Call Me Snake

Many of my friends' kids are going to college--or going on college tours--these days. My older daughter will be doing the same in a year or two. After a college discussion with friends the other night, I looked up some schools online--including my alma mater, Hampshire College. Some notable alumni were listed on the school's wikipedia page, including several bestselling authors, movie stars, and noted filmmakers. More unusual--to my eyes, at least--that same wikipedia page also listed "Fictional Alumni." This intriguing category included: Alice Kinnon and Charlotte Pingress, characters in the film The Last Days of Disco (a so-so movie that I saw), and, even more impressive, Erlich Bachmann from the Silicon Valley (TV series), who claimed to have received a "B.A. in Ultimate Frisbee" from my illustrious college. No other in the school in the world, and probably the universe, can claim such an honor. I am proud to have gone to this institute of higher learning, although I regret to say that I majored in a more conventional area than the esteemed Mr. Bachmann.