This past week I started teaching an introductory college composition course for a group of incoming UW student athletes. It’s a small group, just 14 male students, and most of the group are football players. For their second writing assignment, I gave them an essay that I wrote was I was around 16 years old (without my name on it, so they were reading it as coming from an unknown and anonymous author) and asked them to write a peer response letter to the author, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of the piece and offering some suggestions for revision and improvement. The piece was called “Happy Geeks”, and I publish it here in its original, unvarnished, unedited, uncensored form, in order to give you a glimpse into my own adolescent mind:<\/p>\n
\nHappy Geeks<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Oranges in the greenest valley I\u2019d ever seen.\u00a0 Damn, I loved Sacramento.\u00a0 First we lived on Londonderry Dr.<\/a> in Rancho<\/a>\u00a0Cordova<\/a>, but then we got a house on base<\/a> and let my dad\u2019s cousin, Max Liedtke<\/a>, and his family move in with us.\u00a0 They had lived with us for a while before that.\u00a0 They had a pretty big family I think, but I only remember their mom, who was blind in one eye from a fireworks explosion when she was a kid, Greg, the oldest boy, and Natalie, who I called Gnat, which she hated.\u00a0 She took my room and I had to share with Greg and a younger blonde kid, Nick.\u00a0 Sometimes I would walk around the back between the side of the house and the wooden fence where there wasn\u2019t much space and protected by the whirring of the fan, pick up the loose white rocks and throw them at Gnat\u2019s window.\u00a0 That pissed her off too.\u00a0 But then we moved out, those bastards, and onto the base<\/a>.\u00a0 116 Semple Pl.\u00a0 We had those ugly-ass bushes out front that smelled like poison insecticide<\/a> pine trees.\u00a0 And behind the itchy one in front of the house there was a nozzle and hose that I would use to spray my sisters cat, Ink.\u00a0 I was a mean little bastard to that cat.<\/p>\n
I had the best friends there.\u00a0 Trevor Miller, Robert Rice, Robert Ringer, Stripper Stripper Stripper McCrory<\/a> Crory Crory, who was from Mississippi and who I traded all my Daryl Strawberry\u2019s to, Jared and Josh Crandall, one of whom busted their heads open on the big jump we\u2019d always hit on the way home from school, and Josh Bass and Nick Corcoran at the end.\u00a0 At the end of my street there was a red headed kid named Michael, whose mom read a book on how to win sweepstakes and drawings and won a car, t.v. and some other stuff.\u00a0 When I was in 2nd<\/sup> or 3rd<\/sup> grade, he caught some strange virus that completely paralyzed him for almost a year.\u00a0 Finally it just went away, and he slowly regained motor skills, although when I moved years later, he was still slow and a little uncoordinated.\u00a0 There was also one geeky kid, who read fantasy novels and picked his nose, that when I burned down the field with Greg and was shaking with shock as I was walking home the long way came up to me with advice like he had experience in starting huge brush fires. \u201cWhat I would suggest is to enlist the services of the fire department without alerting too many adults.\u201d\u00a0 He told us once he wasn\u2019t into sports, but like his dad was a real outdoorsman. \u00a0Outdoorsman <\/em>my ass, he read The Hobbit<\/a><\/em> in 3rd<\/sup> grade.<\/p>\n
California was perfect for kids.\u00a0 Long hot summers, a huge pool where I saw Crystal Clear Pepsi<\/a> for the first time, and sports.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why, but the pool was surrounded by a big fence with barbed wire on top.\u00a0 It was even radder because it had a separate diving pool with a high dive and every hour they had a 10 minute adult swim.\u00a0 That was how we kept track of time.\u00a0 Baseball was hot too, a dry heat, but I loved it because sweating was fun then.\u00a0 Roger Jolley, the old guy who ran the youth baseball leagues always called me and Trevor \u2018rookie\u2019, so we called him \u2018Sportswriter\u2019 or something cheesy like that.\u00a0 After Stripper, Kevin, Trevor, and Robert Rice had all moved, I used to ride my bike, the only bike with real tires I have ever owned, a red Huffy<\/a> street bike with white tires that used to make awesome skid marks on the black asphalt, down to Robert Ringer\u2019s house or to the rec center.\u00a0 We played pool, foosball, shuffleboard and I often watched older kids, the homies with half-domes, play marijuana basketball.\u00a0 Then I would go to one kid, who hated me but was friends with Trevor\u2019s house and we\u2019d all relax or usually play some sport.\u00a0 Boner was always there.\u00a0 A real laid-back bone-skinny black guy named Jonas, he was the only guy, other than myself, that I had ever seen wear high socks, and he only did it a few times.<\/p>\n
My hero was an older guy with a traditional boxcut afro, no fade, just square.\u00a0 He was the coolest guy I\u2019d ever met, and the nicest.\u00a0 I was a goofy dresser and since I hated socks with stitches along the toes, I always wore long tube socks without the stitches and my thing since I was little was to pull them up, all the way up, which looked funny with the short shorts from the 80\u2019s that little kids always wore.\u00a0 I also had tiger stripe socks that were knee-high but had 3 fat stripes at the top, usually in a color-new color-first color pattern.\u00a0 This guy would always take the time to help my fashion.\u00a0 Everyone made fun of my high socks and I remember one time, riding my bike back from Randy\u2019s house (he wasn\u2019t home), Randy being the crazy-wild white trash kind of kid with long blonde dirty hair that probably drank and had sex in 5th<\/sup> grade, had no dad and an easy mom.\u00a0 He was a really nice kid though.\u00a0 Anyway, I rode by this group of guys and my hero was there, and he called me over, took me aside and rolled down my socks so I was looking pretty cool.\u00a0 I rode my bike home, looking cool the whole way back, but then I pulled them back up again.\u00a0 I was a hopeless geek.<\/p>\n
The Oakland A\u2019s<\/a> were my favorite.\u00a0 The Bash Brothers<\/a> were heroic, but I worshipped the Man of Steal<\/a>, Rickey <\/a>Henley<\/a> Henderson<\/a>.\u00a0 I wore #24<\/a> for years because of him, I even read his book<\/a>\u00a0[to read a fantastic piece by David Grann<\/a> from The New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0about Rickey still playing minor-league baseball well into his 40s, check this out<\/a>].\u00a0 The year of the A\u2019s was \u201989.\u00a0 That\u2019s when they swept the Giants, my hated enemies because they were Trevor\u2019s favorite team.\u00a0 \u201989 was the year.\u00a0 The year I started hating Kevin Mitchell<\/a> (Trevor\u2019s favorite player) and the year of the earthquake<\/a>.\u00a0 Game 3 was just getting started<\/a>when Candlestick fell down<\/a>.\u00a0 I was asleep in Sacramento when my bed moved and I woke up.\u00a0 My mom was reading in the living room with her cheeks in her hands and elbows on the carpet when she felt herself shaking.\u00a0 The World Series was postponed for a week and a half<\/a> while they picked up bodies, moved cement, and repaired San Fransisco.\u00a0 We learned Gay Pride meant as much as straight pride during a real crisis.\u00a0 The A\u2019s swept.<\/p>\n
I tasted the sunset alot.\u00a0 I supposed to be home when it got dark, and I always waited too late.\u00a0 So I\u2019d race home on my kick-ass Huffy with the cool wind in my face and mouth and sometimes sprinklers blew at me which shivered, but I drank them because cold air makes you thirsty.<\/p>\n
Outside that pool with their sprinklers on was the first time I ever swore, too.\u00a0 I was walking with Trevor, my best friend and the only person I have ever thrown a punch at and lost in speech and looking at the barbed wire, the sprinkler hit us freezing cold.\u00a0 Surprising even myself, I said, \u201cShit.\u201d\u00a0 I had to make him promise not to tell my parents. \u00a0I think he will keep that secret forever, but that\u2019s just what friends do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So, reading this years later, I’m embarrassed at times (especially by the needless profanity), but still a little impressed at how perceptive I was at 15 or 16. There are moments in this piece that I’m kind of proud of, and insights that surprise me–I’m glad that I had the attitude that I did about Gay Pride despite being a young Mormon teen heavily involved in very masculine, gender normative, and largely homophobic sports, and I’m impressed with the attention I give to sensory details and perceptions–I can sense an early desire to show instead of tell. There’s probably more to be embarrassed of than proud of, but it’s what I wrote, and it was my truth at a certain point in my life.<\/p>\n
Now here’s the saddest part for me: I don’t know what happened to any of the children I mention in the story, my childhood friends and\u00a0acquaintances. I lived in the same dorm with Jared Crandall during my freshman year at BYU, and when I moved to Oklahoma a few years later, I ran into Trevor Miller and we played baseball together for a few years, but since that time, all of these boyhood friends have vanished from my life. I miss them–Trevor especially–and would love to know where they are and how any of them are doing. And so, dear readers, I turn to you. If you’ve got any leads, please pass them on. Readers, what are your most vivid memories of childhood? What pieces of writing from your teen years can you dig up, and what feelings do they stir up in you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This past week I started teaching an introductory college composition course for a group of incoming UW student athletes. It’s a small group, just 14 male students, and most of the group are football players. For their second writing assignment, I gave them an essay that I wrote was I was around 16 years old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New Post (at long last): \"Happy Geeks\": A Story by Steel Wagstaff, age 16: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1vqMH-54","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[68,10,11,69,34,8],"class_list":["post-4861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-from-tumblr","tag-baseball","tag-childhood","tag-friendship","tag-rickey-henderson","tag-sports","tag-writing"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Steel Wagstaff","author_link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/author\/steel\/"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_src_square":null,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd6z5D-1gp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6177,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-march-2017-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":0},"title":"My March 2017 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"April 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books If March had a theme for me, I suppose it would have been 'Occupy'? I may be several years late to the movement, but most of what I read this month seemed to have been written by someone involved in the Occupy protests and movements of the past half-dozen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm Reading"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm Reading","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/reading\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The People's Library","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1556,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/whittenberger-summer-writing-project-1998\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":1},"title":"Whittenberger Summer Writing Project: 1998","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"May 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the other things that I've recently decided to do (apart from weeding my library and pruning my record collection) is to finally dig into the huge pile of papers, photos, notes, letters, and memories I've stored in boxes and carried from apartment to apartment over the past decade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Memory Collector Project"","block_context":{"text":"Memory Collector Project","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/memory-collector-project\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1583,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/in-search-of-lost-whittenbergers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":2},"title":"In Search of Lost Whittenbergers","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"May 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a little bit of a whirlwind ever since I dug out the old issue of the Whittenberger Summer Writing Project and decided that I wanted to try to find and contact everyone who had attended. I can only imagine what organizers of high school reunions have to deal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Memory Collector Project"","block_context":{"text":"Memory Collector Project","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/memory-collector-project\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4860,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/distressing-changes-to-wisconsins-mining-laws-proposed-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":3},"title":"Distressing Changes to Wisconsin’s Mining Laws Proposed","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"May 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"From Monday through Thursday of this week, I toured the state as part of a \"Place-Based Workshop\" put on annually by The Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I've been one of CHE's\u00a0Graduate Student Affiliates\u00a0for a few years now, but this was the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/05\/tina_van_zile.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":82,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/the-origins-of-420\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":4},"title":"The Origins of 4:20","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"April 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I should state right at the outset that I'm not a pot-smoker. Never tried marijuana in any form, actually, nor does the drug have any real appeal for me. Nevertheless, it was frequently invoked as an inside joke between my best friend Jack and I all through high school. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6155,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-january-and-february-2017-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":5},"title":"My January and February 2017 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"March 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books My leisure 'book' reading continued to slow over the past couple months, and I haven't had as much time for this blog, so I'm going to roll my January and February reading recap into a single post. 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![The Hobbit<\/a><\/em> in 3rd<\/sup> grade.<\/p>\nCalifornia was perfect for kids.\u00a0 Long hot summers, a huge pool where I saw Crystal Clear Pepsi<\/a> for the first time, and sports.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why, but the pool was surrounded by a big fence with barbed wire on top.\u00a0 It was even radder because it had a separate diving pool with a high dive and every hour they had a 10 minute adult swim.\u00a0 That was how we kept track of time.\u00a0 Baseball was hot too, a dry heat, but I loved it because sweating was fun then.\u00a0 Roger Jolley, the old guy who ran the youth baseball leagues always called me and Trevor \u2018rookie\u2019, so we called him \u2018Sportswriter\u2019 or something cheesy like that.\u00a0 After Stripper, Kevin, Trevor, and Robert Rice had all moved, I used to ride my bike, the only bike with real tires I have ever owned, a red Huffy<\/a> street bike with white tires that used to make awesome skid marks on the black asphalt, down to Robert Ringer\u2019s house or to the rec center.\u00a0 We played pool, foosball, shuffleboard and I often watched older kids, the homies with half-domes, play marijuana basketball.\u00a0 Then I would go to one kid, who hated me but was friends with Trevor\u2019s house and we\u2019d all relax or usually play some sport.\u00a0 Boner was always there.\u00a0 A real laid-back bone-skinny black guy named Jonas, he was the only guy, other than myself, that I had ever seen wear high socks, and he only did it a few times.<\/p>\nMy hero was an older guy with a traditional boxcut afro, no fade, just square.\u00a0 He was the coolest guy I\u2019d ever met, and the nicest.\u00a0 I was a goofy dresser and since I hated socks with stitches along the toes, I always wore long tube socks without the stitches and my thing since I was little was to pull them up, all the way up, which looked funny with the short shorts from the 80\u2019s that little kids always wore.\u00a0 I also had tiger stripe socks that were knee-high but had 3 fat stripes at the top, usually in a color-new color-first color pattern.\u00a0 This guy would always take the time to help my fashion.\u00a0 Everyone made fun of my high socks and I remember one time, riding my bike back from Randy\u2019s house (he wasn\u2019t home), Randy being the crazy-wild white trash kind of kid with long blonde dirty hair that probably drank and had sex in 5th<\/sup> grade, had no dad and an easy mom.\u00a0 He was a really nice kid though.\u00a0 Anyway, I rode by this group of guys and my hero was there, and he called me over, took me aside and rolled down my socks so I was looking pretty cool.\u00a0 I rode my bike home, looking cool the whole way back, but then I pulled them back up again.\u00a0 I was a hopeless geek.<\/p>\nThe Oakland A\u2019s<\/a> were my favorite.\u00a0 The Bash Brothers<\/a> were heroic, but I worshipped the Man of Steal<\/a>, Rickey <\/a>Henley<\/a> Henderson<\/a>.\u00a0 I wore #24<\/a> for years because of him, I even read his book<\/a>\u00a0[to read a fantastic piece by David Grann<\/a> from The New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0about Rickey still playing minor-league baseball well into his 40s, check this out<\/a>].\u00a0 The year of the A\u2019s was \u201989.\u00a0 That\u2019s when they swept the Giants, my hated enemies because they were Trevor\u2019s favorite team.\u00a0 \u201989 was the year.\u00a0 The year I started hating Kevin Mitchell<\/a> (Trevor\u2019s favorite player) and the year of the earthquake<\/a>.\u00a0 Game 3 was just getting started<\/a>when Candlestick fell down<\/a>.\u00a0 I was asleep in Sacramento when my bed moved and I woke up.\u00a0 My mom was reading in the living room with her cheeks in her hands and elbows on the carpet when she felt herself shaking.\u00a0 The World Series was postponed for a week and a half<\/a> while they picked up bodies, moved cement, and repaired San Fransisco.\u00a0 We learned Gay Pride meant as much as straight pride during a real crisis.\u00a0 The A\u2019s swept.<\/p>\nI tasted the sunset alot.\u00a0 I supposed to be home when it got dark, and I always waited too late.\u00a0 So I\u2019d race home on my kick-ass Huffy with the cool wind in my face and mouth and sometimes sprinklers blew at me which shivered, but I drank them because cold air makes you thirsty.<\/p>\nOutside that pool with their sprinklers on was the first time I ever swore, too.\u00a0 I was walking with Trevor, my best friend and the only person I have ever thrown a punch at and lost in speech and looking at the barbed wire, the sprinkler hit us freezing cold.\u00a0 Surprising even myself, I said, \u201cShit.\u201d\u00a0 I had to make him promise not to tell my parents. \u00a0I think he will keep that secret forever, but that\u2019s just what friends do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSo, reading this years later, I’m embarrassed at times (especially by the needless profanity), but still a little impressed at how perceptive I was at 15 or 16. There are moments in this piece that I’m kind of proud of, and insights that surprise me–I’m glad that I had the attitude that I did about Gay Pride despite being a young Mormon teen heavily involved in very masculine, gender normative, and largely homophobic sports, and I’m impressed with the attention I give to sensory details and perceptions–I can sense an early desire to show instead of tell. There’s probably more to be embarrassed of than proud of, but it’s what I wrote, and it was my truth at a certain point in my life.<\/p>\nNow here’s the saddest part for me: I don’t know what happened to any of the children I mention in the story, my childhood friends and\u00a0acquaintances. I lived in the same dorm with Jared Crandall during my freshman year at BYU, and when I moved to Oklahoma a few years later, I ran into Trevor Miller and we played baseball together for a few years, but since that time, all of these boyhood friends have vanished from my life. I miss them–Trevor especially–and would love to know where they are and how any of them are doing. And so, dear readers, I turn to you. If you’ve got any leads, please pass them on. Readers, what are your most vivid memories of childhood? What pieces of writing from your teen years can you dig up, and what feelings do they stir up in you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This past week I started teaching an introductory college composition course for a group of incoming UW student athletes. It’s a small group, just 14 male students, and most of the group are football players. For their second writing assignment, I gave them an essay that I wrote was I was around 16 years old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New Post (at long last): \"Happy Geeks\": A Story by Steel Wagstaff, age 16: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1vqMH-54","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[68,10,11,69,34,8],"class_list":["post-4861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-from-tumblr","tag-baseball","tag-childhood","tag-friendship","tag-rickey-henderson","tag-sports","tag-writing"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Steel Wagstaff","author_link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/author\/steel\/"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_src_square":null,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd6z5D-1gp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6177,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-march-2017-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":0},"title":"My March 2017 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"April 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books If March had a theme for me, I suppose it would have been 'Occupy'? I may be several years late to the movement, but most of what I read this month seemed to have been written by someone involved in the Occupy protests and movements of the past half-dozen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm Reading"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm Reading","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/reading\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The People's Library","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1556,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/whittenberger-summer-writing-project-1998\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":1},"title":"Whittenberger Summer Writing Project: 1998","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"May 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the other things that I've recently decided to do (apart from weeding my library and pruning my record collection) is to finally dig into the huge pile of papers, photos, notes, letters, and memories I've stored in boxes and carried from apartment to apartment over the past decade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Memory Collector Project"","block_context":{"text":"Memory Collector Project","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/memory-collector-project\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/img_0131.jpg?fit=900%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1583,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/in-search-of-lost-whittenbergers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":2},"title":"In Search of Lost Whittenbergers","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"May 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a little bit of a whirlwind ever since I dug out the old issue of the Whittenberger Summer Writing Project and decided that I wanted to try to find and contact everyone who had attended. I can only imagine what organizers of high school reunions have to deal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Memory Collector Project"","block_context":{"text":"Memory Collector Project","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/memory-collector-project\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/448748186_a72b035ca7_b.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4860,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/distressing-changes-to-wisconsins-mining-laws-proposed-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":3},"title":"Distressing Changes to Wisconsin’s Mining Laws Proposed","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"May 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"From Monday through Thursday of this week, I toured the state as part of a \"Place-Based Workshop\" put on annually by The Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I've been one of CHE's\u00a0Graduate Student Affiliates\u00a0for a few years now, but this was the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/05\/tina_van_zile.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":82,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/the-origins-of-420\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":4},"title":"The Origins of 4:20","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"April 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I should state right at the outset that I'm not a pot-smoker. Never tried marijuana in any form, actually, nor does the drug have any real appeal for me. Nevertheless, it was frequently invoked as an inside joke between my best friend Jack and I all through high school. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6155,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-january-and-february-2017-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":4861,"position":5},"title":"My January and February 2017 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"March 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books My leisure 'book' reading continued to slow over the past couple months, and I haven't had as much time for this blog, so I'm going to roll my January and February reading recap into a single post. Here's what I read for pleasure (i.e. not for work or for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Convergence, Long Room, Trinity College","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4901,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4861\/revisions\/4901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.stomptokyo.com\/img-m1\/hobbit-1.jpg\"){kind=link}
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