Ode to J. Alfred Prufrock, Dr. Jon Miller, and NCSSM

This weekend I attended my 24th high school reunion. OK, so it was really the 25th reunion for the class ahead of me, but I went anyway. In the late afternoon I scored something that had been missing from my life: a 1986 yearbook. Mine had been stolen or destroyed by a frenemy in college.  Imagine my bliss when the alumni director gave me a new copy!  I drove down 9th Street in Durham with an hour to kill before the evening event. I wanted to go to Cosmic Cantina, which has a lovely rooftop patio, to look at the yearbook.  Imagine my surprise at the new paint job on the stairs. Yes, TS Eliot's The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, which was seared into my memory in American Lit taught by the one, the only, the legend: Dr. Jon Miller. You see, I was at the newly-opened geek high school, the North Carolina Scool of Science and Mathematics. But I was good at science and math. Literature, history, thinking on my own....those were the challenges. Many times I've thought of this poem when I didn't have the courage to try something new. Thank you, Dr. Miller. Thank you, North Carolina taxpayers. Thank you, NCSSM. Thank you, Cosmic Cantina. You all made a difference for this humble student.