Rudi Christopher and I met at London’s Thames Day in Autumn 1981. He had spina bifida, but he was kayaking near the Houses of Parliament that day. I later interviewed him at his college in Alton. He had great abilities, and big dreams, and I hope he is doing well today.

It was difficult during my London Reporting Semester in 1981 to write the 12 required stories, mainly because I devoted so much time to taking pictures then. However, doing both writing and photography that autumn proved very valuable to me, in the long run, as this column and future columns by me suggest.