O, Father dear, I often hear you speak of Erin's Isle, Her lofty scenes her valleys green, her mountains rude and wild You said it is a lovely place wherein a prince might dwell, Why have you then forsaken her, the reason to me tell? My son, I loved our native land with energy and pride Until a blight fell on my crops my and sheep and cattle died, The rents and taxes were too high, I could not them redeem, And that's the cruel reason why I left Old Skibbereen. It's well I do

"All things must pass None of life's strings can last So I must be on my way And face another day" -George Harrison Always sort of a sad moment, when it's time to leave Wyldswood and we're draining the hot tub. These last few days have been packed. We left NYC right after class on Thursday, brisk and rainy followed by brisk and snowy through rural New Jersey, then finally sunshine as we approached DC. The evening ended just before ten in Emporia, Virginia, where we gave up an

"I would rather a thousand times be a free soul in jail than to be a sycophant and coward in the streets." - Eugene V. Debs Went to see Oh Mary! last night. A dreadful play, by any measure, and a sign of the decadence that has settled over our culture. Mary Todd Lincoln as an alcoholic who hated her kids and had an affair with John Wilkes Booth? Abraham Lincoln getting fellated under the desk by one of his staff officers? Nothing shocks anymore, so if they were hoping to elic

"I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs." - Annie Dillard This Friday marks the halfway point between the first and last day of classes. Tempus fugit. What have we learned so far? New York City is far easier and kinder than I anticipated. Running a law firm spending twenty hours a week instead of forty or fifty is as difficult as I figured. The practice is noticeably shrinking in this holding action. I wouldn't care, but for all these houses and planes and