Let the Packing Begin

Although grading dozens of student briefs and memos still stands between us and our flight to Delhi, we have turned our attention to packing. We will be gone for almost seven months, with activities ranging from a conference for law professors in Washington, D.C. to training magistrates in the "upcountry" in Uganda to teaching in a summer abroad program (in our summer, but their winter) in Johannesburg. And, we have optimistically (perhaps overly so) decided that we can take everything that we need in one checked bag and one carry-on each. Given that one bag is already dedicated to computers, cameras, phones, I-pods and their necessary chargers, cords, and other accessories, and another will be filled with books and school supplies, we have have to be judicious with clothes, no less toiletries or other personal items.

So far, we have considered a number of different criteria for determining what we should take. The first idea was to take only things that could be described by a four-letter word. That got us Pert, Deet, and a shoe. Not too successful given that we each think that we need at least five pairs of shoes: hiking boots for hiking, work shoes for working, dress up shoes for dressing up, and of course, sneakers for sneaking and sandals for sandaling. Perhaps instead, we should take one thing starting with each letter of the alphabet: aspirin, bathing suit, credit cards, Deet . . . . Of course, that would leave us without bras, books, or cash. We'll have to keep working on it.