I was two completely different students depending on the class.

I was working on my dissertation that summer, and I took a part-time job doing psychological testing in a poor public school system. The town would send me around to different elementary schools to test their most troubled children, or, rather,…

“Hi. I’m Rita Bates,” I had said. “Can I sit here? The boy who introduced himself as Thomas told me I could, so I did, and his friends all introduced themselves in turn. Around the table there was Bev, Ernest, someone whose name started with an F – maybe

Now, just like thunder after lightning, or the "bulmp" sound that comes if you turn a water bottle upside down and let all of its contents drain out, one question always comes after. "You have a car?"

"I didn’t take my mother’s denial of my dream lightly. I wanted it desperately. I cried and pleaded, nagged and begged. On several occasions, I temperamentally got out of the car at a stop sign and walked. Once, my mother said that I was nagging her so mu

As a boy, he had little hope of ever becoming anything.

Where am I? The void between life and death. The light at the end is flickering, not as bright nor as strong as I’d hope it would be.