Chapter 10: The Habit of Thinking

The editors of this book have invited me to participate even though it’s been nearly two decades since I did much academic writing. It “doesn’t require academic … writing,” they say, “just good storytelling that points up the acquisition of habit by way of schools such that [it] changed how you live … A story where habit or learning or some connection with a teacher/mentor influenced the direction you took.” One of the editors is a former student of mine and the other was his student. They continue, “[We] want a story about how you got here so that we can better understand where we came from.” I get the idea. “What’s past is prologue,” Shakespeare says in The Tempest.