One of the big events of the year in a small college is called Homecoming. At Rhodes, the Homecoming Weekend was centered on a home football game which large numbers of alums came to, filling the medium-sized stadium for the only time during the season.

The alums from each class arranged their own lunch parties before the game and their own parties in the evening; it was an occasion for them to see each other for the first time in a few years or even a few decades. The current students had an all-school dance, supported by the student government, and that took a lot of time to arrange. But in the end, everyone had a good time.

Autumn comes a bit later in Memphis than in other parts of the country. While New England has beautiful changing colors in late September and early October—a perfect time to visit that region—our leaves began to change in mid-October and continue into November. Fortunately, Rhodes was right across the street from the huge Overton Park, a favorite place to escape campus and take long, meditative strolls.

I did a lot of that, particularly in my senior year. Although I was busy working on my psych senior project testing how people learn random facts, and busy on weekends with a girlfriend, I regularly wandered across the street into that forested park for a break in the action. It was peaceful, the seasonal birds chirped in the trees, and I had time to think about life—and what I was going to do after graduation, especially about the draft.

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