I learned today that Jamie Frank, a guy who lived across the hall from me my freshman year of college, is in prison for raping a child over a six year period of time. He's not the only future felon I kept company with at N.C. State. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday of my spring semester I walked to Econ class with Chris Pritchard, whose murder of his step-father after our freshman year was chronicled in Joe McGinniss' novel Cruel Doubt and was the subject of a two-part made-for-TV miniseries by the same name. Chris even has a Wikipedia page!
When my high school history teacher learned I was a State fan, he sardonically replied, "State?! Don't you know you have to drive past Dix Hill (a mental institution) and Central Prison to get to State College?" Touché.
The connections don't end with my freshman year. Jamie was arrested while serving as a youth counselor at Barium Springs Home for Children (creepy), which I know sort of well as it's in Statesville NC, only a half hour drive from Salisbury, and it's a Presbyterian institution. And McGinniss, of course, wrote the great true-crime Fatal Vision about narcissistic Army doc Jeffrey McDonald who stabbed his family to death in my hometown, Fayetteville, North Carolina. And looking at his Wikipedia page, I learn that he also wrote a book about a certain senior senator of Massachusetts whose passing is today's top news story.
Well I'll be...
It was 22 years ago when I has hanging out with aspiring murderers and sex offenders. I don't remember vivid details of my freshman year of college so much as vague impressions. It was a rather harsh environment--males aged 18-20, although I have to admit I had no idea at the time how harsh, apparently. I really valued the two hours every Wednesday night I spent at West Raleigh Presbyterian Church. It was like the eye of a hurricane. The food was good, and I felt like I could be my true self there, rather than project a facade of testosterone-powered anger and sexuality which is sort of mandatory among young adult men (and which, if you know me, you know that I could never pull off very well anyway).
Oh, and did I mention that I met my wife at West Raleigh PC?
So, Gentle Reader, if you are unpacking your dorm room as you read this, my advice to you is to go to church and meet a nice girl. I know I sound like an old lady when I say that, but trust me, you can do a whole lot worse...
We'll wind up with a little Blues Traveler, which both I and the young adults I work with are subjected to on an hourly basis at The Casual Dining Chain You're Probably Eaten At Before. But I'm not feeling a bit nostalgic:
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