Grad Anecdotes: Lawrence Levine

Now an anecdote about one of my former professors.

When I first became a graduate student, I was petrified of my professors and hated visiting them in their offices. I figured I was wasting their time among other things, particularly so with Larry Levine. But half way through a semester I was forced to see Levine. I stepped into his office and announced why I was bothering him while staring at a picture of New York Yankee great Lou Gherig that happened to be conveniently placed over one of Larry's shoulders. Larry, being a pretty smart guy, noticed that my preference was to look at Gherig, promptly began a conversation about the New York Yankees in the 1930s and about how Gherig reflected Larry's father, a hard working guy who never missed a day of work. As he started talking about New York and baseball, I discovered that I was looking at Levine rather than Gherig. After that I never shied from visiting professors.