Keith

I grew up in Keene, New Hampshire, and I still drink Dunkin iced coffee in February, which anyone from up there will tell you isnt a preference so much as a birth certificate. Ive been in Tennessee about twenty years now. I work in data, which sounds dull right up until you notice its the same instinct that makes me pull over for a roadside historical marker: somebody left a record, and I want to know what actually happened. My job is basically taking a mess of records and making them legible. So is my hobby. One of them just pays. That hobby eats most of my free time. Old cemeteries, courthouse squares, the history of buildings nobody photographs, cold cases that never got resolved. Small towns of a few thousand people that still function as the hub for everyone around them. Im also happy in a tent with a fishing rod and no particular agenda. One year I ended up in Vientiane, Laos, which remains the furthest Ive ever been from a Dunkin. I noticed recently that nearly every movie I love is the same movie. Goonies, E.T., The NeverEnding Story, Labyrinth, Back to the Future. Kids who find a door into something bigger and walk through it, usually with people who turn into family on the way. Make of that what you will, given where youre reading this. The music tells on me in a different direction. Sixteen artists on my shortlist and not one ironic pick in the batch. Alan Jackson, Phil Collins, Snoop, Celine Dion, Enya. I never learned to perform detachment and Ive stopped trying. Id rather like things sincerely than like the right things. The person Id point to if you asked who shaped me is my father. Im 44, a single dad, and completely new to this. Still working out what Im doing here, and fine saying so out loud.

First-timer here. Im 44, a single dad, and the last couple of years reset a lot of my priorities, including how much energy Ive spent worrying what other people thought of me. Id love to hear from people who remember being on the outside looking in, trying to work out whether they belonged. Thats exactly where I am. How did you get plugged in? Where are the events, and how do people hear about them? And honestly, how long did it take before you stopped thinking about your own body every five minutes?

Im the person who pulls over for the roadside historical marker. I like old cemeteries, courthouse squares, and small towns of a few thousand people that still act as the hub for everyone around them. I research the history of buildings for fun, follow cold cases, and have a real soft spot for National Register sites nobody has heard of and local historical societies that are still active.

My shuffle has no dignity whatsoever. Country is the backbone: Alan Jackson, George Strait, Luke Combs, and Cody Jinks. Then it swerves straight into 90s rap with Nas, Snoop, and 50 Cent. Then it swerves again into whatever youd call Chicago, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Mr. Mister, and Scorpions. And I will not apologize for Celine Dion, Enya, James Blunt, or the fact that St. Elmos Fire by John Parr still gets played at full volume.

I peaked somewhere around 1985 and never fully came back. Goonies, E.T., Back to the Future, Labyrinth, The NeverEnding Story, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Big, Ferris Bueller, Top Gun, The Sandlot, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park. Then the Eddie Murphy wing, Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America and Trading Places, which I can quote more of than Id admit in mixed company. Forrest Gump when I want to feel something. And then, inexplicably, The Conjuring and Hereditary, because apparently I also enjoy not sleeping. Sequels count, and Ill defend most of them.

My father.