f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

. . . . Confession: The f/k/a Gang found and quickly read Brian Tracey’s essay “Eat that Frog: Stop Procrastination” this morning, but it didn’t work. Instead of getting down to finishing an important legal ethics essay, we’ve compiled this little fluff piece [which has become the most visited posting in the history of our weblog] for the throngs of Google searchers trying to find the irresistible “Wendy Savage”.

in the middle
of the distraction –
an interruption

…………………. by dagosan

According to f/k/a‘s statistics page, a lot of people across the nation have been looking for “Wendy Savage” over the past several weeks. Today, however, the number of referrals to this weblog from Google searches for Ms. Savage mushroomed (with more than a thousand visitors as of 4 PM, and at least 2500 by midnight), thanks to the Boston Globe article “Calendar is Exhibit A in case for beautiful lawyers” (Oct. 23, 2008). The article includes a photo gallery with 13 pictures from the Beautiful Lawyers Calendar. (And see “Big-Firm Lawyers Posed for Hottie Calendar“, ABAJournal News, Oct. 23, 2008).

The Google searchers have been arriving at our site due to this post and that one about the Beautiful Lawyers Calendar, which contains photos of six men and six women who practice law in the Boston area. One of the calendar models is Wendy Savage, the very lovely in-house counsel for Liberty Mutual in Boston, who graduated from Boston University Law School in 2006. I’m fairly certain Counselor Savage is the person most querists are seeking when they put the name in their Google box. So, I’m going to give you a little more information about her, which I found in the Boston Edition of Exhibit A (“Beautiful Lawyers (Seriously),” October 7, 2008).

However, we’ve discovered there are a lot of other interesting women named Wendy Savage, and we’re going to tell you a bit about some of them, too.

using his nose
the dog searches
the violets

…. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

Wendy Savage, Esq: It’s just a gut feeling, but I’m betting this photo at the Globe website is what has so many people Googling some variation of /Wendy Savage lawyer/. [WCVB/BostonChannel.com had the photo on September 29, 2008, in a slide show.] The Boston Globe tells us that Wendy Savage will be featured in March 2008 on the Beautiful Lawyers Calendar. The blurb accompanying the photo says:

Wendy, a corporate counsel for Liberty Mutual, lists fashion photography and equestrian sports among her hobbies. One day, she hopes to work as a legal correspondent in the fashion or entertainment industries.

For those who need to know more about the Liberty Mutual lawyer, here’s information (probably culled from the Calendar) presented earlier this month at Exhibit A:

WENDY SAVAGE

Job: In-house lawyer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., Boston

Age: 28

Personal status: “My fiancé proposed to me and took me to Paris as a surprise.”

Before she became a lawyer, Wendy Savage dreamed of a career in modeling. But when she was told that, at 5-foot-7, she was too short to make it big, she went to law school instead.

Today, the in-house lawyer at Liberty Mutual plans to develop a specialty in entertainment law.

While Savage has done some modeling on the side over the years, her calendar cover shot is her highest-profile work to date. “It’s a group of diverse lawyers where I don’t think the focus is on physical attractiveness, but rather the person as a whole,” Savage says of her decision to participate in the project.

Prof. Yabut wonders if the young attorney had any idea her participation in the beautiful lawyers calendar would bring so much attention — and whether it’s the kind of attention she anticipated. Maybe she’ll grant an interview soon so we can learn more about “the person as a whole.”

• Bonus: We found another photo of Wendy (she’s on the left) from the Hartford Record Social Studies weblog‘s post “Winter Ball.”  And, one with her boyfriend Luke Peterson, from March 2005, in an article in the Boston Globe when they were buying a townhouse.

summer dawn —
the curve of your body
under the sheets

… by Lee Gurga –

• afterwords (Oct. 28, 2008):  Boston’s Wendy Savage, Esq., graciously thanked us today for our coverage of the Calendar, and (in response to our request) sent this link from the Zehra Hyder Summer 08 Collection, and another from the Myre 08 Spring/Summer Fashion Launch Party, with other fashion photos of herself.

Also (Oct. 30, 2008), you’ll find two more exclusive and intriguing photos of Wendy Savage if you scroll to the end of our post today.

aftershots (Nov. 17, 2008): As we report in “lots more Wendy Savage, Esq.“, the Beautiful Lawyers Calendar has posted a Wendy Gallery, with ten large pictures from her photo shoot.

afterthoughts (Oct. 31, 2008): At Mass Lawyers Weekly‘s weblog, The Docket, Julia Reischel writes “15 Minutes of Beautiful Lawyer fame,” where she states a truth that’s plain to see: “Wendy Savage, the in-house insurance lawyer who graces the cover of the calendar, is really the one responsible for turning the product into an Internet phenomenon.”

— you can use this Tiny URL to share this posting: http://tinyurl.com/fkaWendySavage —

Year-end Update (Dec. 30, 2008): See our post “a sparkingly Savage year,” which discusses the Boston Magazine article “Counsel Requests the Right to Appeal: Smokin’-hot lawyer Wendy Savage defends her buzzy turn as a pinup” (by Alyssa Giacobbe, January 2009), and the issue of professional women posing in sexy pictures.

. . . and now, more Wendy Savages:  

“Wendy Savage” is — we were reminded this morning thanks to Google — the character played by Laura Linney in the 2007 movie “The Savages.” This fictional Savage played a neurotic, aspiring playwright from Manhattan, dealing with the advanced senility of her father. Philip Seymour Hoffman played her brother. The role gained Linney her third Academy Award nomination.

his side of it.
her side of it.
winter silence

… by Lee Gurga –

shaving him
dad says I would have loved
a son like you

…. by Ed Markowski

Another Wendy Savage is an actress ..

She plays Jennifer in the independent short film Computer Guy: the sitcom. Among her many stage roles was that of the Cyclist/Child in “The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower,” at San Diego’s Vantage Theatre. The Computer Guy cast page says:

Wendy Savage has been playing on the stage since she was a kid. After high school, she ventured out to the Big Apple to study acting at NYU. Several years later she found herself in the Pacific Northwest. She had the opportunity to be apart of two amazing collaborative original plays that showcased in the Seattle Fringe Festival. (“Famished” in 1995 and “Water Licked” in 1997). Before leaving Seattle, Wendy was a part of an independent film (“Slaves to the Underground”) that went on to be in The Women’s Film Festival in Seattle. Since moving to San Diego, Wendy’s favorite productions to date have been “The Marriage of Bette and Boo” (Emily), “The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower” (Cyclist/Child), and “Invisible Bob” (Mary) which recently debuted in the Fritz Blitz (2004). Wendy has been focusing on doing more film projects. “Computer Guy: A Sitcom” is her 4th independent short film. Painting is her second passion.

Christmas pageant—
the one who had to get married
plays virgin Mary

… by Lee Gurga

Wendy Savage: photographer: This Wendy is an adjunct faculty member in the Art Department of Meredith College, in Raleigh, NC. “Since 1984, Savage has been employed as a medical photographer and digital designer at NC State College of Veterinary Medicine.”

• She has a Boston connection, having received her MFA from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
• Click for her photo studio website

morning twilight . . .
horse asleep in the pasture
covered with frost

bitter morning—
I move the injured puppy
into the sun

…. by Lee Gurga

Syracuse NY’s Wendy Savage is the New Patient Treatment Coordinator in the dental office of Dr. Mark A. Paciorek. At their Celebrating Smiles website, Wendy says:

“I am the New Patient Treatment Coordinator at Dr. Paciorek’s office. I have been working in the Orthodontic field for 21 years and I love it. I am married with four children and the whole family has had orthodontic treatment! My favorite part of my job is meeting our new patients and teaching them all about braces and how orthodontics can improve not only your smile, but your life.”

professional conference—
in the restroom all the dentists
washing their hands

…. by Lee Gurga, D.D.S. – most poems above from Fresh Scent: Selected Haiku of Lee Gurga (1998)

.. .. Physician Wendy Savage .. is the author of “Birth and Power: ‘A Savage Enquiry’ revisited” (Middlesex University Press, 2007). Her Middlesex, however, is located in the United Kingdom, not in the Massachusetts County that lies just northwest of Boston. According to the AHA Foundation:

“Born on April 12th, 1935 in Surrey, Wendy Savage is a distinguished gynaecologist and champion of women’s rights in childbirth and fertility.”

Indeed, she became a cause célèbre, in 1985, when she was suspended from her post at the London Hospital Medical College, accused of incompetence in the management of five obstetric cases. The allegations were not upheld, and Dr. Savage was reinstated in 1986; she retired in 2000. Her book “A Savage Enquiry: Who Controls Childbirth?” described that experience and is included in the 2007 sequel Birth and Power.

Well, that should be enough Wendy Savages to fulfill any Googler’s needs. I’ve got a frog or two to eat and more serious writing to work on today. Below the fold, you’ll find a few rules I still need to internalize from Brian Tracey’s “Eat that Frog: Stop Procrastination“.

Still Procrastinating? According to Brian Tracey, in his essay “Eat that Frog: Stop Procrastination“:

“Your ‘frog’ is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. It si also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.”

Some useful rules from Tracey:

• “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.”
• “if you have to eat a live frog, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.”
• “One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.”