In the early 90s, Corrie and I were living north of Boston. We were graduate students. I was finishing my dissertation, Corrie was working on hers. The academic job market was tight. In fact, the year I finished there was exactly one job opening in the History of Christianity nationwide. We decided to stay where we were, close to Harvard libraries, while Corrie finished. And I would look for work. Eventually I found it in the unlikeliest of places. After working as a temp in several companies, I landed a permanent job in a seafood-processing firm. We mostly sold shrimp, fish sticks and other frozen seafood items to school cafeterias, restaurants, and retail outlets.

I couldn’t have been working there more than a few weeks when I walked into one of the managers’ offices and saw on her wall, a framed poster. On it, in screaming black letters were the words “Get Ready for Lent!” It was October. Continue reading →