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Lest you think the life of the journalism grad student is spent entirely on the phone or in front of a computer screen, this week I’ll be focusing on life outside the classroom.

This week, we covered the colorful arraignment of Cook County Commissioner William Beavers, and I got a haircut. I’ll explain why that’s even worthy of mention in just a bit…

One of our Reporting and Public Affairs: State and National professors is Natasha Korecki of the Chicago Sun-Times. Natasha is perhaps best well-known for her work covering the Federal Courts in Chicago, especially the trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (her “Blago Blog” is a good read).

When the opportunity came to cover the trial of another allegedly corrupt Chicago politician (I’ve been told we’ll have exhausted our supply of those in Illinois before too long), Natasha was happy to tell us all the ins and outs of her beat.

And it was an interesting day. Beavers is a very colorful man, his self-pronounced nickname being “the hog with the big nuts.” I’m not making that up. His arraignment, which lasted ten minutes tops, was pretty mild-mannered.

But after the actual court proceedings, which by law cannot be recorded or photographed, we headed down to the lobby for a press conference where Beavers really let his hair down.

He said the US District Attorney practiced “gestapo-like tactics” and as he was leaving the pen, you could hear him mutter under his breath, “we’re going to kick their @$$es.”

His lawyers, the same crew that defended Blago twice, were also pretty lively. Let’s just say that hearing Sam Adams Jr. saying, “Plead him? Why would I plead him? You know what, plead you!” has made “plead” the hot new expletive in my apartment.

But besides our visit to federal court, I also visited the salon for a highly-anticipated, much promised haircut.

This is my younger brother.

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Right before he shipped off to Afghanistan last summer, he was nervously worrying about having to get one of those pleading “Army haircuts.” (Ok, he didn’t say “pleading.”)

To make him feel better, I rather offhandedly suggested that I’d grow my hair out in solidarity until he got home safe and sound. Then I’d whack it all off and donate it.

I figured he’d just forget about it, but to my surprise, he loved the idea and asked me about my hair whenever we’d Skype during his year-long deployment.

Since he’s been home several months, I thought I’d better not make a liar out of myself. So last week I made the appointment and did it.

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As grad students we may not have a lot of money or time to share, but thanks to my good health last year and some deep conditioner, I can help make a wig for a woman undergoing cancer treatment.

A hair donation in honor of a returning veteran? Hopefully it will help someone on their own return to good health.

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