Tyrades

“So, Dan – what are you doing tonight?”

After 40-plus years, I can still hear one of my best friends from MTSU asking that dreaded question.

No matter how many homework assignments, romantic entanglements and writing deadlines occupied my plate, Jack would invariably cajole me into some series of nerdy antics.

I have felt guilty over the decades. Family responsibilities and work responsibilities (and let’s face it – channel-surfing responsibilities) ensured that (a) I drifted away from Jack after college and (b) I failed to visit him before his premature death.

(I’m not so overwrought about hi...