Young Master Jay Takes on the World

Ever since he was quite young (perhaps 12 or so?), my nephew Jay has had a passion for urban planning. That alone has made me very proud. Any time questions arise about career paths not taken, urban planning is always the first thing I think of. So in a way I feel like Jay is representing a part of me out there in the world.

Last weekend, he got his BA in Urban and Regional Planning from Cornell. He's headed for a temporary position with an urban planning think tank, and from there, who knows? I'm 40 now, and pretty settled, so it's kind of exciting to think about the wide open possibilities Jay has right now.

Here's the graduate, along with his proud parents Kathy and Mark. Mark said he wanted his screen name to be Zorro, but unfortunately I cannot honor his request.



A bunch of family traveled to Ithaca for the festivities. Besides seeing family, T and I also got to hike a gorge, have some delicious soondubu and stay in a real dorm room (which kind of made we wish I could decorate my dorm room all over again). It also took us two days to get home, but that is another, less celebratory story.

Here's our dorm room, which we had an irresistible impulse to mess up, just like real college students:


Below is the dresser from Jay's childhood bedroom. They may be hard to see without clicking on the photo, but mixed in are some SF anti-gentrification stickers collected during his visits, as well as Catalunya per la pau sticker from a very memorable anti-war protest we attended in Barcelona.


Here's me, in the middle of a gorge.