Yesterday I began this post in the passenger’s seat of my Honda CR-V while my wife scooted us out of Boston just a bit above the speed limit on I-90 West. Before we return we’ll have checked in with her family (this year west of Hartford, CT) and my family (this year in Philadelphia, PA) and friends (western MA). Before break is over we may still rejoin her family in Orlando, FL and my family in upstate NY. Running errands before our sojourn, a plane roared overhead and we caught each other looking at it, laughing when we realized we were both thinking” “Hey, they got out early!”
I generally like road trips, with the ability to listen to albums uninterrupted from start to finish and to think thoughts through in the same way. We listened to MPB singer Ceu. I thought about the bolt of inspiration I get from flipping open my laptop to my desktop image, obsessive-compulsively chosen to carry me through whatever challenge I’m addressing by opening my computer and to leave me with steely resolve when I shutdown. Early in the semester a fellow student told me I had a nice desktop and I knew from that moment we’d be friends. It’s like someone noticing new eyeglasses or that you’ve been working out.
I got through most of my first semester on an Emory Douglas collage that charged me to stand in solidarity with everyone calling out “Hey, Mister, what you doing to the poor man, Lord knows, you oughta quit it.” It reminds that the struggle isn’t some noble choice for most people, it’s just what life looks like. It reminds me as well of one of my favorite quotes, “Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.” (T.H. Thompson and John Watson) Then when the ides of November hit, I found a vintage album cover that expressed the tender treatment I planned to give each of my exams.
As it turns out, for me, law school happens in the context life and not the other way around—for example, we made the same round of family visits excepting FL in only the extended weekend of Thanksgiving break, with exams fast approaching. I’m learning about law, yes, but also about endurance and staying inspired with simple tools like my desktop image. For next semester, I’ve got a Shepard Fairey protest notice in queue and already it’s prodding me to get back to work. What’s on your desktop?
One Trackback
[…] the end of my first semester I posted about the desktop images on my laptop that I had chosen to keep me focused and energetic, and I’ve decided to end […]