Today was the first day of class of my last year of formal schooling, ever. So far, so good, if I can ever figure my schedule out. I'm trying to cross-register for a class at the Divinity School, and I think it will work out. I'm just kind of sick of law school classes, and I thought that I needed a break. Although the class I'm going for, "Faith, Politics, and Society," is still going to be somewhat law-related, it's at least going to be presented from a spiritual perspective, instead of a legal perspective.

But the biggest worry right now is the result of someone else's personal misfortune. I was signed up to take Entertainment Law, but yesterday I was informed via email that the professor has suffered a setback with a neurological ailment he has, and he's not able to formulate words well. Having lost the ability to speak coherently, he can't teach. So the class is cancelled. I should feel more sorry for the professor than I do; as it is, I am only concerned about how this affects me.

See, this professor was the only one here at Harvard who is qualified to teach this subject. He wrote the book on it, literally, so he's the complete authority figure, but he's a one-man show. So instead of class, the school has promised us regular optional entertainment law-related presentations, and the option of writing a 65-75-page paper for two credits. I like writing papers (I know, I'm weird), but because I have had no exposure to entertainment law, I have no idea how to come up with a topic to write on. And I'm already supposed to be writing a big fat Third Year Paper this year, topic yet to be determined, but more likely something having to do with religion than entertainment (see above reference to faith, politics, and society).

When I was deciding on what law school to go to, I was very interested in the intersection of the arts and the law, and almost chose to go to Columbia instead of Harvard because they have a broader selection of classes on that sort of topic. Harvard really only has this Entertainment Law class, a seminar on visual art law (what happens when a painting is stolen?), and your basic copyright classes. Columbia has a whole arts law journal. But I decided to go for the H-Bomb and take all the arts-related classes they offered. This is an area that I am very, very interested in. And now the one professor who can teach it to me can't teach it to me. I suppose I could teach myself and write the paper, but I could teach myself the topic without having paid tuition. I came to the nation's most distinguished law school so that the nation's most distinguished faculty could teach me things; not so they could tell me that I can pull out a book and learn something on my own.

I don't blame the professor; I feel sorry for him and hope he gets better. I do, however, blame Harvard Law School institutionally. I've heard rumors of this professor's failing health ever since I got here; why weren't they prepared with another faculty member? I realize that enterainment and sports law (his other specialty) are a small area of the law, and aren't as popular as, say, constitutional law, or even bankruptcy. But when you've only got one guy, and it's looking like he's not going to last long, you should do something about it. You should at least have the courtesy to let the students know their class isn't going to happen sooner than the day before class starts.