Since February my daily commute to campus has usually included an hour and 10 minute train ride from Oakland to San José. Normally the train operates within 5 minutes of scheduled departure and arrival times. Today, however, the train was 30 minutes late, which popped the short story “The 5:22” into mind. This short story is an interesting exploration of a disruption to a regular train rider’s schedule, especially as one of his regular co-riders also undergoes a significant transformation. I recognize other regulars on my train so I’d have a similar reaction, I think!

I’m kicking myself since I no longer have a copy of a University of Minnesota class assignment based on this short story. The class was on social and cultural expression through the medium of film. I think that I asked students to discuss how and why they would film the short story if they were directors. I’ll have to start thinking about some way to revive that assignment for use here at SJSU.