The View From the Library

I tend to study in the Uris stacks. They're dreary and isolated, but that's usually what I need to keep myself focused. If I need a distraction, I can look out the windows facing Willard Straight Hall and, off in the distance, Ithaca College.

Most days, I'll see groups of prospective students shuffling around on a campus tour. The tour groups give me an arrogant sense of accomplishment, since I know that I'm ahead of these kids. I've already been at Cornell for three years, while these high schoolers (or sometimes younger) are just starting to look at colleges. As I look down at them (literally), I can't help but get a bit of an ego boost.

Today, it was the opposite. After this afternoon's law school graduation, the new JDs led their families around campus -- to show them the libraries, the views of Ithaca, and everything else within pointing distance. Clad in crisp red robes and ringed by adoring family members, they were everything I wanted to be in 4 or 6 years. As I'm stuck in the library studying for my undegraduate finals, they're jumping into the real world with an advanced degree.

Congratulations to the graduates, and I hope to be doing the same in a few years' time. For now, it's back to studying.