On July 10th, 1984, a month out of high school, I met Peter Buck at club in Detroit after a show in Royal Oak. Based on a mutual love of books and authors, we became friends, and for the next five years I hung out with REM all over the country, as I pursued a life of political activism that was encouraged by the band members. In high school, I was an outsider; growing up, I felt apart and rejected by the community in which I was raised.