Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, English/Education
St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York, 1990

I enrolled as a pre-med student at Fisher and had my eye on a career in surgery. On the docket: find a cure for cancer and win a Nobel Prize.

First year physiology, I vomited when I started my cat dissection. And chemistry made my head hurt. And my fruit flies escaped the genetics lab. And I didn’t give a rat’s ass about MCAT strategy.

I changed majors to English with a concentration in writing. It was a difficult phone call to my parents. Winning the Clarence Amann Award for Excellence in Senior English four years later didn’t change mom and dad’s mind. I had downgraded to a lesser, ordinary degree.

On my end, I had discovered the power and sensuality of words. My love affair with writing and story-telling took flight.

— Back to My Expedition  | Continue to My Real Major —