The Upper Echelon

My cousin Carolyn left yesterday. After a week of deciding, she’s chosen to attend law school in San Diego, instead of Chicago. So – even though she didn’t end up getting an apartment here, we were able to do some catching up. It’s been eight years since we’ve talked, so the past week has been rather nice.

In honor of her journey into law school, we decided to watch The Paper Chase. Ok, OK Fine. We watched *MY COPY* of The Paper Chase. :D

Nerd-O-Riffic!

She had never seen it before, either! Amazing. I bought the movie right before I moved to Columbus, OH for grad school. This was back in 1997. I made it a point to buy the movie, and watch it before my first day of classes. Even now, despite the Velveeta and the afros and the wide collars, I still love this movie. It inspires me to study harder, and to feel OK about the bookish pursuit of knowledge.

Something about Timothy Bottoms’ soliloquy regarding the varying levels within a classroom – the upper echelon, in particular. That one always gets me going.

What is it about work and school? When you’re doing one, you wish you were doing the other. Now that I’m working full time, I’m looking wistfully back at school, and wishing I could be a student again. Of course, I’m easily overlooking the near-poverty living conditions, the all-nighters, the endless papers and research.