Making Muncie Not Very Proud

That’s my dear friend Rob Eidson and me flashing our record at the 1991 National Forensic League national tournament, just completed. I remember the weird hotel we were in and watching NBA hoops on the TV. That’s my white Chrysler Lebaron in the background, a gloriously goofy piece of crap car, but one for which I was always grateful.

I Still Go Through Life Like This

1970, maybe? Killer VP bag.

18 Years Ago This Month

Three random photos from my college graduation, Washington and Lee. I remember that you had to be there or they would hold you back a year, and I remember there was something wrong with our diplomas so we got empty tubes.

I Wasn’t All That Good At This

This being “wearing a suit” but could also mean “being on the high school debate team” or “having hair.”

I Am Not Related To These People

This is Jo Douglass and her family from what must be the late 1960s or the early 1970s; she was a friend to our family from the time I was born and probably years before. We just saw her in December.

All People From Muncie Have Garfield Stuff

I have no idea what this is.

Postcard From Ethan Dixon

Newspaper Family Perk

They always go overboard on the birth announcement — this is one for my cousin Mitch.

Why I Can’t Fight

I was a large child, and most of the fistfights that would have enabled my later fighting skills 1) ended really quickly, 2) about 80 percent of the time yielded a later-that-day sequel beat-down by some older sibling of my opponent, because I was too big to be fighting kids my own age.

So lack of skill development + the negative reinforcement of intermittent ass-beatings by terrifyingly large teenagers = I can’t fight.

Plus: wimp.

Spending Time At The Kracht House

I have no idea what this is — some sort of fundraising map, I suppose — but I did notice my friend’s Mom. I spent a lot of time at John’s house when I was a kid, to the point I have a physical sense memory of playing in the background and in his bedroom to match anything that I can recall from back then. They moved to New Jersey.