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A Year Up the Mountain
 
Some of the teenagers in my youth group, along with a handful of adults, thought the Second Coming could be related to Y2K and the global economic collapse that was surely coming with it. "It's gonna be way worse than they think," Andy said. A year older than I, Andy was stocky and hardcore about his faith. His assessment carried weight and left me feeling that this really could be it: our last months. Who knew what the new millennium might bring for everyone else?
 

Kevin Simmons

 

Did I Already Have My Piece of the Pie?
 
That evening he told me, "Sports are a waste of your time. We're going to focus on academics, starting with writing. You're going to do reports for me—let's call them compos. Compos will make you a cogent and concise communicator."
 

Richard Pool

 

In the Name of Not Repeating (Spotlight Runner-Up!)
 
It's been nearly 30 years, so one thing I clearly know is how not to tell this story: 1) Look around for peers writing something similar. 2) Think about your family and how they will take it. 3) Try to discern an audience that will identify and buy. 4) Ask advice how others would tell your story. 5) Tell it only tangentially, in veiled ways, and then consider it a failure when it doesn't come off. 6) Repeat.
 

Joe Bardin