As a fan, Kirk Cousins has this very quiet, composed, confident demeanor that seems to be pretty even-keeled. We don't see him show a ton of emotion. I think that's part of what makes him successful, that he's able to not get too high or too low throughout the course of the game and he keeps his head down, keeps plugging away.

I come from a large family, with 16 cousins. My cousins studied well and moved to the U.S. When we all gathered together for special occasions, they would be well groomed and confident. I was the odd, useless one out. All I wanted was to be able to earn without my dad's help and be self-sufficient enough to own a house and a vehicle.

Ethnically, Tuareg describe themselves as white. And they don't look Arab or black. Many Tuareg have light skin, light eyes and sharp angular noses and cheekbones. They are cousins of the Berbers of North Africa. Some legends say the Tuareg are the decedents of an ancient Roman legion that disappeared into the desert two millennia ago.

When I was 23, my Norwegian relatives taught me how to sit still. During the long sunlit evenings in the summer of 1992, my cousins would lead me across the farm to the edge of the forest, each of us lugging a folding chair. There, in a scraggly bramble of wild blueberries, we would set them down a few yards apart, each in our own little patch.

I can pinpoint the exact moment when I first began to think about what profession I should go into. It was 1978. I was seven and had just been handed over by the women of my family to the earnest and self-important gatherings of the men. I was no longer the responsibility of my aunts and older female cousins. I was now a man. This was a tragedy.

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