Written by Picture a Halloween party in 1969. Not just any Halloween party. A Mensa Halloween party. The kind of party where the puns are layered and the costumes are elaborate and the conversations go on longer than they should because everyone in the room has an opinion about everything.
At this party there is a woman in her late thirties. A Michigan public school teacher, a mother, an elementary school educator who has spent more than two decades teaching children how to read. She is also, she will tell you without the slightest trace of self-consciousness, a witch.
The head of the Psychology department at the University of Michigan is at this party too. He starts talking to the witch. By the end of the night he has invited her to come and speak to his students.
By the end of the year, Michigan has a celebrity.