Dick is a junior at Virginia Tech. His full name is Richard Long. He goes by Dick. He has gone by Dick his entire life, which his parents thought was fine when he was seven and have been quietly reconsidering ever since. Dick Long. He goes by Dick.

He studies political science, which he chose because he thought it would explain things. It has mostly confirmed that things are more complicated than they appear, which he finds both useful and annoying.

He has been in love with the pen since he was eight — journals first, then essays, then the slow realization that what he actually wanted was to write things people couldn't ignore. His influences are, in order: Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and a kid named Marcus from his high school who could freestyle over anything and never wrote a single bar down. He is deeply, perhaps irreversibly, into rap. He does not consider this a problem. His favorite song is Excursions — the opening track off The Low End Theory, Q-Tip over a jazz bass loop, four and a half minutes of the kind of thinking out loud that makes you reconsider how you look at everything. He has said it shaped his outlook on life. He means it. He is now looking to work alongside Rex Holloway — for his guidance, his instincts, and whatever it is Rex has that makes people want to read to the end. Dick's father has been informed of this plan. He is, as with most things involving Rex, not entirely sure it's a great idea.

Somewhere. At some point. Nobody remembers exactly.

He met Rex Holloway at a A Tribe Called Quest concert. Nobody can remember exactly when or where — not Dick, not Rex, not Dick's father who was also there. Somewhere. At some point. Rex and Dick's dad had gone to college together, and the three of them ended up at the same show by a series of coincidences that have never been fully reconstructed. Rex took an immediate interest in the kid with too many opinions about the set. He has had too many opinions ever since.

Rex's decision to give Dick a platform at Spotlight Dispatch has been described by Dick's father as 'well-intentioned' and 'the kind of thing Rex would do' and 'I'm not sure this is a great idea.' Rex has not commented on this assessment. Dick thinks it's a great idea.

He is not, to be clear, an intern. He just submitted something and we ran it. That's how this works sometimes.