Between August and December of 1995, I lived in England, traveling around for the first few weeks, then settling in Cambridge for the fall semester of school. I had a great time, but the program I studied under was a little strange, mostly acting students from the U.S. there to do drama, stage fighting, directing, […]

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Sometime in the spring of freshman year at Amherst, I reached Peak Hair. Also, those glasses needed to go. I’m not sure where or when this photo was taken, or why those light leaks happened. I find it hard to believe I really felt like this was the look I was going for, but there […]

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Posing with a gift while sitting at the kitchen table on the night of May 26, 1993, after my graduation from high school. Long (for me) hair, paisley tie, with my new Case Logic binder (great for bringing all of those CDs to college!) on the table (and on a side note, I just emptied […]

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I’ve always made questionable fashion choices, but I did not make a habit of wearing that bandanna, as far as I can recall, beyond this photo. This is a birthday gathering in February of 1992, a photo taken by Sloan or Alecia or Brent or Steve, who are in other photos on this roll, sitting […]

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Me, getting a little “crazy” for the camera, at CTY, on the campus of Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, sometime in August of 1991. It was my fifth and last session of the beloved summer camp, and I had a great group of friends, felt really at home there, and was generally enjoying being […]

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Another school photo, but not only can I not seem to find another usable photo from this year, but I think that this photo and the previous one illustrate some big changes in my life. It’s the fall of 1990, and I’ve given up trying some “cool” haircut, I’ve gotten my braces off once and […]

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This one hurts. It’s the fall of 1989, I’m 14 and, it doesn’t get much more awkward than this. My painstakingly cultivated “side-spike,” groomed just so for school picture day, my too-big glasses, and the attempt at a braces-disguising smile. This looks like the photo you’d see under dictionary entry for “freshman.”

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This photo comes from a roll with an assortment of photos of and by my friend Paul, my best friend in the seventh grade. It doesn’t look like much, but the fact that my t-shirt has some neon colors and a logo on it (I never thought about it, but did this shirt, with its […]

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It’s the week of the Super Bowl, in late January, 1987. It’s also probably the height of my Denver Broncos fandom, just before the first of three losses, each more disheartening than the previous, over the next four Super Bowls. I’m dressed head to toe in my blue and orange finery, but my attire, along […]

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I’m making an exception for today, and instead of a photo, I’m using this hand-cut silhouette that hung in my parents’ bedroom. I’m in costume (note the cloth around the neck) at the Renaissance Fair in May, 1986; was it no longer called the “Open Aire Pleasure Faire” at this point? I finally did a […]

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Oh, man, I loved that sled. A seat so you could sit up straight on it, a steering wheel and a handbrake and you were all set. The fact that for awhile, you could with only slight discomfort sling it over your back like a backpack was a bonus. I’m standing in front of our […]

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Along with Colorado, Arizona was our other most common travel destination growing up, home to my mom’s parents. Before she sent me these photo albums, I hadn’t seen this photo, or at least didn’t recall it. I’m in Green Valley, Arizona, where my grandparents lived, apparently in conversation with one of their friends. I’ve avoided […]

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I’m standing next to a sign at the top of Trail Ridge Road, during perhaps the first of many trips to Colorado, this one in June of 1983. Home to my Dad’s parents, Colorado was one of the primary travel destinations of my childhood. Nearly every trip there, at least the ones not during winter, […]

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Here’s another format to add to the list: the school portrait. This one was taken in the fall of 1982, when I was in the second grade, my second year at Abbott Loop Elementary and also my second of two years in the multi-age 1st/2nd grade combined classroom known as “Joanne and Stephanie’s Family Group,” […]

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A Kodak instant photo from my sixth birthday, in February of 1981, a few months before we moved from this house to the Hillside. I’m wearing my personalized BRIAN shirt, possibly a gift on that day, while my dad stands behind me, holding a gift my grandmother made, a quilt made up in part by […]

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