Manhattan, Kansas, otherwise known as the Little Apple, was a college town with a unique aroma combining cattle, wrestling mat gym sweat and sunflowers. I played three sports every year, but began to focus my energies on music. My allegiance to sports waned. I joined a comedy troupe and the student council. I did Theatre and Forensics. I sang in a show choir and I joined a punk rock band called the Fuzzbuckets. At this time my brother moved away to Nebraska to attend Doane College. The first time I visited him he paid for my lunch. Our friendship flourished. When I was seventeen I received my first guitar as a Christmas gift. I moved to Boston when I was 18 years old. I didn't really have a favorite baseball player. My favorite album was Southern Culture on the Skid's 'Dirt Track Date.' I was given a stuffed pillow in the shape of my then ladyfriend’s left leg which quickly replaced Maxwell as my favorite stuffed… animal?