I met Lisa when she emailed me a few years ago out of the blue. She introduced herself as a friend of Bill Bowden, the Democrat-Gazette writer I respect and admire, which instantly endeared me. Her credibility only increased as I learned she hailed from Jasper, graduated from the University of Arkansas law school, and got her Ph.D. from the University of London.

She's done everything from clerking for the Honorable Morris Shepherd Arnold U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit in Arkansas to assisting with the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, in the Hague, The Netherlands, and serving as a consultant on the International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda. She is now the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis.

I guess it indicates my level of imposter syndrome when I wondered what in the world a person like this would want with little old me.

Turns out we have a lot in common. She loves her family and Arkansas. Fervently, like I do. And while I stayed here and she chose differently, there is a part of her that never leaves Newton County. Her father was an abusive alcoholic, unlike my angelic one, but her parents married at 18 and 19, as did mine.

The Pruitts did not have the benefits of college educations, like my parents, though Lisa's mom Thelma would go on to earn an associate's degree. Thelma reminds me of my Granny Thelma, who had a profound impact on my life. She and........

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