"I bet some of you probably remember ME just 'cause of my hair, " Richards opens the play, in a perfect good-'ol-boy accent.

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Even when I did have to do some rote memorization vis a vis flash cards, I found the process of making my own flash cards helped me remember the info more than just going through them.

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For me, it was just another thing to remember to do.

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And at the very end of the encore, I remember I put the tape right near his peddle board, John Spencer's peddle board, and I remember he looked right at me and he just smashed the tape with his foot.

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And I remember that trip giving me a sense of just how immense and how grand this country was, and how diverse it was -- and watching folks digging for clams in Puget Sound, and watching ranchers, and seeing our first Americans guide me through a canyon in Arizona.

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So now when Facebook makes me long for someone else's fairy tale, I just remember that life is full of give and take, luck and circumstance, decisions carefully weighed, successes and struggles.

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