Jan. 28: "To Sir, With Love''

Dr. Mark Goodman may be the best college professor of all-time. He is wise and wonderful, intelligent and funny, nurturing and inspiring.

Somehow, all of these marvelous qualities had managed to elude me until Friday, when I took my normal seat in Dr. Goodman’s Mass Media Law class.

As you may recall from a previous post, during our last class the students were divided into groups and given a case law, from which we were to assess whether or not Wikileak founder Julian Assange should be extradited and charged for leaking sensitive classified documents.

My group was to view the Assange matter from the context of the case law, “Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.’’

As you may further recall, while I was satisfied with my own portion of my group’s presentation, I had reservations about the effort turned in the other members of my group.

So, when Dr. Goodman, distributed our grade sheets on Friday, I was a little apprehensive.

I was pleasantly surprised that he gave our group a perfect score, noting: “This group made really excellent arguments, which were set up by a good introduction and a strong conclusion.’’

But it was only upon reading the part of his grade sheet that applied to my individual contribution to the presentation, that I realized what a truly outstanding professor Dr. Goodman has turned out to be.

“Tim,’’ it read. “I liked your argument so much that I am going to use it in a paper I am writing on “Holder.’’

Clearly, this man is a genius.

Mass Media law was my last class of the day and, hence, my last class of the week. I doubt I’ll ever have a better end to a week than this, of course.

So I left campus in a buoyant mood and it seemed to me as I made the long walk from class to the Commuter West parking lot, the whole campus seemed to be caught up in an almost giddy mood.

Now, since it’s obvious that all 19,000 students do not have the good fortune of having the wise and wonderful Dr. Goodman as their professor, the source of their enthusiasm must come from a different source.

And I’m not so old as to not recognize what that might be: The week is over! Let the weekend begin.

This can be dangerous, especially if you are a pedestrian.

Back in Arizona, drivers are generally very accommodating to pedestrians and will stop even as you approach the crosswalk. But here, it’s anybody’s guess as to whether the driver is going to give the walker the right of way.

And this is particularly true on a Friday afternoon, when the campus tends to empty out in much the manner of a jail break.

There will be one Friday this term where that figures to be an exception, however.

At breakfast, I picked up a copy of The Reflector, which is the student newspaper. The lead story was on the school’s announcement that the snow day we had on Jan. 10 would be made up on an unspecified Saturday, sometime between now and the first of May.,

A co-ed at the next table happened to steal at glance at the paper I was holding.

“Can you believe that we’ll have to go to school on a Saturday?’’ she said, wrinkling her brow in disbelief and disapproval. “Who wants to have class on a Saturday?’’

“I don’t know,’ I said. “I prefer to think of it as “The Breakfast Club’’ for 19,000.’’

“Huh?’’ she responded.

I laughed. “Never mind,’’ I said, realizing that she wasn’t even born when “The Breakfast Club’’ hit the big screen in 1985.

It is safe to say that my fellow classmates are not excited by the prospects of going to school on Saturday. But I sort of wish we had school every Saturday because it is the loneliest day of the week for me.

Monday through Friday, I go to class and have some interaction with people, students, staff and professors. I go to church on Sunday and there is some human contact.

But on Saturdays, there is neither class nor church and I have found that when I stay here in Starkville, there is a good chance I’ll have very little interaction with people. And when I’m that alone, the depression, the doubt, the regrets and loneliness seem to rush in and fill the void.

The worst kind of alone you can be is to be alone with your thoughts.

So I would just as soon go to school on Saturday, if it were up to me.

It is not.

Next week, I have two tests on Monday, one on Tuesday and a major project due on Wednesday.

I can hardly wait.