Getting the News

We were sitting in Prof. Nesson’s office for one of our regular meetings when we received news about the First Circuit ruling. All of us had our laptops with us, and within seconds, we were sharing a link to the ruling. Prof. Nesson suddenly stood up and left the room– I wondered if he was upset– but then he promptly returned with the 25-page court decision, which he had printed out. I couldn’t help but think that that small act represented so much of one of our main arguments– that digital natives have a different way of consuming media and that we are comfortable with digital formats.

The atmosphere in the room wasn’t gloomy or tense, at least to my perception- perhaps we are not the emotional type. Students were reading through the document and sometimes commenting on things in disbelief, but in good-hearted cynical way. Prof. Nesson’s expression was stony and cold in a manner that I had only seen once before during the past two years. I felt a knot tightening in my chest.

“You were expecting this, right?” one of the students asked.
There was a slight pause.
“Yes,” he finally said. “In my American jury class, we came to the conclusion that all three [judges] were against us.”
He had expected that this was coming, but was still disappointed that it came.

We had sent a text message to Joel, who immediately responded with “so how do we appeal?” but we also had to tell him in person. Prof. Nesson called Joel, and by this time, he looked and sounded like himself.
“Hey Joel, we lost in the First Circuit. Three to nothing!”
He said that in such a jolly way that the knot in my heart dissolved. We were okay. Everything was going to be okay. The bitter pill had been swallowed and we were on the rebound.

-yvette wohn