Who is Sparticus?

Do you remember writing your college entrance essay?

For me, it was a horrifying experience because it felt like the whole objective of it was to glorify yourself in 400 words. "Oh, look at me. I'm so wonderful, I worked in a soup kitchen, and I tutored Cambodian immigrants, and I shoveled sidewalks for the elderly." Those people should add: "Never mind that I did all that stuff just so that I could get into your prestigious university and will probably never do any of it ever again."

So, perhaps I should give this disclaimer. This is not about telling you why I'm so wonderful and terrific and why you should care about this blog. I went to the "bad" high school in town, I went to state school for undergrad and graduate school, and I am a proverbial state worker. Clearly, there are a lot of people ahead of me in the worthiness totem-pole.

Please, read this post instead as if you are reading the weather forecast - it's simply for your information.

I am the first-born child, and as such I never let my little sister forget that. As a baby, my doctor once called me tyrannical because even as a months-old baby I would terrorize my parents by crying at night until they carried me from the crib into their bed.

Oh, did I mention that ages 0-7 occurred in Argentina? Yes, I am from the South, deep South. I was born in Godoy Cruz, Province of Mendoza, in the Republic of Argentina. My extended family is still there, with branches scattered in Spain and Australia.

I grew up in Fort Collins. I did not like it there until I left it. That is where my mother and sister still live.

My parents divorced three days before my 10th birthday.

The single most difficult moment in my life was that call from my mother at 11:45pm on April 15th.

I still have not fully recovered from that - and I'm not ready to write about it either.

When I graduated in May with my Masters degree, I became the second person in my entire family with a graduate degree.

Now, I am a part of New York's dysfunction.

When I came to the Northeast in 2006, I could not wait to leave. Now, because of her, I cannot stand to be away.