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In college I spent a single summer day at a children’s camp affiliated with my university.  As with everyone at the camp, I left my given name behind at the front entrance.  For the duration of my...

I imagine the scene played out something like this:  Bundled up in her winter coat, 12-year old Mina Appel longs to press through the throngs of passengers to claim a spot on the port side rail. ...

When my wife Sharon and I make our trip to the grocery store each week, we fall automatically into a rhythm developed through years of shared experience.  Sharon carries the coupons and keeps...

True story:  At my summer orientation before I started college, I walked up to the student government table at the involvement fair and asked, “How do I become Student Body President three years...

It’s the week after Independence Day, 2010.  I am 42 years old, and have been working at UMBC for seven years.  Last week I defended my doctoral dissertation proposal, one of the last big steps...

For nearly thirty years they sat untouched in the attic of my parents' house in California: a collection of sealed cardboard boxes held together with masking tape.  Hidden inside were the...

When you've lived long enough, there are specific moments that stand out in memory as the true turning points.  Had those brief instances played out in a different way, you would have lived a...

I would ask the question at the top of Lookout Mountain:  That was the plan.  The symbolism was many-layered.  From atop the peak you could see clearly in all directions, seven states in a single...

When I was growing up, snow was a destination, not a weather event. Once or twice each winter my family would drive an hour or two into the mountains around Los Angeles. We called it "going to...