The character of Detritus was inspired by my friend Daniel Rivers. I say “inspired” rather than “based on” because while both Daniel and Detritus are short, very smart and (at least at the time the character was created) complete horndogs, they’re otherwise dissimilar. Daniel and his sister were raised by their single mother in northern California. Detritus grew up with his parents on a hippie commune in Oregon. Daniel has gone on to do his graduate work at Stanford. Detritus and Buffy (not the TV character) Crawfield bought the commune in Oregon and are raising their kids there.

I last saw Daniel when he officiated at Cindy and Mike’s wedding. He wrote a great ceremony. I’m going to have to see if I can get a copy of it. It would be worth publishing here.