College Days, Then and Now

I’m sitting in a parking garage in Auburn, Alabama, and as I write, it’s pouring. Just before this deluge, I finished a five-mile walk around a campus that was the birthplace of so much good in my life. It’s a joy to walk its familiar paths now that I’m several chapters into the story—well past the youthful intrigues and romantic speculations of college life.

When you’re a college student, life’s every possibility lies ahead, and if you’re the brooding type, it’s all documented. My generation bo...