Categories: Out Among Humans

Future on the rocks

Just Your Average 68-Year-Old College Freshman.

END OF WINTER, just south of the 42nd Parallel — March has been so bitter here you could actually (kind of actually) hear rocks cracking along the shoreline.

A professor cracked too. I was startled when he told students they shouldn’t depend on dreams coming true—not just fantasies about being NFL starters or rock stars—but regular, everyday dreams. A good-enough life would be possible, he said, with work and constancy.

He realized he had violated an unwritten code of educators and took his words back immediately, blaming the winter. He’s a very talented lecturer, I’ve taken 2 of his courses so far. All he needs is better boots.

Pat Shiplett

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Pat Shiplett

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