When Grant Callow JD’77 received a poor final grade, he needed some perspective. Cue the “Reality Checkpoint,” a message left by Callow and his co-conspirator Tony Varda JD’76 on a stairway to nowhere in the UW Law School building. Part of a 1959 addition, the stairs were supposed to eventually lead to a faculty tower. However, the blueprints later changed, and the tower ended up on the opposite side of the building, leaving a lonely little staircase and an alcove of unfulfilled plans — the perfect spot for philosophical reflection. According to the law school’s Wisblawg, they wanted a reminder not to take law school too seriously, and to remember “what was really important in their lives.” Some, instead, took it to mean that reality can hit like a brick wall. Admin overlooked the act of graffiti and actually appreciated the nebulous sentiment. In 1990, Professor Howard Erlanger commissioned a three-dimensional painting featuring an open door labeled with the same message: Reality Checkpoint. (By the way, let us know if you recognize the original artist’s signature, who was allegedly an art student at the time.) The blind staircase was removed in later renovations, but the painting survived and now lives in the Law Library’s staffroom, where, presumably, the UW’s most grounded librarians work.