Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you'll have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either of them might run out.

A. She spent five years as a Tribune national correspondent based in Atlanta. from Pomona College.

About four times a year Schmich and fellow Tribune metro columnist Eric Zorn write a week of columns that consist of a back-and-forth exchange of letters. Born in Savannah Georgia the oldest of eight children Schmich grew up in Georgia attended high school in Phoenix Arizona and earned a B. In addition to writing her column Schmich was the author of the long-lived comic strip Brenda Starr from 1985 through its final appearance in January 2011 and has worked as a professional barrelhouse and ragtime piano player.