The Death of a Friend
My good friend Rachel Bjorklund passed away yesterday after a car accident in Indiana. Rachel was known for her bright red hair and her quiet but acerbic wit. I met her a couple of years ago while living...
Category: Growing Up
Thoughts on childhood and growing up
The End of Long Lost Friends
When I was twelve years old, my family moved to Michigan, and I had to say goodbye to all my friends in Dupo, Illinois. A few months later, they wrote me a packet of letters in English class,...
A Funny Thing About Nostalgia
I heard an old 1990s song the other day. I think it was the New Radical’s “You Get What You Give.” As with most one-hit-wonders, it invokes an awful lot of nostalgia. Whenever I hear that song, I...
A Literal Kid
I was a very literal kid. More so than most. Like the other kids in the gifted and talented class, I tended to take words and terms at face value. Somehow my left brain developed before my right,...
Garage Sale Dinosaurs
I was probably around 13 or 14. My parents decided to have a garage sale, I went through my closet picking out all the old toys I didn’t want anymore. Now when you’re that age, right on the...
The Cat in the Table
My sister had a gray toy cat as a kid, but she wanted a real kitty. My dad asked around and found a charcoal-colored kitten with a white spot on his tummy. My sister named him Starbrite, after...
Brunch with Dick Cheney
“How would you like to have brunch with me and Dick Cheney?” That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say to someone. But I did. It was back in college. I was the Internal Vice Chair of the...
Communism on Campus
It was my first month on campus, and I was still getting settled into my routines. I stopped by the International Center to grab some lunch after class, and that’s when I saw a guy handing out pamphlets....
Originality Is in the Eye of the Beholder
I had a college professor who always talked about originality. Before every quiz and exam he would tell us that he was looking for a synthesis of new ideas. He told us not to regurgitate his lectures. “I...
Friendship by Proximity
When you’re a little kid, it’s easy to make friends. For the most part, your best friend is the kid next door. Or the kid who sits next to you in kindergarten class. But as you get older,...
