As cliche as it sounds, it’s hard to believe that I have only two semesters left at Holy Cross. In comparison to high school, the time has passed incredibly fast. As it is, in four weeks Holy Cross will observe its gracious week long fall break, around which time many of us will have our midterm examinations or papers due.
I came back to campus after “taking it easy” this summer. I worked at a small co-op farm in Amherst, Massachusetts, spending lots of time outside in the beautiful western Massachusetts summer weather. I looked at this summer as potentially the last chance to really be “off the clock” for the entirety of June, July, and August. I took time to see high school friends who are still in the area, and visit family. As august approached, I began to prepare for the upcoming moot court season, as well as doing some preliminary reading for my College Honors thesis that I’ll complete this year. The topic of this year-long project is still somewhat ambiguous this early on, but my adviser and I are both interested in the following question: what makes a law something that one should follow? Is it mainly the fact that the law was presumably produced by an organized and well-respected process–like how a bill makes it through congress and is signed by the U.S. President–or is it more accurate to say that laws are followed because a majority of persons respect the content of the law? This debate has important implications for examining some of the worst atrocities of human society, since many of these violations of basic human dignity came out of an at least partially legal processes.
This project will occupy a lot of my time, but I am also excited for my three traditional courses, as I am now taking the upper-level philosophy seminars that promise to lead to robust class discussion. Outside of the classroom, my friends and I are eagerly awaiting the stunning transition that Holy Cross campus sees during the autumn months. New England’s autumn never disappoints, but Holy Cross looks especially good as the ivy turns a new hue and the trees lining Linden Lane turn.
As the second week of classes begin, I have reflected on some of the aspects of my life on campus that have tacitly become “little traditions”. For instance, my roommate and I laughed as we both suggested that we should get pizza at Antonio’s a few minutes from campus this past Friday night like we had done so many times sophomore year, and the fall of junior year while I was on campus. Or, the fact that we have concert tickets for our favorite band in Boston at nearly the same exact time of this fall as last year’s. Farming and relaxing over the summer was much needed, but being back is great. The only sad part is that it’s my last year here.
