Tribute: Marcus Aurelius' Meditations

Debts:

My high school western civ. teacher, Mr. Daddow, taught me that everything has an economic reason. And to make sure to have my affairs are in order should a crowd come to my door proclaiming me, "An enemy of the people."

A's cats taught me sloth.

From my roommate, D. the Viking, I have learned many puns.

L taught me how to change a bike tire and how to endure untenable living situations.

IB gave me a crash course in feminism every time we spoke and, in many ways, gave me New Orleans.

Will M. taught me the absolute value of learning to say, "Meh."

A has, and continues to teach me about living my life the way I want to.

To my family I owe my bibliophilia, dissatisfaction with easy answers, and love of learning.

From a New Orleans nonprofit leader I learned that bluster and arrogance will get you far in life.

Josh G. taught me that if I ever begin a sentence, "[Group of people]..." what follows had better not be anecdotal.

To Rachel Swirsky I owe most of what I know about writing and that a story isn't done until you sit down for the nth time to revise it and start to cry.

From all my Iowa City friends I've learned more than I really wanted to know. But most recently, they taught me how to laugh again.

Raymond Carver taught me to never use tricks.

To Marcus Aurelius I owe the revelation that I owe a debt to everyone for who I am.