March Reed Writes In

Friday, March 26, 2026–Dear Will’s Place,

I hope you’ve all had a happy March! I was fortunate enough to join you for part of it when I returned to Skokie on Spring Break from March 6 to 15. It was a delight to be able to see people I knew again. During the week that I was on break, I played trivia games at one community night get-together; visited an old teacher of mine at Niles North Elementary School; went with my mother to the Medieval Torture Museum in Chicago (did you know waterboarding has been used since the 1400s?); had the opportunity to see the early part of the Will’s Place basketball team’s Sunday morning practice; took a walk in the woods with my father; bought a few books at Barnes & Noble, as well as checking some out from the Skokie Public Library; slept in every morning; and watched a lot of horror movies (of which the best was Michael Dougherty’s 2004 Trick r’ Treat). Perhaps most importantly, the day before I returned to Marquette, I picked up a shift at Will’s Place. I’m glad that I got to work with my friends while I was home! Prior to leaving, I had to turn in some assignments and take a pair of midterm exams–one for my Professional Public Speaking class (where I got a score of about 96%), and one for my Foundations in Theology class (for which I do not yet know my score, although I feel confident).

After I returned from break, I had an exam to take for Media in Society, on which I scored 72%-- not what I’d hoped for, but at least it’s still a passing grade. My first day back at school was interesting: classes were cancelled because of snowy weather, so I got to stay in my room all day, wearing my pajamas and doing work from my bed. Talk about a soft re-entry!  After that, it was business as usual, which, for a college student, means a lot of work. One of the more big-ticket assignments I had to complete this month was a persuasive speech for Professional Public Speaking. I needed to do the research for that speech, write it, create a slideshow for it, and practice delivering it–all in one week! That was a tighter deadline than the one for my last presentation, since I signed up for an earlier speaking slot this time (no later slots were available). Getting the whole speech ready in a week was tough and involved me staying up late on some nights, but finally, I gave the speech and was able to leave that assignment behind. Besides speech, I had to (among other things) write a resume, study for an exam, and, as usual, do a lot of reading. As a matter of fact, for my Career Exploration class, I needed to do an informational interview about a career I wanted to work in, which I conducted with Coach Steve from the Will’s Place basketball team! (Thanks again, both to Steve for speaking with me, and to Jeff for putting me in touch with Steve.) One high point of this month was March 21, when I went to the Milwaukee Zoo with some other members of Marquette’s On Your Marq program. We saw penguins, zebras, elk, seals, prairie dogs, elephants, cows and rhinoceroses (not in that order of course). Until that zoo trip, I’m not sure I fully realized how big animals like giraffes and elephants actually are in real life. They are freakishly large! The same goes for the elk we saw: I was surprised to discover that they were actually about the size of a small car. Later that day, I went out for dinner with one of my friends and his dad. We ate at P.F. Chang’s (a restaurant chain I highly recommend!) before going to see the new movie Project Hail Mary. What a stellar film (no pun intended)--it will really make you feel. On the other hand, there was a somewhat embarrassing experience that I had this month. At about 3:30 PM one Monday, I left my dorm and walked leisurely across campus, stopping on the way to chat with an old professor. At 3:50 PM, I arrived at my Script and Story class. As I tried to open the door, my professor exclaimed, “There he is!” I wondered what he meant–and then realized that I had arrived about 20 minutes late, since 3:30 is when the class begins. As someone who is usually more punctual, I was mortified–and I expressed my chagrin loudly! Not my finest moment, but my professor said he forgave me for being late, so all I can do is move on. 

With Oscar season this month, I had a fun surprise. It turns out that Amy Madigan, who plays the character of Gladys in Weapons, is actually a Marquette alum! Reading about that touched my heart, especially considering that I previously learned that the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy briefly attended Marquette. Needless to say, I am much prouder of my school’s connection to Madigan than to McCarthy. Speaking of Weapons, I was able to get HBO Max on my personal computer, so I can actually watch that movie (among others) now! Even though I came home for Spring Break relatively recently, I will be coming back for Easter Break on April 2. Looking forward to seeing everybody then! Maybe I can pick up another shift and work with people again. Without a doubt, I will want to hear about the basketball game against the Skokie Police & Fire Department on March 29! I will see you all soon, but until then, take care. I can’t wait to talk to you all back in Skokie!

Until next time,

Reed Larson-Erf