Three of my favorite things

Dad, baby, and big Texas sky.

Study observations

Exam time is nearly upon us, and for those of us who had multiple papers due throughout the last week of class, the accompanying stress level settled in long ago. The things I'm eager to blog about have slimmed down from long-winded stories to quick observations, and since these rarely seem worthy of their own post, I thought I'd compile a few:

• I've noticed that the more tired I become, the more my thoughts format themselves as Facebook status updates. For instance, "Lea Downey is infuriated that weather.com promised her 'breezy' today when it is clearly windy," or "Lea Downey once was lost, but now am blogging in bed with the cat."

• From a research study cited in a journal article I'm editing, I just learned that 84.2% of responding tenth-graders believed there was a serious risk of harm in taking heroin occasionally without a needle. Meaning 15.8% believed there was NO serious risk IN SNORTING HEROIN. Meaning I may need to adopt 15.8% of all tenth-graders.

• The more Russell and I miss Austin, the more enthusiastically we dive into any activity that helps us feel more connected to Texas - however much we may have shunned that same activity in the past. Last night I found myself unable to watch as Russell stood up and shouted at the television in the last second of the horrible, mistake-laden, comeback-taunting, heart-stopping, INFURIATING, but ultimately winning Big 12 Conference Championship football game against Nebraska. How did this happen? Did I actually come to Harvard and wind up LESS nerdy???

Well, that's it for now - if the fifty short-answer questions on my Evidence exam this coming Monday have anything to say about it. More soon, maybe about the lovely snow we got this weekend! In the meantime, hope all is well!

CASER Closed

If you can't otherwise tell it's finals time, the fact that I have barely had time to blog for Admissions, much less here, is a pretty good sign!

However, here's a post that describes much of last week - the last week of any real obligations for my Community Action for Social and Economic Rights, or CASER, class. Unfortunately, the visit from my teens predicted at the end of the post didn't happen - extenuating circumstances were going to keep multiple group members from coming, and it seemed better to reschedule. If there's one thing I've learned from working with at-risk teenagers, it's to expect everything to happen an hour late, at half-speed, or on the second try at scheduling it. So no big deal.

Anyway, here it is: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/admissions/2009/12/02/a-community-action-week/

More updates on finals and the end of this crazy semester soon, I hope!