“Hi, are you guys law students?”
“He is, I’m not” my friend responds while pointing at the law student.

I move my head, spotting an eager-looking, blue-eyed person. His gaze on our splattered pages and laptops, empty glass tea holders, highlighters.

“Oh, where do you go to school?”
“UCLA.”
“Oh, I’m at UCLA too!” Its nice to have a conversation with a stranger, I think to myself.
“What’s your major?” my friend asks.
“History – what kind of law do you want to do?”
“Immigration – or at least something in that general area.”
“Cool – so did you go to law school immediately after school?”
“No no no, I’m old – I’ve been out of school for five years.”
“Oh.”

After we end this semi-awkward conversation, we return to our highlighting sticks and typing machines.

We two brown people in a Persian cafe that serves Brazilian coffee. A good place. There are some women sitting on the side, not far from us. No one is really far in this small place, where there are backgammon boards and wonderful-looking cheesecakes under shiny bright glass. There is hookah outside and Persian music inside.

Next thing I hear is Farsi coming from this eager person’s mouth. He has conversations with the workers at the restaurant, he talks to the women. They are astounded that he can speak and comprehend their language. His chair slowly moves towards them as the two tables warm up to each other.

It turns out that he is studying Farsi and as he speaks more and more of it, asking the women questions as he studies, they are oohing and aahing at his language mastery. He is humble and I’m not so sure it is genuine or not. He constantly asks every few minutes “don’t mean to bother you, but…” He is trying hard to seem the oblivious eager language learner.

Of course, I am always wondering. Is he really oblivious to it all, to the appropriation of someone’s else’s language, going to a cafe to try and talk it up with women who are impressed by his abilities? Are his language abilities indicative of a larger kind of respect of culture that people with immense amounts of privilege often don’t have? Or is it straight up appropriation?

Of course, he could simply be trying to learn – and what better place than a Persian cafe? Right?

Right.

Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron, died today at his home near Aspen, Colorado. In the short period of time between his sentencing and his jail time, Lay suffered a heart attack. As a Houstonian, I wasn’t proud of Lay or Skilling (or Delay for that matter). And still I wonder – are there drugs out there that can induce a heart attack?

I continue my preparations for moving to LA. I’m making lists but not really. They’re in my head, ready to bust out on paper or word document. I’m supposed to get out of Houston at the end of this month, but I’ve yet to develop the momentum that’ll get me to bust out the little money I have left in my checking account to buy the stuff I need for law school. That list is potentially long and arduous, tough on the pocketbook. I made the realization the other day that I won’t have any income in law school (at least during the first semester) outside of loans.

One good thing about law school is that most of the other folks will also maintain their livelihood through their loans – I guess I won’t be alone with my loans!