Chris' Home Movies at College: John

Long post, short video.

Length: 1:02

Flashless? (Click to view.)

A high school friend moved into the same residential college as me, but as the story so often goes we drifted apart fairly quickly. He sought the newness of college life, and I did what I could to withdraw from it. In visits to his dorm room, however, I struck up a friendship with his roommate, John Byrne, a Medill (journalism) student from Elgin, IL. He was smart, bookish almost. He almost always wore a button down shirt and sweater. And he made me laugh a lot with his dry wit. Again there's little here of a video record of our friendship (beyond the standard ribbing), but after Laura he was my next best new friend. He and I would hang out late into the night, and wind up joining dormmates Dave and Ted for their graveyard freeform radio show on friday nights (glimpsed here, more video to come). Looking back on it now, he wasn't the kind of fellow I picture at a college radio station at four o'clock in the morning.

After freshman year we spent less time together, and by the time we were seniors, John was co-Editor-in-Chief at the Daily Northwestern. I have no idea where he is now. There are a lot of John Byrnes in the world.