{"id":114,"date":"2015-10-22T18:07:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T22:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/?p=114"},"modified":"2015-10-26T11:44:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-26T15:44:10","slug":"for-matt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/text\/for-matt\/","title":{"rendered":"For Matt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

I was part of a Human Library<\/a> today, as part of the college\u2019s Global Engagement Week. (This is what happens when you invite people to storytelling workshops\u2026 they come to understand that you\u2019re a storyteller, and then they ask you to tell stories.)<\/p>\n

After struggling for a bit with what my \u201ctitle\u201d would be, by which people would check out my story, I lit on my story about Kenyon\u2019s rebuilding trip to New Orleans<\/a> after Katrina and Rita. I shared a rather wooly recounting of the trip with a couple of people. And then in a lull between \u201creaders\u201d, our organizer Marne asked me, very gently, if I had known Matt Huber.<\/p>\n

Oh God.<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s only one reason you\u2019d ask that question that way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt, the slight asthmatic freshman who worked so hard on the job sites?<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt, the kid on fire in my office a couple of weeks after we got back, struggling with the fact that the job wasn\u2019t done yet?<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt, the strapping senior with the ponytail, winning the college\u2019s Anderson Cup for his 3 years of organizing rebuilding trips?<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt, one of the reasons I say this trip is the single moment of my Kenyon experience I\u2019m most proud of?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, I knew him. What a loss, that he should be gone at 29.<\/p>\n

Marne and I talked a little bit about what a great guy he was. As she put it, we get to see all the students grow over 4 years, but sometimes we\u2019re privileged to see the watershed moment when things really change.<\/p>\n

I sat for a little while, and then I walked back to my office. I started the electric kettle, and listened as the water heated and boiled, giving a thought to the fridge full of beer on my left. I poured the steaming water into my dirty coffee cup, tore open a little green packet of Irish Breakfast tea, and bobbed the bag slowly in the water.<\/p>\n

I wiped my eyes and talked to Jason about a logistical matter.<\/p>\n

And I walked back to the Human Library, and told my story again. Our story, this story I now carry<\/a> for one person more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was part of a Human Library today, as part of the college\u2019s Global Engagement Week. (This is what happens when you invite people to storytelling workshops\u2026 they come to understand that you\u2019re a storyteller, and then they ask you to tell stories.) After struggling for a bit with what my \u201ctitle\u201d would be, by … Continue reading For Matt<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biographical","category-text"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p53vXx-1Q","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephmurphy.name\/ds106\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}