About the Author ... Chris Meserole studied at Harvard and the University of Cape Town. He is the author of Democratic Vista and a contributor to the Huffington Post.

About Me ... In 1996 I received a full scholarship to Phillips Academy. This was, to say the least, a great blessing: not only had an illness left my family in bankruptcy, but I was blown away by the school itself.

Two years later I went to Harvard. Alas, I didn't like it much. So I left. I enrolled at the University of Cape Town, traveled regionally as much as I could, and learned what it truly means to listen. A year later I finally returned to Harvard. Still didn't feel comfortable there, so I just put my head down and wrote a thesis. When I looked up I'd somehow graduated with highest honors and a Hoopes Prize (other recent winners include Dustin Thomason, author of The Rule of Four, and Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club).

Thereafter life has been the typical postcollegiate mess. One year spent struggling in Los Angeles, another teaching in Europe, several odd jobs in between. The common thread has been writing -- mostly in the form of imposingly long emails, but also, at the encouragement of some friends, this site.

At this point I doubt if my friends are still reading, but I have to give them credit. It has at least cut down on the imposing emails.