You can only have one: Rose’s caramel corn, an ice cream cone from Jersey Junction, or a Yesterdog. Which do you choose?
No question: ice cream from Jersey Junction. I have so many good memories from childhood right through the present day there.
What was your path from East Grand Rapids to where you are now in life?
In some ways it was a bit conventional. East K-12. College. Immediately to law school. And now I am back in Grand Rapids. But that misses quite a bit. After East, I was lucky to go to Dartmouth College. I started my college search late, but had this romantic vision of a New England town, having read A Separate Peace sophomore year. The late, great Bob Eleveld was my introduction to Dartmouth at a college fair night. I visited and fell in love.
My four years there were great. I made incredible friends and was really fortunate to have some wonderful mentors. I struggled to know what to do next: I was thinking graduate school in political philosophy or theology, priesthood(!), or the law. The summer before my senior year, I interned with a lawyer and saw how he combined some of my deepest moral commitments with the practical and decided I'd pursue law school.
I ended up at Notre Dame Law School where I had another great experience. I am still close to many of my professors. One read in my wedding. Though I spent my law school summers in Grand Rapids, I resisted the pull back to Grand Rapids and headed out east. I was in New Jersey for a year clerking for then-Judge Samuel Alito and then moved to D.C. and worked for nearly seven years at the Department of Justice. I spent a short stint in private practice in D.C. but then my wife, who is also from East (but went to Catholic Central) and I decided to move home. I realized that I had come from an amazing place and that my personal center of gravity was back home. While D.C. had incredible perks, I knew that clients' problems in west Michigan would be just as big to them as the clients I had in D.C. So we moved home. I actually wrote an essay about it that can be found here.
What specific thing did you learn in East that has enabled you to be successful?
Senior year, Mrs. (Ann) Mitchell, busted my butt in AP English. She taught me how to write, how to argue. I really think what she taught me--which capped off the great teaching of so many others, including Becky Knack, Dan Brown, Sheila Pantlind, Bev Barrett, Greg Carnevale, Doug Jenkins, so many--was how to analyze and attack problems critically. She taught me how to make an argument. I really felt prepared for college because of what she taught me. I think that critical thinking was key to where I am today. Of course my parents deserve a lot of credit too. East partnered with them in educating me.
What were you like in school?
A nerd--but one who was friends with everyone. If you look at my high school pictures, you will see that I looked like Waldo from Where's Waldo? I was a bit anxious. I am an extrovert and so really made an effort to reach out to others. I had a lot of school spirit and there is a photo of me with a cape and a basketball helmet on that I wore to basketball games to root our teams on. I actually joked about my Where's Waldo? look in a video I made to encourage classmates to come to our 20th reunion.
Did you have a favorite teacher or class?
That is a really tough one. I don't think I can put it down to any one teacher. There were numerous who influenced me. I think first of Bev Barrett, my second grade teacher at Lakeside. She was a legend. Dan Brown in fifth grade was an incredibly formative teacher as well. He was the first male I had as a teacher and he was so enthusiastic and dedicated. Chess club was great. In high school, there were a number who really stand out. Doug Jenkins. His passion and enthusiasm for science were contagious. Leo Radakovich really imparted a love of history. Becky Knack and Ann Mitchell were incredibly influential on me in terms of writing and literature. Sheila Pantlind, before she became assistant principal, was also a wonderful influence on me.
If you had to choose one moment in one location to serve as the signature moment of your East school experience, what would it be?
The sand dune race during the fifth grade trip we took with Dan Brown to Hoffmaster State park. I remember running up that dune and thinking that I was going to die. But I still remember that and the trip vividly. I won the throwing contest! We had a tug of war. Great fun.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known then?
Let me quote something I said in a speech recently: "Our aphorisms and songs tell us that we can never go home—that it is impossible to return. This is a pernicious lie that we need to do away with. We need to recognize that the freest we may ever be is when we are tethered to the ones we did not choose."
Do you stay in touch with many people from East Grand Rapids?
Not as many as I would like but a pretty decent number. And being back home I run into quite a few old classmates and people I was in high school with.
What advice do you have for young East alums who are just starting out?
You are from a special place. It isn't perfect, but it really is remarkable. For instance, until I lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, I didn't know why people complained about suburbs. I thought I grew up in a suburb. But East Grand Rapids is a town that is walkable and beautiful. And being from Grand Rapids is a special thing. I don't know many people from towns our size who have as much as we have here. Don't be afraid of staying put or coming home.
Who else would you like us to have a virtual cup of coffee with?
There are a few classmates that I have lost touch with that I would love to hear about. One is Jack Cragwall who is a professor of English at Loyola of Chicago. Another is Andrew Speck who is a science whiz. A third, who I do stay in touch with, is Nii Addy, who is a researcher at Yale [Ed: You can read our Virtual Cup of Coffee with Nii, who will receive our Distinguished Alumni Award this fall, here].
The final one is someone who I didn't know well in high school but looked up to. Since then, with Facebook, we've reconnected. His name is Chris Nowak. He's a writer in Hollywood. He is also one of the funniest and most interesting people I know.
Bonus question: What are you glad we didn’t ask you about?
You don't think I am going to give that to you that easily do you?
