Student housing

"Don't know what that is."

For the first time ever, Isaac asked me that familiar question about a building. We were driving past Bowles Hall, the only all-men's dorm at U.C. Berkeley, my alma mater. I guess Isaac hasn't seen much Gothic architecture.

I explained that the building was like a house where lots of college students lived while they went to school. "Bigger boy," Isaac said, which is what he always says when we talk about school. It means that he knows he'll be going to school when he's a bigger boy.

"Yeah, you could go to school here when you're older, if you'd like," I said.

A minute or two later we drove past my former student home and I tried to call Isaac's attention to it, thinking it would form a nice contrast to Bowles, but Isaac was more interested in the tree trimming being done across the street, which involved a cherry picker truck and a chipper.