The original assignment, verbatim: 


Develop a life line--from birth till death--that shows the different stages
of life you have passed through and expect to pass through.  Give each stage
a name that captures some of the key elements or characteristics of that
stage.

Draw out your lifeline on a piece of 8-1/2 x 11 paper.  You may want to draw
it as a straight line divided into sections; you may want to use a different
representation to represent some of the highs and lows, regressions and
leaps you have had or expect to experience.
Richard Tchen
4 September, 1997
Education 23: Adolescence
Professor Lisa Smulyan
The different stages of life
I have passed through and expect to pass through

my swim through samsara takes no names, but i do

Kika
bathe in Nivea, so that mamãe cleans off my sucking thumb for a promise
school in yellow and black
collect Japanese beetles from the side lot

Kix
frolic through rural New Jersey
school in white button-downs

convention
stride through St. Paul's School
fish through summers with a necktie
slip through Swarthmore College

buddha
scrub with clouds on the southern edge of a Catskill
walk Hudson through the Village at six every morning for hatha and karma yoga with towels
train in wu-muei

dedicate
re-educate and re-turn
contract out, contract in
and now the safety guide is no longer in the seat back in front of me,
everyone cocktails me ignorantly with nods,
but i may soon
invest for/with someone else
settle (u)rtchen-less
then
peregrinate
fly
Eric had the right idea; let's bean this fruitcake with a cocount again.