meet the social worker, Donna Corliss. What\u2019s really interesting is how Farris introduces her\u2014hungover with her law school boyfriend, lying to her boss and skipping work.<\/p>\n

The late morning sun crept slowly across the bedroom floor. The first ray of light crawled up the bed, touched her eyes and stabbed deep into her skull like a flash of lightening. Donna Corliss would be getting into nothing that Friday, except the bicarbonate of soda.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yep. This is how we meet social worker Donna Corliss.<\/p>\n

She sits up, groans, and turns to her boyfriend, Stephen J. Stockton. Stephen\u00a0is also in bed hung over, and we soon learn that he is \u201ctwo days away from his Juris Doctorate\u201d at Gonzaga University School of Law<\/a>. Not coincidentally, Gonzaga is Farris\u2019s alma mater. Farris speaks of Stephen\u00a0and his associates as \u201cparty-goers\u201d who drowned the pressure of law school in \u201ckegs of beer\u201d and were apprehensive about the bar exam they would face ten weeks later.<\/p>\n

As Donna\u00a0makes coffee and\u00a0coaxes Stephen\u00a0out of bed, we learn that Stephen\u00a0does not like his parents, that Stephen\u2019s\u00a0parents have a new summer home on a lake, and that Stephen\u2019s\u00a0father, Connor Stockton, Esq., is a \u201cname\u201d partner at a\u00a0prestigious law firm, Wilson, Stockton & Bodecker. We also learn that while his father graduated fifth from Gonzaga, Stephen\u00a0is graduating first. After briefly rehashing\u00a0his\u00a0successful father with Donna\u2014Stephen says that his father \u201chas it all\u201d and Donna reminds Stephen\u00a0that his father is \u201cso proud\u201d of him\u2014Stephen collapses back into his bad, moaning about how terrible he feels.<\/p>\n

Next Donna\u00a0calls her boss, whom we are introduced to as \u201cMr. Blackburn.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t think I can come in today,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m not feeling well.\u201d When Blackburn asks if it\u2019s serious, she says she has \u201ca bad headache and some stomach upset.\u201d Farris writes that Blackburn suspected alcohol, but didn\u2019t say anything about it because Donna\u00a0was one of his \u201cstar\u201d social workers. Donna\u00a0was \u201cas tough as nails,\u201d we are told. \u201cI can\u2019t have my ace investigator out for long,\u201d Blackburn says.<\/p>\n

We also learn that Blackburn\u2019s office has the best rating in the state. \u201cMost successful investigations. Most prosecutions. Most convictions.\u201d Donna\u00a0mentions that Blackburn\u00a0is hoping to win \u201cTop Child Advocate\u201d again, so it\u2019s clear this is an award he has won before. Blackburn tells Donna\u00a0to get better quickly. \u201cI can\u2019t have my ace investigator out for long,\u201d he says. Through their banter, Farris establishes that Blackburn is eager to retain his office\u2019s number one rating and receive the \u201cTop Child Advocate\u201d award again, and that Donna\u00a0feels the pressure.<\/p>\n

Blackburn checks his email and finds that a Priority 2 complaint has come in overnight\u2014the report Gordon called in last week. \u201cI guess it can wait till Monday,\u201d he says. Farris explains that Donna was so relieved that there was\u00a0nothing pressing that she forgot she had a day-long in-service training session already scheduled for Monday. The amount of time it takes Donna\u00a0to make a visit to the Landis home is going to become a big issue as we move through the book.<\/p>\n

Farris finishes this section with this:<\/p>\n

She dropped the receiver roughly on the cradle, weaved slowly across the room, and collapsed back on the bed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This, then, is how Farris introduces his social worker villain.<\/p>\n

Actually, in this short section Farris establishes not one but three<\/em> characters. Donna\u00a0he establishes as follows: She spent the night in bed with\u00a0her boyfriend; she drank herself silly at a party; and she called into work sick as a result. We are also told that she is an ace investigator who is \u201ctough as nails,\u201d but we watch her put off investigating a Priority 2 child abuse report.\u00a0Farris\u00a0establishes Stephen\u00a0as\u00a0is a soon-to-be lawyer who is given to partying, has daddy issues, and comes from old money. Finally, Farris establishes\u00a0Blackburn as primarily concerned about maintaining his office\u2019s top rating and winning another \u201cTop Child Advocate\u201d award.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s go slightly further before pulling the curtain for the week.<\/p>\n

We pick up on Monday morning, as Donna\u00a0drives to her office\u2014\u201cthe Spokane office of the Child Protective Services division of the Department of Social and Health Services of the State of Washington.\u201d\u00a0We learn that Donna\u00a0has a BA in sociology from Western Washington University in Bellingham\u00a0and a graduate degree, presumably in social work,\u00a0from Washington State University in Pullman, and that she has been working for CPS for five years. And of course, we get commentary like this:<\/p>\n

Western had a beautiful campus but was equally well-known as a great party school. When she graduated, Donna had left the university\u2019s reputation well intact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then there is this:<\/p>\n

After five years on the job, Donna had seen it all. Sexually molested children. Mostly step-fathers and live-in boyfriends. Broken arms. Broken skulls. Scalds. Cigarette burns. And more than a handful of uptight religious nuts who insisted on spanking their children.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Presumably, this is stated from Donna\u2019s\u00a0perspective\u2014so here we learn that Donna\u00a0thinks of people as \u201creligious nuts.\u201d And this becomes another theme\u2014Donna dismissive and disdainful of those who are different from her, especially<\/em> religious types.<\/p>\n

Donna\u00a0arrives at work fifteen minutes early\u2014normal for her, we are told. She checks her email again and pulls up the report about Casey Landis. She \u201cmutters a few foul words under her breath about mothers who beat their kids,\u201d checks her schedule, and concludes: \u201cNo evidence of a real emergency. It\u2019ll keep \u2019til Wednesday.\u201d We learn that Monday will be spent on the in-service training and Tuesday will be given over to juvenile court hearings.<\/p>\n

So, what else have we learned? That Donna\u00a0was a party girl in college, that she has seen horrific abuse, and that she is disdainful of \u201creligious nuts.\u201d That Donna\u00a0always gets to work early, and that she uses \u201cfoul words.\u201d But also, again, that she puts off the Priority 2 report.<\/p>\n

This is where we\u2019ll leave off. Next week we meet Gwen Landis and her daughter Casey.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donna Farris establishes as follows: She spent the night in bed with her boyfriend; she drank herself silly at a party; and she called into work sick as a result. We are also told that she is an ace investigator who is “tough as nails,” but we watch her put off investigating a Priority 2 child abuse report. Farris establishes Stephen as is a soon-to-be lawyer who is given to partying, has daddy issues, and comes from old money. Finally, Farris establishes Blackburn as primarily concerned about maintaining his office’s top rating and winning another “Top Child Advocate” award. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[469],"class_list":["post-24410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anonymous-tip"],"yoast_head":"\nAnonymous Tip: Meet the Social Worker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Donna Farris establishes as follows: She spent the night in bed with her boyfriend; she drank herself silly at a party; and she called into work sick as a result. We are also told that she is an ace investigator who is "tough as nails," but we watch her put off investigating a Priority 2 child abuse report. 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