"I Saw You Dancin' in the Gym"

I was so excited when I heard there was going to be a new "American Pie" movie coming to theaters and reuniting the original cast. I saw parts one and two but skipped the third and all the direct-to-DVD sequels because I do believe in the law of diminishing returns.

Maybe I should have trusted that instinct.

"American Reunion" isn't that bad. It's fine. It has cute moments. It has funny moments. It just doesn't live up to the original, and that's really disappointing because I love the original.

I think "American Pie" gets a bad rap because it helped usher in the age of R-rated comedy raunch fests, a fact so many of the reviews I've read have pointed out. Focusing on the gross parts really minimizes what I think is a sweet, honest, heartfelt coming-of-age story.

Sure, there are really horrifically gross parts in the original "American Pie" (I watched the "unrated" version once and will never do that again) and a major theme of the movie was the quest to lose one's virginity, but most of the movie is about four friends dealing with growing up, moving on and, most likely, growing apart.

I had just graduated from college when the first movie came out and could relate to those issues. The older I get, the more I recognize that life is mostly made up of transitions, of learning how to leave people and situations behind. And it ain't always easy.

To deal with this, the friends in the original "American Pie" make a pledge to lose their virginities before graduation, and in the process, they fall in and out of love, make new friends, take risks, and see their worlds grow a little bigger. They make some huge mistakes along the way, but they mostly remain decent, loyal, respectful guys.

One of my favorite parts about the original movie was how, underneath the ridiculous slapstick, sex was dealt with in a pretty honest way. It is awkward. It is a big deal. It can change everything. Through the four couples the movie follows, we see all of that play out.

"American Reunion" brings the four friends back together, each one now struggling with the truth of their 30-something lives. They're not all that miserable, but they're not all that happy either, so maybe going back to where it all started will somehow fix everything.

I wasn't expecting major revelations and breakdowns from "American Reunion," I know it's not "The Big Chill" or even "Beautiful Girls," but I was looking for some of the same heart the original film had in dealing with the frustrations of getting older and finding yourself drifting further and further from the life you dreamed up when you were a teenager, including the friends you hatched those schemes with.

The film didn't feel like it was made to tell any story in particular, really. Instead, it seemed like "a gift for the fans," a film like Kevin Smith's "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" that's more about tying up some loose ends and tossing back to various in jokes. Sure, it was fun to hear Alyson Hannigan say, "This one time, at band camp" again, but the movie needed more than that to live up the original.

I know it's kind of ridiculous to be this disappointed in a movie, particularly an "American Pie" movie, but the original was a film that stuck with me way back when, that still means something to me now because of the when it came from. Maybe I thought because I grew up, the "American Pie" universe would have grown up a little, too, and better tap into what the class of '99 is going through now the way the original did then.

It's foolish, I understand, but I have this habit of expecting pop culture to deliver.

So Deep, Like Dirty Water

There was a time when I would have considered myself a poet. From the ages of 10 to 22 (or so), I filled notebooks with my poems. I'd get on a roll, writing several in one day, and then I'd go through dry spells, going weeks or even months without writing one word.

One of my most-prolific periods was my junior year of high school where my teacher, a writer and advisor for the school's literary magazine, had us keep journals throughout the year. We were given a certain number of assignments and quotes to ruminate on, but also a lot of freedom to just create. In this class, I experimented with style and flow and formatting and phrasing. I felt like I found my voice.

I also wrote short stories and worked on the school paper. Being a writer gave me an outlet and an identity. People knew me as a writer. They'd ask to read my stuff. I enjoyed getting praise from my teachers and friends.

I didn't take enough chances as a writer, though. Despite being encouraged by my junior year English teacher, I never submitted anything to the school literary magazine. I never took a creative writing class. In my life, I've entered maybe two writing contests (the most-recent of which was last year with Esquire magazine).

As an adult, I get paid to write, though not creatively. I had a professor in college who knew I was a journalism major but encouraged me to stick with creative writing as well. I still remember her asking what I'd written lately. I wish I had that encouragement today because my creative writing muscles and my poetry muscles are getting weaker and weaker.

This morning, I wrote a poem. I can't remember the last time I did but am pretty sure it's been years. It came pretty naturally, the first line and then the second and so on. It felt good to get it out, to have the words come to me, to have one line flow into the next. I don't know when it will happen again, but that it happened today at all gives me some hope.

And because I don't know what I'll do with this poem, or the hundreds of others I have stashed in notebooks and folders in my room and my storage bins, I'll post today's here for now.

I don't want you to grow old
Not really
Not truly
I admire the adult
The real man
Insightful
Respectful
Responsible
The student become the master
Shining a light for us all
"Follow me! I know a shortcut."
I take you at your word
I tread along your path
I crouch at your right side
Eager for the wisdom you dispense
Wisdom that only comes from life
     From experience
     From growing old
The lines deepen
The bones crack
The joints ache
You walk the path a little slower
Hold the light a little lower
Pass the time a little slower
I'll catch up
I'll keep going
I'll walk beside you a while
You'll rest as I charge ahead
Further and further I'll go
Then I'll turn back
I won't be able to see you
Walking the path you wore for us
I'll have to walk the rest alone
I don't want you to grow old