Lifeline Renewed w/ Lara Bazelon

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Born Again Dog-Lover Finds Lifeline With A Pandemic Puppy For Her Family

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About The Episode

Growing up near Philly, Lara Bazelon’s family usually had a dog around. Her Dad enjoyed dogs growing up, so he made sure that the same would happen for his kids. They had a series of dogs, but when the first one passed away and Lara saw how it made a strong emotional impact on her Dad. This drove home to Lara that dogs were truly a part of their family.

While she had positive interactions with dogs throughout her adolescent years and during college, when she hit her late 20’s and early 30’s there was a shift in her feelings. She had moved to LA and was going running in some nearby public parks, where people would let their dogs off their leash and they would often chase after her. One day, after a dog bit her, Lara had enough. She was done with dogs.

Later on, Lara had two kids - a boy and a girl - and they would constantly ask her for a dog. But her answer was always, firmly, that it was not going to happen. And that was the end of the discussion.

However, during the pandemic, their family grew isolated from the rest of the world – and, in some ways, even from each other. Lara felt like they needed a lifeline, something to help them in this uncertain time. Much to even her own surprise, she decided they needed to get a dog. A being to bring purpose, delight, and structure.

The first time that Lara held their new dog, Kittle, the hate that had grown in her heart for dogs just completely dissolved. She fell in love with him, and her kids did too. They brought Kittle home and Lara felt that it reminded her of the night she brought her kids home from the hospital. And even though it wasn’t easy, with Kittle crying like a newborn child, that bore no resentment but instead a deeper love connection.

Quickly Kittle became an integral part of their family, even being a uniting force with Lara’s ex-husband to have someone else they all can care for together. From being by the kids’ side during online school to under Lara’s feet during her work from home, Kittle is always being supportive. And, among other things, it’s connected Lara to the world more and brought back a sense of childlike play that she thought had vanished from herself. But it was there all along, just waiting to be brought out by a furry friend.

About The Guest - Lara Bazelon

Lara Bazelon is an Associate Professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she directs the Criminal & Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinics. Before that, she worked as a deputy federal public defender and the director of a Los Angeles-based “Innocence Project,” which helps exonerate individuals who have been wrongly convicted. Lara is also a writer, whose op-eds and essays have been published in the New York Times, Slate, Washington Post, Politico, and other media outlets. She has a new legal thriller novel, A Good Mother, out in May 2021.

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