193

mildred loving, who with her husband richard challenged virginia's ban on interracial marriage, has passed away.

rest in peace, mildred.

and thank you.

192: full color

hi. thank you so so much for the exam well-wishes! i am one down and 2 to go... tuesday + friday. the law triathalon!

i am so ready to have some time soon for some leisurely making. i've been reading craft books before bed to get torts + contracts out of my brain, and dreaming in full color. i was reminded of this image from our travels to amsterdam last summer... the colors of these buildings all in a row were so beautiful to me.

friends of ours recently spent a week in turkey, a place i have always wanted to visit. in their photos i noticed the loveliest color combination that popped up again and again... white, bright clear turquoise, and bright yellow. it was so springlike and fresh. i keep seeing that combination in my mind's eye, and the one above, in a quilt or a bag or...

191

first exam tomorrow. gulp.

i can't believe that in 10 short days my first year of law school will be over.

i wanted to pass on a great link sent to me by lisa... an episode of this american life called "the audacity of government." this was of great interest to me because it deals with so much that i've been studying... but i think it's so eye-opening to anyone who wants to know how our current administration tramples over the constitution. scary and well worth a listen!

190

the beauty of spring here took me completely by surprise.

i had almost resigned myself to winter...

then one day i walked outside and everything had awoken, come to life, burst into blossom.

this is the spring that i discovered forsythia.


that i discovered cherry blossoms.

that i saw japanese magnolias so laden with blossoms that only wee peeks of the sky were visible under their canopy.


i have had to lock myself inside lately, mind over body, fighting every instinct which says go, go to the park, go now!

trying to listen to the small voice that says a week and a half till exams... yikes!

and reminding myself that there WILL be long walks and picnics, daydreaming under trees, flowers as far as i can see... later. they will wait for me.

189: the prairie

another late night here. i'm finally reconciled to the idea that this is not the time in the semester when i can keep up as much as i'd like... finals are close and so if i owe you an email or a visit... please be patient with me. i will be back on track on may 10!

thank you for your nice comments on my last post. i have been unsure about how to talk about what i am studying... i'm so immersed in it all day that sometimes it is hard to talk about in a 'normal' way... and i still don't think that the rules for consideration in bilateral contracts makes great blog reading... but the things we are doing in constitutional law these days are so very close to my heart. it's been easier to remember, as of late, the big picture of why i am here and why i wanted to do this in the first place.

my sweetie was here this past few days and left this morning. it was so, so good to have him here (as always), and he is such a great support to me during the stressful studying time. he left me with two big pans of homemade lasagna... finals brain-food... and a closet full of clean laundry :)

i've been wanting to share these photos for weeks now. during spring break we visited paynes prairie again in gainesville, for an early morning nature walk with a park ranger. the last time we went there was last year and it was such a different experience. on that visit the water was high, the sun was bright and there were alligators everywhere. this time it was a cool, grey morning, and the water level was much lower... deep glossy canals were now shallow, covered with algae, and the path had grown on either side by several feet. a few gators were still soaking up the bit of light, though...


(and shari, i kept thinking of the water's edge here!)

i loved having the guided tour, too. the ranger talked about the history of the prairie, the wildlife (gator and non-gator... there were some avid bird-watchers on the tour too!), the flora and fauna, and the complex ecosystem of this beautiful area. i learned that in times of draught, alligators use their tails to dig pits for themselves, which then fill up with water... the pits then attract other little prairie creatures who come to drink and cool off... and then, um, that's also good for the gators. ahem.


this beautiful lotus pod made me think of julie.




the water was full of sun-bleached wood... i loved its color and texture.


as we left, the sun started to burst through the clouds.


and as it warmed up, a few more fellows came to the surface.
is it weird that as i look at these photos now, i can't help but think of the guy in queens who was found with an alligator in his apartment? maybe i'm not so far away from florida after all ;)

188

hi there.
hope you all had a wonderful weekend. i am writing here late monday night... so very much rattling around in my head. where to start?

it was a really good weekend here in new york. lots of work... finals are coming up with frightening speed and so there was a lot of solid library time. but good breaks too, starting friday evening with a long, leisurely, much overdue walk in central park.
before i left new york for spring break in florida, i had walked in the park, desperately seeking signs of spring. scanning the trees for buds, searching the fields for flowers... all to no avail. my walk on friday found a park transformed. daffodils and jonquils had popped up everywhere, and all over there were bushes scattered with sweet yellow flowers. new growth on all the trees, that wonderful pale green that means birth, and life, and new beginnings. i felt my heart full to bursting, wanting to breath it all in deeply, and hold this beauty inside me. to make it a part of me. do you ever feel that, in nature? that you just want everything you are seeing to become a physical part of your body? it was so intensely restorative. i wish i had had my camera... but that will have to wait for another day.

saturday started bright and early with clinic escorting at planned parenthood downtown. a friend + i just got trained to do this a couple of weeks ago, and it was a great experience. we found fuel for our early morning at the balthazar bakery... um, where has that been all my life? and we couldn't resist a stop afterwards at caffe falai (above). i had a bombolini (an italian doughnut) stuffed with the most amazing chocolate cream. i know, two bakeries in one morning? so decadent! i love falai's decor... it is a small cafe all tiled in white, with these wonderful chandeliers. so sweet and bright and also cozy.


i wore my new cowl all weekend. this yarn is a very luxe silk-merino-cashmere blend, bought on sale at webs as a little post-finals treat last semester. i didn't have very much and i knew i wanted this softness right up against my skin. i've hardly been able to take this off, it is so cozy. it's just a tube, knitted till i ran out of yarn. and as if by magic the amazing fricknits has also just posted about cowls... now i'm dreaming of one in thick soft malabrigo yarn. yum.

it was so beautiful on saturday... we had feared getting rained on while we were escorting but by 10am, the skies were clear and sunny and it was actually a bit warm. but spring ducked right around the corner again and the last couple of days have been cold, cold, cold and gray. that did not stop me from getting out sunday morning for the first day of brooklyn flea. it was so much fun to see all the great vendors gathered together for this new event. i dutifully lugged my contracts book on the train, wandered the market and shopped, then headed back to the library :)


from left to right: a 2008 calendar tea towel by lotta jansdotter, a copy of the helvetica DVD, and my very own copy of lines and shapes! one of the highlights of the flea was definitely getting to meet lotta, whose gorgeous and inspiring home i was just reading about in blueprint (yes i'm very behind on my magazine reading :) ), and lena corwin. lena's table also featured her beautiful new pillow + bag designs, and her new spring prints with mav.


and of course there were yummy eats... mini-cupcakes from kumquat bakery, and granola by three birds bakery. normally i am a muesli girl but i could not pass up this granola. i had it this morning with vanilla yogurt and i might just be converted.


and seriously. how cute is this cupcake? it is hard to tell here but it is only about one and a half inches tall. 2 bites of goodness.

and today i was thrilled in constitutional law to finally arrive at the case of loving v. virginia. last year was the 40th anniversary of loving, legalizing interracial marriage throughout the united states. every time i think about this i can't help but get a little choked up... 13 years after brown v. board of education, the court finally took on interracial marriage prohibitions and struck them down emphatically, on both equal protection and due process grounds under the 14th amendment. rejecting virginia's idea that their laws protected "racial purity," the court said:

"There is patently no legitimate overriding purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination which justifies this classification... There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause."

and on due process...

"To deny this fundamental freedom (marriage) on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law... Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State."

it's hard to put into words how much this means to me. this decision recognized my right to marry the man i love, in a state that had banned interracial marriage within his lifetime.

i'm really excited to be in new york for loving day in june, too. doesn't it sound wonderful?

ok, i think it's really time for bed now. xo

187

hello, april.

these are the buds i saw in the wee hours of the morning before i left for spring break, two weeks ago. and today was the warmest day of the year so far (albeit with rain). so i have hope, despite everything, for spring.

sometimes things come together so well to soothe a funk. two days in a row, my mailbox has presented me with lovely and unexpected bits of wonder... cards from friends that made me smile and brought tears (happy tears!) to my eyes. a new spring mix CD (thank you, kelli!). and not completely unexpected, but delightful, new artwork: lisa and aurora's duo for tiny showcase. i love these, a lot.


and i've finally put this print by christopher david ryan into a frame... just in time for the end of winter :) i love having this on my desk to smile over my work.


helping the good energy along... exercise yesterday and today (and realizing how much i needed it, and how good it felt). spring cleaning of my closets here... which in this space means organizing knitting projects and working on a long-forgotten cardi. lunch with friends at bouchon bakery, ham + swiss on the most perfect croissant. and taking a trip down memory lane last night with this sonic youth album. oh man. 1994, really?! and the next year i was 17 and it was my first hipster new orleans show at a club.
and always, always, my sweetie's voice. the sound of his laughter. yes.