Years That Ask Questions

The thing about cob­webs, though, is their extreme flam­ma­bil­ity. At first it was exhil­a­rat­ing to watch those tire­some ques­tions go up in smoke. In their absence I was con­tent to roll along inside my joy bub­ble, sure it would pop soon enough. When it proved resilient, new ques­tions burned their way unbid­den into my head. Bet­ter ques­tions. The kind you have to answer, if you’re doing it right, every sec­ond of your life. […]

Escape Velocity, Part II

The first time I stood on UNCA’s cam­pus was for a math test, of all things. My dad drove the two hours into the moun­tains with me, and we both looked a lit­tle cock-eyed at the line of dread­locked, Birkenstock-clad hip­pie chil­dren stream­ing into the lec­ture hall. Dad knew the type and didn’t much like them, I guess, but I’d never spent any time out­side of my home­town, and just had no idea what to make of the de facto uni­form my new peers were wear­ing. It was a far cry from the camo jeans and base­ball caps back home. […]

…Sometimes I Need a Witness

Peo­ple say, “You look younger.” Or, “Have you met some­one?” Or, “If you keep look­ing younger every time I see you it’s gonna get weird in a few years.” I don’t know what to tell them, except that it’s hard not to live a lit­tle more fully when you spend a lot of time with ideas that are beg­ging you to do so. […]