Behold My Peeps: Junot Diaz

Junot is technically less one of my peeps than either Michael or Frank, but we did both live in Demarest Hall (the "special interest" dorm at Rutgers) circa 1991, when I was the de facto leader of the creative writing "section" to which Junot belonged. My iffy experience as section leader is largely why I haven't volunteered to lead any groups since, but it can't help provoke a bit of retroactive pride (as well as some healthy professional jealousy) to know that Junot would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and perhaps even more importantly, get booked for an interview on the Colbert Report.