• Camels in the desert

    The Mysterious World of College: First Semester

    July 1, 2024

    College of San Mateo: Coyote Point Campus
    Trapped between an unmotivating world of academia and a compelling fantasy world of movies and books, I was looking for direction.

  • Swim team

    Glimpse of a Much Bigger World

    June 17, 2024

    With athletics, I caught a glimpse of elite success. Intelligence and privilege don't get you anywhere without hard work and discipline.

  • First Half Senior Year title graphic

    Joe Dillon’s early History: First Half Senior Year

    June 3, 2024

    A New BreakfastI had a good summer teaching swimming. I saved some money and bought myself a car: a used 1956 VW bug for $600. I now had…

  • Newspaper clipping showing varsity swim team

    Meet Coach Vermeil

    May 21, 2024

    Early in the first semester of my junior year in high school, I met the new swimming coach. He was the football coach in the fall and the…

  • A Ray of Sunshine

    May 7, 2024

    The rest of the first semester of my sophomore year in high school passed in sort of a gray fog. I went to my classes each day, sat glassy-eyed and…

  • Rifle with funeral home in background

    Joe Dillon’s Early History: Traumatic Sophomore Year

    April 22, 2024

    At the start of my sophomore year in high school, I was even more uncomfortable than during my freshman year. I had regained the weight I had…