It was a rare moment of lightness in a week that has felt heavy.
I've been rather overdosing listening to R.E.M., which I am prone to do when I'm feeling worried, and I've got the lyrics "feathers hit the ground before the weight can leave the air" stuck in my head.
One of my undergraduate professors passed away last week. He is the second professor of mine to pass away in the last year. I'm surprised by the amount of impact I've felt when I learned of (both of) their passings.
This particular professor had a habit of thinking about his architecture students' projects in his off hours. If he knew something about your project – perhaps because you were in his studio class, or perhaps simply because he had listened to you present your project at a design review – he might stop you in the corridor and say,
"I was thinking about your project last night and I drew up this little sketch..."
And then he'd share some new insight that you had not thought of yourself. It was really cool. As a student, you were impressed as hell that someone was actually thinking about your silly hypothetical project. But also, the fact that he'd take the time to find you and talk to you about it was truly an honor.
I need to find a way to do some sort of equivalent gesture to people in my life. I'm not a professor, and I don't have students...so I'm going to have to put a little bit of thought into how to translate it.
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