I don’t know where I found the con­fi­dence amid myr­iad ado­les­cent inse­cu­ri­ties to stare down the mono­lith of middle-school eti­quette and sim­ply walk another way. When I think of who I was then, the per­son I am most reminded of is my mom. My friend Tom might have given me per­mis­sion to creep out of my shell, but Mom taught me to be unapolo­getic about who I was in the first place. Her con­trary nature made it okay for me to reject the sta­tus quo as well. […]