As Nesson pulls out of the cemetery parking lot in his two-door Honda Civic, a burned CD starts spinning in the stereo.

Wayne Marshall, a mellow-voiced radio DJ, dedicates a song to “my special lady, Rebecca Nesson,” and Miles Davis’ trumpet fill the car.

“That’s my daughter,” Nesson says with a laugh. The DJ is her boyfriend. “She is studying history at Duke. I’m going down tomorrow to see her teach. It’s a Civil War class.”

At about 8 p.m. Nesson returns to his unassuming home in a historic Cambridge neighborhood.

The house is neat and well furnished, the walls covered in pictures that his wife Fern has collected. The high school math teacher and former lawyer also dabbles in photography.

Nesson settles down to a cup of coffee, a bowl of oatmeal and the New York Times.

Fern soon comes down and he puts on another CD of Wayne Marshall.

“It’s awfully nice,” says Nesson, “almost makes you want to dance.”

“Oh please...” Fern says. “If you want to see Charlie dance you have to have a specific CD called Eon,” referring to an acid jazz group.

“Bring it to his class and insist that someone play it, and he’ll dance. It’s absolutely horrible, but he’s been known to do it,” she laughs.

Nesson sits down at the table and picks up the camera of Crimson photographer Nathaniel E. Jedrey ’03.

“May I?” Nesson asks Jedrey as he points the camera at him.

“Sure,” he replies.

Nesson photographs Jedrey, the room, his wife.

“Is this a 32-shot roll?,” asks Nesson.