Oh, Alma Mater!

I did my undergraduate work — which consisted mainly of playing in a punky/country/rock band called The Right Profile — at Appalachian State University, which is located in the mountain town of Boone, N.C. (Levitt probably would have gone there too, if he had gotten in, but he had to settle for Harvard.) A.S.U. is not well-known nationally but that might soon change, at least a little bit. Its football team is playing in the I-AA championship game this Friday night. Go Mountaineers. A.S.U. also has a “summer read” tradition, whereby the entire incoming freshman class is required to read the same book. Next summer, that book will be Freakonomics, and A.S.U. has invited me to be its 2006 convocation speaker. Perhaps this will raise my profile a bit among A.S.U. alumni. The most famous alum of the moment is probably Dexter Coakley, a longtime Dallas Cowboys linebacker now playing with the St. Louis Rams.