Scholarly Dreams

 My very first guest blog post features the talented Chavva Olander, a dear and brilliant friend. Her article made me laugh – the first time I read it, the second time, and the third. Bet you can’t read this without laughing – and thinking about how much the world has changed since you were in kindergarten. She begins with a note, too funny and too true to leave out.

Chavva’s introduction:

I have to preface this by saying that I am tremendously out of practice as I haven’t been writing at all, practically, until just a couple weeks ago.  It is not like riding a bike.  Or, maybe it is, and I’ve simply forgotten that, too.  In any case, I feel leagues away from where I once was, which is disheartening, since, as my mother regularly feels compelled to remind me, I’m not actually getting younger despite the fact that I refuse to grow up.  She also has been known to slip wrinkle cream into my purse when I’m not looking.  I think there’s a diagnosis out there to explain this behavior, but I’ve just been too busy lately to consult my DSM IV (you can’t effectively people-watch without one).  This is the first of a series of little essays I’m writing to try to become David Sedaris (one of my literary idols).  I’m not as funny or as clever, or anywhere near as talented, but I’m trying, and someone once told me that counted for something, although I knew even at the time that they were probably lying.