LISA LONG

I’m thinking back now to my freshman year of college; I was taking my first philosophy course and being asked to think and write in a way I’d never thought or written before. You read my papers for me before I turned them in, and I don’t think I ever told you how instrumental your feedback was in building my confidence as an independent thinker.

Up to that point, my thoughts about how to live were almost entirely aligned with my parents’. I still share many of their convictions and I’m so grateful to them, but when my own point of view began to diverge from theirs, I often thought of you or looked to you as a teacher. Whether in an actual academic context or in the sunroom at Do Me Good or on the day of my wedding—the thoughts you shared and inspired made that natural separation from my parents less painful, and the coming-into-my-own (which is forever ongoing) more satisfying. Though we don’t see each other often, you will always feel nearby, to me.