Category: Survey
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From a Kindred Spirit
Below are responses to Allegra’s latest survey questions written by a woman who has become a great friend to me in recent months. She’s supportive, she’s attentive, she’s crackerjack smart, and we just GET each other. Will I ever forget that she drew me vowel charts to help me improve my Russian pronunciation? No, I…
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A Slice of Leslie
I met Leslie in July in Washington D.C. at Fulbright orientation, but in the flurry of those quick days, I didn’t get to know much about her beyond my observations that she is intelligent, poised, organized, and professional. It was clear why she’d been selected as an English Teaching Assistant (now living in the city…
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The Latest Survey: Jocelyn’s Responses
As many of you know, Allegra has been making, distributing, and collecting surveys and responses since she was in the second grade. Now on break from her first term at college, she’s done it again. Below are my responses to her latest set of questions. If you, too, would be willing to write up answers…
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Survey Responses by Meredith, Julie (and Sons), and Linda
From Meredith: 1. Feeling stressed. It’s a useless response to having to meet obligations. 2. Edinburgh. Fringe festival, Pan, Scotch, the Royal Mile, men in kilts. 3. Too many hard ones to name just one. All of them right as there is no wrong answer in life. 4. Peace. It’s fleeting but once found, worth…
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Survey Responses from Susanna and Angie
My friend Susanna, in England, writes: 1 If you could remove one thing from your life, what would it be? Greed. Why? Because I truly believe it underlies all the other atrocities in life such as cruelty, lust for power, lack of compassion, injustice etc etc. 2 What has been the best trip of your…
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Survey Responses from John, Elly, and Elaine
A college pal, John, responded to Allegra’s survey questions thusly: I would remove my wife’s student loan debt. It is a lot, and it hangs over us. I went to New York City with the woman who later became my wife. It was great because it was the first time I ever traveled with someone…
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Survey Responses from Byron and Virginia
In the next week or so, I’ll be posting the survey responses of those who have given me permission. Let’s start that roll with the responses of Allegra’s pappy and our family best friend, Virginia. Quick aside: the first sentence of Virginia’s #6 (her ideal day) made me teary. Twenty years going back and forth…
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Tell Me Something: What I Told Her
Thank you to everyone who responded to my last post and completed a survey for our rising senior in high school, Miss Allegra. She’s at the point where she has around 60 surveys from folks, with new ones still trickling in. Eventually, when it feels like “time,” she and a good friend of ours who…
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Tell Me Something
When Allegra was seven, she — for the first but not the last time — created a survey. She had questions, and she wanted to know how a bunch of people would respond. And they did. After a few weeks, she had collected survey responses from folks around the globe, and her entire second grade…