NEWPORT BEACH, CA—After meeting with his agent Monday to discuss his free agency prospects, Prince Fielder told reporters he was left wondering if he or any man can ever say his agency is truly free. “Free agency suggests I am able to make a choice void of any constraint, but right from the get-go, that premise is problematic,” said Fielder, adding that it isn’t as if he can just get a job as an acoustical engineer, or even as a professional athlete in another sport. “In the end, I am not an autonomous entity who can choose a path based on multiple options. Instead, I am one link in a causal chain, so my actions are merely the inevitable product of lawful causes stemming from prior events. What I’m saying is, I’m essentially limited to the 30 baseball organizations in North America; realistic, long-term socioeconomic factors have already decided which cities can support a team that pays the kind of salary I demand; and roster decisions dating all the way back to the invention of the game have determined which teams are in need of a first baseman today—so there are only a few clubs that could logically take me. And human nature will compel me to pick the one that offers the best, highest salary.” Fielder concluded the press conference by saying that he is essentially a determinist, and that he enjoys hitting baseballs.
![[want]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxr5wlAZd71qauc1so1_500.jpg)
| — | George MacDonald, “The Fir Tree,” What’s Mine’s Mine |
pure awesome.
18/365 Stormtrooper snowflake. I was inspired by the weather forecast, and when I found the patterns for these Star Wars snowflakes I couldn’t resist trying them out! I’m going to save Boba Fett and Darth Vader for another day. Want to make your own? Download the patterns at Matters of Grey.
BFF Stephanie Lin and former roommate Brett Rosenberg are both Rhodes scholars.
On Friday, Fixes examined the Youth Court of the District of Columbia, a forum where first-time nonviolent teenage offenders are judged by others who have been in the same situation. The D.C. Youth Court is one of the largest of some 1,000 youth courts around the country. These courts are designed to help minor offenders avoid a criminal record and stay out of juvenile justice — traditionally an efficient production line for criminality.
An Urban Institute study of four youth courts compared teenagers who had committed the same crimes. Those who went to youth court had less than half the one-year recidivism rate of those who went to the formal juvenile justice system.
