In senior year of high school two things happened. The first was taking Mrs. Rosen’s creative writing class. When handing back our first assignment she asked me to stay after class. I expected to be told that my story was dreck, but instead she said the opposite and we talked about writing – my first “writer to writer conversation. She gave me the aforementioned advice of letting my characters tell me what they wanted to do. The second was becoming an editor on the school paper with my friend Henry, who was the chief editor. In 1973 at a national school press convention the Wantagh Warrior won best in show – beating out Deerfield Academy, whose paper was edited by Chip Cronkite (son of Walter – take that you blue-blazered, repp tie wearing preppies!). Henry and I took each took an essay contest. We both won and received scholarships to Syracuse University.  Henry bailed and went to Georgetown (Henry was brilliant – if he was in Mrs. Shaw’s class he would been at the Very Smart table). I was relieved at not having to apply anywhere else. But in the end Syracuse was a poor match for me and I dropped out after my freshman year.