My College Reunion

As mentioned, I went to Swarthmore College. Despite the idyllic setting, the place is an intellectual pressure cooker of the first order. Having gotten decent grades in high school despite an almost total lack of effort, I assumed college would be more of the same. I could not have been more wrong. I have never felt as stupid as I did during my freshman year at Swarthmore. It's bad enough being a geek, but being a not-particularly-bright geek is pure humiliation. Such was my lot.

Fortunately I got the hang of the academics early in year three, so the stupidity 'thing' began to fade. However, I continued to be a slightly overweight, maladroit introvert. This did not begin to change until well into graduate school. All of this is a long way of saying I didn't feel too worried going back to my reunion, did not feel compelled to go on a diet, etc. etc. because given my general state at the time, the only way to go was up!

Slightly unnerving, however, was the invitation, which implied that as a group, we were likely to occupy the dumpy/frumpy end of the personal sleekness scale. I immediately took the opportunity to inform my reunion chair that I have never, ever, not even on the worst day of my entire life, looked like Dick Cheney.