Free!

This summer institute at Harvard marks, at minimum (I may have repressed some), the 6th institution of higher learning that I have attended. And my experiences have varied--from community colleges to state universities, national institutes and private colleges. Harvard isn't the first private college I have attended, but it is the most, ahem, privileged.

My favorite indication of this I discovered in the women's bathrooms. Lo, and behold, the tampons are Free! Administration figures it's investing a lot in their co-eds' education--heaven forfend a few forgotten quarters bring it all to a socially catastrophic end.

(nb: This bathroom was in the law building... I should have compared other departments--like the humanities or hard sciences--to see whether their future careers were as considerately insured. However, when I returned home, I discovered the exact feature in the bathrooms at my husband's work-place. Who knew the corporate world was so generous to their female employees? And why haven't state universities picked up on this habit?)