Introduction

The initial impetus for this blog came from several discussions I had with a recently reacquainted friend. We met shortly after my family moved from the urban environment of Dearborn Michigan to the suburbs around Ann Arbor. His family was well established at the local Presbyterian church and befriended us new attendees. My mom had known his mom through mutual childhood friends. This friend and I both enjoyed making homemade RPGs and bonded over that. Over the years we would drift apart. He was much more outgoing than I and more engaged in school and church social events. Near the end of high school my brother and I and he and his brother attended a Christian summer retreat in Colorado Springs by the name of Summit. The purpose of the event was to prepare high school grads for issues they were likely to encounter in secular colleges. After the retreat my friend became a radical Christian, proclaiming he was given power by God to no longer sin. I, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction, taking steps to distance myself from religion and in its place developing an increasing interest in literature.