So the other shoe has fallen: as expected, the AG has approved. The Marlboro we knew is gone forever. We are all in some form of mourning. Emerson is an honest institution, and I wish the best for the Institute there, but while our academic program may be largely reproducible in an urban setting, the rural setting close to nature plus the sense of community with the town meeting form of self-government, all of which helped define us, are not. Perhaps the merger had to be, but I am still not convinced.