May Reed Writes In
June 1, 2026
Dear Will’s Place,
With May becoming June, summer has well and truly begun. This month saw me complete my Final Exams at Marquette and finish my freshman year of college. I still remember being anxious in the days before I moved in–I don’t think I ever put it in those terms, but I felt like my life as I knew it was over! Fortunately, coming out at the other end, I feel able to say that my life has continued apace, though it has shifted in some ways. I’m glad I was able to stay connected to Will’s Place in the ways that I was (including by writing this column!) during the school year.
However, now that I’m back home in Skokie, I’ve returned to my previous, more direct interaction with Will’s Place, by picking up more work shifts. At the beginning of May, I was scrambling to complete all of my final exams and assignments. I finished my Foundations in Theology report, as well as my final reflections, and took my exams one by one–fortunately, they were staggered so that I had one exam per day, and all were online, so I could complete them from the comfort of my room. I finished the two screenplays I needed to write, too (see my April column). I do enjoy writing creatively, but figuring out what exactly to say can feel like climbing a mountain, and that feeling is not preferable when you have a deadline. However, there was at least one fun moment at the end of the year. In our final Professional Public Speaking lecture, the professor offered extra credit to anyone who would stand up at the front of the class and have a dramatic mock-argument with another classmate. I volunteered and, though at first I couldn’t find anyone to join me for the argument, I was ultimately paired with another student for a dispute about the comparative merits of Marvel’s Dr. Strange and the Doctor from Doctor Who. On the basis of the rhetorical principles we’d studied, my argument was not subtle or elevated, but I feel like I gave a good performance, complete with exaggerated hand gestures, a fanatic tone verging on desperation, and at least one moment where I actually jumped up and down with rage. If someone ever starts a reality TV show centered around nerds, I’ll have to remember to try out–I think I could make it.
On May 8, my mom drove up to Marquette to help me move out. In addition to her packing expertise, my residence hall director and the RAs helped greatly with the process. After we’d packed up my photos, poster and wall hangings, all my clothes, my bedsheets, books, writing materials, and assorted other objects from my college life, the room looked as spartan and uniform as it had before I’d moved in. The move-out mostly went well, except for the detail of my bed–which, despite dorm requirements, we could not de-loft. There was also the fact that, after we’d gotten home, it transpired that I had left my Apple watch at Marquette! Mercifully, the watch was turned in to the campus police, from whom I was able to retrieve it when my mom and I drove back to Marquette the following Monday. Initially, when I came home, it was just my parents and myself in the house. This dynamic shifted with the return of my brother Griffin from Oberlin College. Still, it was nice to be able to see and talk to my brother in person again. Soon after he got back, we watched the movie Insomnia together–a most recommendable film starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, directed by Christopher Nolan and boasting Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney as executive producers. We’ve also joined together to watch episodes of The X-Files, and to play board games and catch up with our high school friend Ainsley. In fact, Griffin, Ainsley and I joined a couple of other friends of ours to visit Niles North High School and talk to some of our old teachers. To my gratitude, I was able to speak to a lot of teachers whose classes I took in high school. One of them had had a new son since I left; another was soon to be an empty-nester, as his final adult child would be moving in with her boyfriend not long after my visit. There have been changes to the bureaucracy of Niles North since I was a student there, including the replacement of academic deans with “assistant principals”. At least two faculty I spoke to are displeased by these changes, but everyone seems to be persevering.
Since returning to regular employment at Will’s Place, I’ve often worked in the kitchen instead of the front, my usual haunt. This has been a new challenge for me, but I feel like I’m beginning to get the hang of it! Besides, working in the kitchen has introduced me to new small joys, like vacuum-sealing fruit in plastic bags. It’s fun to watch the bags congeal around the contents bit by bit, squeezing out the juices from the fruits, as the air is sucked out of them!
Plus, this May has been an interesting month for Will’s Place. I was impressed by our new back patio seating, which has been called “the secret garden”--a name that I think we should continue to use, since it both creates a sense of intrigue and makes us look highbrow and well-read (The Secret Garden is the name of a classic novel). Both Chef Michael and Will had their birthday parties this month (in close succession), inspiring a commemorative chocolate-chip cookie giveaway. I actually ate lunch at Will’s Place with a friend from Marquette named Jadon this month. It was a good time. He seems to like the restaurant (in fact, he told me that he might try to work here this summer!); plus, I enjoyed talking to him about things like Doctor Who (our mutual passion) and new Marvel projects, like the upcoming Wolverine video game and the TV show Spider-Man Noir. I’ve very much enjoyed May 2026, and I hope all of you have, too! But there’s also a lot to look forward to in June. For me personally, my mom is spending June 1-9 visiting a friend of our family, at both her house in Minnesota and her cabin in Wisconsin. (My brother and I will have to make dinner for ourselves and our dad while she’s gone, so those shifts in the kitchen might come in handy!) With Will’s Place’s second summer benefit concert taking place on July 9, I’m also going to be taking this week to listen to the featured artists’ music and do research on them in preparation to interview them when the concert takes place! Until (and after) then, I’ll see everyone at Will’s Place, whether I’m working there or picking up something to eat–or both.
Have a happy June!
See you soon,
Reed Larson-Erf