Like many of you, still struggling to cope with the death of Emmanuel Farhi. Today I met a group of graduate students I am advising and decided to share some of my feelings. It was hard. 1/4

Two thoughts I will share here: 1. Chatting in the corridor, going to seminars, conferences and so on. We think of it as exchanging ideas (or gossip). But it’s really about making human contact. 2/4

Academic work is lonely work. We all need that human contact like air. In this difficult time, do all you can to find (imperfect) substitutes. 3/4

2. (This is something I thought witnessing the reaction of Veronica and other former PhD classmates of Emmanuel I know.) Work on your friendship with your PhD classmates. It’s a very very special friendship and it’s going to stay with you forever. 4/4