Face To Face

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The world's first Internet law school is tucked away in office space that looks like it could house an insurance adjuster. There is no ivy on the walls, no grand gateway to greet aspiring lawyers or their law professors. One floor below is a copy store, a Rite-Aid pharmacy and a lunch spot called Spike's Teriyaki Bowl.But from humble beginnings, the Concord University School of Law is threatening to drag the future of legal education kicking and screaming into cyberspace.

Boisterous students rushed into the Westminster High School library yesterday, expecting to take a quick look at the AIDS memorial quilt and dash off an assignment.But faced with this sad piece of Americana, they fell silent before pictures and relics of the dead."It goes from a rumble to a silence every time," said Margaret Cush, health and physical education teacher at the Carroll County school."Kids don't know what to expect; they are usually just happy to get out of class," said Pam Shurkin, a member of the Maryland Association of Student Councils who organized the first statewide high school quilt tour.

Boisterous students rushed into the Westminster High School library yesterday, expecting to take a quick look at the AIDS memorial quilt and dash off an assignment.But faced with this sad piece of Americana, they fell silent before pictures and relics of the dead."It goes from a rumble to a silence every time," said Margaret Cush, health and physical education teacher at the Carroll County school."Kids don't know what to expect; they are usually just happy to get out of class," said Pam Shurkin, a member of the Maryland Association of Student Councils who organized the first statewide high school quilt tour.

IF A program that attempts to rehabilitate first-time youthful offenders through dialogue with their victims, parents and law officers proves successful, it should be expanded statewide.The state Department of Juvenile Justice has awarded Howard County a grant to begin its version of the innovative program, which Baltimore is also trying through a private grant. Similar programs are running in Anne Arundel, Calvert and Montgomery counties.The technique is based on New Zealand aboriginal custom, which encourages "restorative justice" through shame.

Reggie Wells has made up the faces of Oprah, Aretha and Iman. His work has landed on 65 Essence covers. And he's won an Emmy for his mastery with the makeup brush.But he still thinks about the face that got away: Jada PinkettSmith.So far, scheduling conflicts have kept him from working with the actress and wife of Will Smith."She's from Baltimore and she's beautiful," says Wells, 50, who also happens to be from Baltimore. "She's one person I have left."But in his new book, "Face Painting," he doesn't mourn missed opportunities.

YEARS AGO I received an instruction in the geography, history, economics and social studies of the city of Baltimore.This teaching -- really a parallel instruction -- was not the kind we had in school. It was the type you assimilate from your elders on the days -- and more often the weekends -- when we took off by foot, bus, streetcar, taxi, family car and, once a year, boat.I learned the truth about Baltimore, gobbling up its foibles, curiosities and eccentricities as they were patiently explained by my family.

"My mom would kill me if I let you get away."I typed these words to my new online buddy soon after we met. I was in Jerusalem visiting a friend. He was in Boston staying with relatives. We came upon each other in America Online's "twentysomething" chat room.Although I was running up a long-distance bill to Tel Aviv (AOL didn't have an access number in Jerusalem), we chatted for about two hours. I was only doing what I had been instructed to do for all of my 21 years: Find (and snag) a nice Jewish boy.We exchanged e-mail addresses and kept in touch, on and off, for three months.

WASHINGTON -- For the first time since independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr began an investigation into an alleged presidential affair and cover-up, Monica Lewinsky met face to face with prosecutors yesterday in New York, marking a crucial turning point in Starr's six-month inquiry.And in another move that appeared to buoy Starr's investigation and put new pressure on President Clinton, a federal appeals court ruled that Bruce Lindsey, a White House lawyer who is Clinton's most trusted confidant, could not refuse to answer grand jury questions by invoking attorney-client privilege.

Katharine Graham doesn't think she'll be able to tell a gathering of psychiatrists, psychotherapists and other mental health experts much about clinical depression, or at least much more than they already know.But she may be wrong. She might tell them some of the ways it can change people -- not the afflicted, but those close to them; and now and again even positively.She has no speech prepared for her presentation Thursday to the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, but she will answer questions that relate to her particular knowledge of this insidious disease.

Lee R. Monks remembers the first time he seized a boat as a collector for the Internal Revenue Service.He was 28 years old, he worked out of the IRS' Kansas City, Mo., office, and he wasn't a bit nervous."