So AP reporter David Crary’s article on the draft came out Sunday:
Opinions
Change Over a Military
Draft
I had no idea until a classmate told me on Tuesday that he saw my
quote in
Yahoo! News. This week has been fairly busy for me, with photography
class,
organizing for CAER, an environmental newsletter I am supposed to edit,
my
research for Professor Tsai, as well as an unexpected family matter. I
haven’t taken time to enjoy my “15 seconds of fame” (to use my sister’s
paraphrase of Warhol).
But today is a lazy Friday afternoon (elective law classes are
generally
Monday-Thursday), and I am literally basking in the 60-degree sunshine.
Can
you believe there’s nary a cloud to be seen? In Oregon? In early
February?
What I can’t believe is I’m doing research online for a constitutional
law
professor, instead of running on Pre’s Trail or hiking Spencer’s Butte
or
something else comparably vigorous and outdoorsy. Last weekend Tanya
and I
drove out to Sahalie Falls and walked along the McKenzie River Trail —
it
was drizzling most of the time and the weather ignored my first photo
shoot.
Now it’s sunny (and warm!), and I can’t get out of this comfy chair.
Anyway, while logging on Lexis and Westlaw to look up law review
articles,
I decided today to check how many newspapers have picked up the
interesting
AP article on an apparent shift in popular and official opinion over
the
draft. The Chicago Tribune and Bergen Record showed up. And the
Charlotte
Gazette, Tulsa World, Bradenton Herald, Tallahassee Democrat — and the
Philadelphia Inquirer, which just printed it today.
Wow. More to come perhaps?
I also noticed that U-Wire picked up my Thursday column on the space
shuttle.
Pat Payne thought it was my best one so far. I appreciated his
compliment
but I didn’t agree with it. Heck, maybe he’s right. It probably is the
most personal, and for that reason flowed the easiest and didn’t take
long
to write at all.
* * *
But the most important thing that happened this week was the death
of
Grandfather. He was 87. I saw him less than two months ago in Taiwan.
It
had been six years since I saw my dad’s parents. He was in decent
health,
but illnesses in recent years had made him somewhat frail. That term is
relative, by the way. He didn’t need a walker or eat old people’s food.
But he was a big, active person — not tall, but stout, and strong from
his
farming days — and still able to walk a mile in his mid-80s.
I really enjoyed talking with him in December. He told me how the
Huangs
became rich in land during the 19th century under the guidance of *his*
great-grandmother, whose ancient photo still graces the family shrine
room.
I am blessed to have had all my grandparents for the first 27 years
of my
life. Sometimes, it felt as if my extended family would live forever.
But
it’s more than enough to have lived a full life. That’s all I can think
to
say now.