involved with is part of an entire system I was willing to
challenge, reform and revolutionize.
By the time I was in 5th grade I was already dedicated to
contemplating the dead. I used to stroll about the playground,
meditating on my “grief” which struck when one of my family
members died, hypothetically, in my head. My friends always
tried to get me to play, but I thought I played enough as it
were. With some convincing, they learned to let me be. It was
also during this time that my taste in literature and art began
to form. My favorite author was Neil Gaiman, and I was an
avid reader of a series called ‘Edgar and Ellen’ – shamelessly
titled after the great poet Edgar Allen Poe – and any book
chosen from The Series of Unfortunate Events was the best
one to read before bed. But having a bookshelf made of cobweb
dreams and irony wasn’t enough for me. I didn’t know it then,
but I was growing into a student of the macabre right before
my own eyes.
I moved on to an alternative interdisciplinary high school in
Seattle called The Nova Project. It was most prominently
known for the fact that the students were in charge of their
own education. We were able to create independent contracts,
teach classes, and choose our own criteria. It was there that I