What is it? This is a shot of the parking lot at the community college where I teach. I was trying to show the busy-ness of the place...the number of cars in the student section. This is a collection of men and women I have great admiration for - they work during the day at stressful, task-filled, full-time jobs. Many have families. There are kids to feed, kids to take to an evening caretaker after they've left the afternoon caretaker, little ones to kiss goodbye.

So when evening falls, when most of the local population is winding down for the day, the night students are gearing up again and getting ready to listen to lectures, work at in-class assignments, and participate in subject-intensive discussions. They won't get home until ten or so, depending on how far away they live. Some of these evening students take two or three classes.

I wasn't one of them when I got my education - I jammed through college and law school, graduating from it all at age 25. I attended school during the day, and that was all I had to do. Just study. No extra jobs, nothing. I took it all for granted.

Today, now, I teach an evening class - legal research and writing. Heavy-duty stuff. At the end of each class, I see these students walk out of the classroom...finally heading home after a few hours of trying to unlock the mysteries of legal analysis without having the benefit of law school.

They're my heroes.