September is always a month of transitions.

9/11: It begins on a somber note. Like many of you, I remember exactly where I was when I heard about the planes crashing into the Twin Towers on 9/11, 2001. Click on the image of Ground Zero to read what I was doing.

I took the picture at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan on October 30, 2001. The Yankees won the American League pennant, and I decided to make the trip for the World Series and to see the carnage firsthand. I’ll provide more details next month.

That moment is burned into our collective memory. Where were you? What changed for you that day? Ask Alan Bot. He’s curious to hear your story.

College Football: As the mood lifts later in the month, so does the energy. A friend of mine, a retired University of Wyoming anthropology professor from Laramie, is driving down for the September 20th game between the University of Wyoming and CU in Boulder.

We’ll join his son and a friend of mine, originally from Jackson, at Folsom Field. Michael invited me to a game in Laramie between the Cowboys and Texas Tech.

I’m a UW alumnus and will join our party cheering for the Pokes. I graduated from CU Denver with an MPA, and don’t have any affinity for the Buffaloes.

50 Year Reunion – Who is still standing?

Then there’s my 50th reunion at Hastings College in Nebraska on September 27th. The Class of 1975 Bugeaters.

Half a century since graduation, how did that happen? A group of us has done a pretty good job reuniting every five years. The image is from a breakfast at the OK Cafe at the end of our 25th reunion.

Thanks to social media, I already know who still has hair and who’s gone gray, but there’s something about seeing people in person, hearing their voices, and witnessing how the decades have shaped us… or not. I’m expecting a mix of surprise, laughter, and maybe even a few tears.

September is a collision of memory and momentum where we’ve been and where we’re headed. Football games, historical anniversaries, and class reunions all bring out the storyteller in us.

Want to share your own story? Ask Alan Bot about where you were on 9/11, your first college football game, or the last time you saw someone from your graduating class.

Want to tell your own story? Ask Alan Bot about where you were on 9/11, your first college football game, or the last time you saw someone from your graduating class.