-- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use:

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "-- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use:"

Timothy Griffin
6 years ago
Views:

Citation: 47 New Eng. L. Rev. 17 2012-2013 Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline (http://heinonline.

1 Citation: 47 New Eng. L. Rev Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline ( Thu Oct 1 22:38: Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use: &operation=go&searchtype=0 &lastsearch=simple&all=on&titleorstdno= Electronic copy available at:

2 To George Dargo: "I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life"* Eric ERIC A. LUSTIG" George dictated this to me. It is the last time we spoke. It shows his use of humor. Not sure if a Seinfeld quote I need a tissue. BS Sender: DARGO, GEORGE Sent: 11/28/2011 7:45 AM Subject: Sent from your local rehab center. Message: It must have been the cookie. Here's to the black and white cookie. I wanted to thank each and everyone of you for the terrific get well card that you sent. It was really quite amazing. Everyone who came to visit me was thoroughly amused when they read it. I read all your remarks and was pleased to see how much you have come to appreciate Administrative Law. Unfortunately, I will not be able to come back in time for the last class, but I do want to wish you well in all of your courses. I am sure you will find that the exam that we have planned for this course is fair and * This line is part of the refrain from the Green Day song Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). See infra note 12 and accompanying text. This song was played at the end of the clip show immediately preceding the Seinfeld series finale. The Clip Show - Part 2, SEINFELD SCRIPTS, (last visited Sept. 28, 2012); Seinfeld Scripts - Full Scripts of All 180 Episodes, SEINFELD SCRIPTS, (last visited Sept. 28, 2012). The title is a bit maudlin and not at all reflective of the beautiful melody and reflective lyrics. ** Professor of Law, New England Law I Boston. The author thanks Barry Steams for his contributions to this piece. 17 Electronic copy available at:

3 18 New England Law Review v. 47 I 17 comprehensive. Best of luck. G. Dargol In thinking about this article, I asked Barry Steams, one of our research librarians, to try to find good examples of George's use of humor in his teaching, and particularly from the classic TV sitcom, Seinfeld. 2 The above message certainly shows George's humor in the reference to the "black and white cookie." 3 But more importantly, it shows his genuine affection, respect, and care for his students. Beyond the gruff bluster and jokes was a deep and abiding attachment for his students. He really cared. George and I were both huge fans of Seinfeld and our almost daily conversations flowed through references to (and included) lines from many of the episodes of this show. I hope readers will indulge me as I follow this same flow in this short tribute. Like the students in George's Administrative Law class, I really expected him to return from his latest medical crisis as he had so many times before. And he would not just be back but with flourish and gusto and the familiar Costanzian refrain, "I'm back, baby!" I am pretty sure that I just made up that word (Costanzian), but that allows me to segue into a great Dargo story. We were chatting about how a fairly well-known columnist really had nothing new to say in his widely-acclaimed column. George pronounced that this author was "vomitatious." Although I am the perennial last place finisher in our family Scrabble games, that word did not sound like any word with which I was familiar. I rose to the bait and challenged George. We went back and forth. I walked into his office armed with various dictionaries and the clear facts as I saw them. He responded INTRODUCTION - from Barry Steams, Reference Librarian, Portia Law Library, to Eric Lustig, Professor of Law, New England Law I Boston (Jan. 30, 2012) (on file with author). The Seinfeld TV show is a show that famously is "about nothing." Of course it is about much more. It shows the humor in everyday situations as the four idiosyncratic main characters-jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Cosmo Kramer, and Elaine Benes-go through everyday life in New York City. See Jerry Seinfeld, SEINFELD SCRIPTS, (last visited Sept. 28, 2012). SIn the Dinner Party episode, Jerry and Elaine are in a bakery buying a cake for a party. Jerry buys a black and white cookie and later becomes sick, which he blames on the black and the white in the cookie not getting along. See Dinner Party, SEINFELD SCRIYTS, (last visited Sept. 28, 2012). Electronic copy available at:

4 2012 Time of Your Life 19 with vague references to the internet, 4 Google, and Wikipedia and an everchanging language. We went back and forth and finally he looked at me with a bit of a twinkle in his eye and a sly grin and said, "you know, I have a PhD." It was classic Dargo. It was the perfect ending to a silly argument. And of course, he did not just have a PhD. It was one of the few times that he bragged about his truly impressive academic credentials and achievements. In general he was too modest to gloat about his various accolades. His PhD was from a top notch ivy league history program (Columbia); he was author of several books; he was a highly regarded teacher and scholar on our faculty; and he was truly enjoying a renaissance of his scholarship. 5 I. Worlds Collide Unlike George Costanza, who was in mortal fear of his worlds colliding, 6 I think George Dargo actually relished such collisions. I think it really defined him. At George's funeral service, his son Stephen spoke eloquently about this side of George. And it was worlds colliding on a wide variety of fronts. George was a fervent Yankees fan living in the heart of Red Sox Nation. He was a technological novice whose interest seemed to peak with the last version of the Sharp Wizard. 7 Yet he enjoyed the fruits of computer research as well as ing friends and colleagues around the world. He would humor me when I would encourage colleagues to adopt various technologies like classroom response devices (clickers). "Lustig, tell me about these clicker things." And I would. He would smile, listen, and * It turns out that the Urban Dictionary on the Internet does list "vomitatious" as a word. URBAN DICTIONARY, (last visited Sept. 28, 2012). Given the other words listed and defined, I remain resolute that it still is not a word. Laurie D. Willis, George Dargo; Was Virtuoso as New England Law Professor, Bos. GLOBE, Feb. 13, 2012, available at 2012 WLNR ; Lawrence Friedman, In Memory of Professor George Dargo, New Eng. L. Rev. On Remand (Jan. 10, 2012) in-memory-of-professor-george-dargo/. * In the Pool Guy episode, George's fianc~e Susan is invited to attend a show by Elaine. George is upset by the possibility of his various worlds colliding famously exclaiming, "A George, divided against itself, Cannot Stand." The Pool Guy, SEINFELD SCRIPTS, (last visited Oct. 9, 2012). For those unfamiliar with the Wizard, it was the first generation of electronic data organizers. Sharp Wizard, WIKIPEDIA, Wizard (last modified July 23, 2012). It was also the subject of a Seinfeld episode. See The Wizard, SEINFELD SCRIPTs, (last visited Oct. 8, 2012); Episode Guide Season 9, SEINFIELD SCRIPTS, (last visited Oct. 4, 2012) (describing the Wizard episode).

20 New England Law Review v. 47 I 17 then politely decline, returning to his comfortable technology (the various stacks of index cards and his table radio).

5 20 New England Law Review v. 47 I 17 then politely decline, returning to his comfortable technology (the various stacks of index cards and his table radio). I think he had a very healthy perspective on technology. Perhaps the most serious collision involved his religious beliefs and his deeply held belief in human rights. He was a devout Jew who was troubled by Palestinian human rights issues, and he refused to keep it to himself. I don't think it was in his nature. He would write one of his numerous letters to the editor. When one would be accepted for publication he would say something like, "Lustig, they are going to give it to me at shul this week. But I don't care." Of course, when George's Rabbi spoke at his service, it was clear that he understood and respected George's colliding worlds. II. Summer of George8 George went into summer mode as well as anyone. He would hit his scholarly work hard but would do so with an enviable degree of casualness. Barry Stearns shared the following description, which is so evocative of those days that I can still picture George in that exact outfit, complaining about the weather. My keenest memory of George is Dargo in full summer mode with the perfect canvas bag on his shoulder and Fidel cap perched on his head. He always stopped in the library, complained about the heat, checked on his inter library loans (which often were sheet music) and called our attention to his latest letter to the editor in the Globe or NYT. He loved libraries, he was a scholar, he did his dissertation the old fashioned way. Travelling to libraries across the country where the historical documents on Louisiana were located. He never got that bug out of his system-he loved old maps and used them the way a lawyer uses old chestnut cases to prove his points. But he learned to appreciate our ability to find the same material on the Internet when he returned to update and republish Jefferson's Louisiana a few years ago. 9 Another summer has passed-the first one without George. I missed bumping into him as I arrived to prepare for my summer tax class. I missed hearing about his summer abroad teaching, and hearing about the wonderful time spent with his grandchildren (as his daughter Jessica I1 The Summer of George, SEINFELD SCRIPTS, TheSummerofGeorge.html (last visited Oct. 8, 2012). In this episode, George intends to take the summer off using his severance package from the New York Yankees. Id. As it happens in most episodes, things go badly, and George ends up in the hospital and rehabilitation. Id. ) from Barry Stearns, Reference Librarian, Portia Law Library, to Eric Lustig, Professor of Law (Apr. 25, 2012) (on file with author).

6 2012 Time of Your Life 21 lovingly told us about at his service). I even missed hearing him complain about his various medical appointments. Yet there were constant reminders of George. His wife, Lois, finished cleaning out his office. The boxes were piled. Eventually another colleague took over the office. The fall presidential elections have just concluded. We had great conversations about politics. We were both on the left. George was an unabashed liberal; I am more centrist. We had many spirited conversations, and while we often disagreed, we definitely agreed that a certain columnist was vomitatious! I have been carrying this unfinished piece around for months. I have picked it up and put it down dozens of times mostly because it just made me sad. Although I am only finishing it because of a deadline, I'm ready to let go-it really is time. It was not just the Summer of George; it was the Life of George. And he "had it all" -husband, father, grandfather, man of faith, teacher, scholar, social and political commentator, musician, curmudgeon, colleague, and friend. III. Finale Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road, Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go So make the best of this test, and don't ask why It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right, I hope you had the time of your life So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial, For what it's worth it was worth all the while It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right, I hope you had the time of your life. ***10 Goodbye my friend. I hope you had the time of your life. 1 Green Day, Good Riddance ("Time of Your Life"), GREEN DAY LYRIcs, goodriddancetimeofyourlife.html (last visited Oct. 4th, 2012).

Happily ever after or not: E-book collection usage analysis and assessment at USC Library

ACS 240 th CINF: Assessing Collections and Information Resources in Science and Technology Happily ever after or not: E-book collection usage analysis and assessment at USC Library Norah Xiao USC Libraries