It's nerdy and more than a little depressing, but one of my favorite things at Reed is my study desk in the library. It's in the basement (sometimes lovingly referred to as a circle of hell or the abyss), but it's cozy, warm and well-lit, which I appreciate more and more as the days grow darker and the outside world increasingly tends towards the cold and rainy. Francis is my desk partner, though he is often not here, so I am left with this huge space upon which I can spread out all of my notes and coffee cups and heavily annotated articles. The best part of my desk, however, is the bookshelf. Classics books upon classics books upon classics books: lexicons and Loebs, Cambridge commentaries and Cicero. It's lovely. Perched in a corner of the shelf is my "Love Reed" squishy owl (excellent for the occasional stress-relieving squeeze) and my coffee mug, which, rather appropriately I think, reads "No Sleep Till Hades". Post-it notes (some, to-do lists; others, notes from Francis which always cheer me up) cling haphazardly to its corners. I love being down here, strange as that might sound - it's an academic cocoon away from the occasionally harsh realities of my real life. And it makes me proud to be a classicist and student here at Reed.
This is more of a musing rather than anything of substance (which I heartily apologize for), but I thought I'd write it here anyway.
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