What have you been up to since you left high school?
After being a science nerd as a kid, I went off to college wanting to study philosophy. Swept up in the counterculture and dropped out after first year, living as a "surf bum" (literally grazing uneaten food off tables) in Hawaii. Then went back to school, was reinfected by the biology nerd virus, and fell in love with field biology. Finished undergrad in '75, went to grad school at Univ Michigan and Washington Univ, got a Ph.D. in ecology/evolutionary biology, and have been teaching at a 4-year liberal arts college ever since. Love the students, love taking them in field courses to explore Yosemite, Tetons, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and love having the chance in a liberal arts community to ask pretentious questions outside my discipline.
But all that's a pale haze next to the joys, and the challenges, of kids & grand kids.
Still surf, and play the guitar. Badly. And am every mystified that I can't remember where I put my keys, but remember names and expressions and tone of voice of fellow MA-ers, even those I rarely conversed with! A seminal time in our development, but also the culture -- we're imprinted on each others' lives.
