it is now my firm belief that anyone who goes to the harvard school of public health is of kind and benevolent disposition. theoretically this is because anyone who makes a career in public health is naturally a burning beacon of altruism and social justice and generally as liberal left-wing as they come and quite ready to give aid to fellow human being, and possibly this is perfectly true of the people i have met, but when i make that pronouncement it is entirely from personal experience, for from the first day that i set foot in this apartment (in which the occupants, past, current, and those just passing through, are from the one harvard school) i've experienced this kindness, always forthcoming, yet never solicited. even before officially moving in i'd one day come by the apartment to drop off a bag of clothes. the summer subletter let me in, and when he heard i was planning to go back to brighton for more of my things, immediately offered to drive me there and back, so that i didn't have to make multiple trips. this was barely five minutes after my first meeting him, and he had work to be getting on with, but we moved my suitcases and a heavy box of diningware and all i could offer in thanks were two hanutas. later on, when i started living here, he observed that i'd been coughing all night and, having diagnosed the cold i had, gave me a strip of pills (he turned out to be a medical doctor as well.) the permanent roommates have returned, and i'd lamented my computer's death to them, and they both knew i was studying for the orals. now i never asked to use theirs, not even simply to check mail, because i'd thought i'd known them too short a time to ask the favour, but the next day i found a post-it note on the bathroom mirror for me, from one of the roommates, telling me that she was gone for the next four days and that i was welcome to use her computer in the meantime, leaving me also her logon passwords, and she'd known me less than a week.

maybe i should dedicate my firstborn to the hsph, or something.