Nerve Essay: The Goatee Period

Since my sophomore year of college, I've liked reading the essays, articles, and advice on Nerve.com. Sure, some of it's smut, but it's at least literary smut.

Last week, I happened upon Alexander Maksik's personal essay called, "Dealbreaker: The Goatee; And how it can lead to the end of everything." It's not at all smut. In fact, I'm not clear on why it was published on Nerve. Yeah, there's a girl involved, but that part seems to take a backseat to the author's professional concerns. So it goes.

For the first few paragraphs, I thought I was reading my own story. Like the author at the time, I am in the middle of what I can say are my "salad days." I also have a goatee, though I've never assigned it much importance, as he does. It's only function, really, is to keep me from looking like a baby.

In this essay, I'm not certain the goatee had anything to do with the big change. My guess is that it was the drugs.