Spring Break
Finding my unexpected "guide"
Ashley Slocki
Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: Forum
On Feb. 11 I wrote my column, "Discovering who I am, how I got here."
Well, today I was talking to "Alex," and showed him the column. He told me if I ever wanted to write about him to use his real name - Andy.
Of course, we were talking via AIM and while reading my column he made the comment, "it's hard to enjoy this story because I'm giggling so much - especially after the part where [you write about] running away."
Now, this puzzled me because our last conversation is what prompted the first column - his critique of me moving to Oregon.
I have to admit, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why Andy's opinion means so much to me. So, of course, I had to figure out why he was giggling.
"Cause I don't mean it, it's bullsh--." He put it best when saying, "I've taken sh-- with firmer holds in reality." As graphic as that maybe, it made things so clear to me.
Because I respect Andy's opinions, and they mean so much to me, I took it to heart. But there were also many other reasons.
I took it to heart because it was something that I did not stop hearing from the day I was accepted and decided to come to OSU. Having someone like Andy tell me this made it that much worse. It made it worse because it was something I had started to believe - and I will admit, in the back of my mind already believed.
The day after my first column about this came out I got an e-mail from someone which made me have a complete new outlook about my move. The e-mail asked if I had ever thought, "instead of running away from something, had I ever thought I was running toward something."
Thinking about this, I assume this is a better description than just running away.
When Andy got to the part of my column about the change I have been through, he stopped and came back with, "you aren't different, and you will not and never will be different. You will always be the same person who is culmination of all the things that have happened to you and all the people you have met."
Well, today I was talking to "Alex," and showed him the column. He told me if I ever wanted to write about him to use his real name - Andy.
Of course, we were talking via AIM and while reading my column he made the comment, "it's hard to enjoy this story because I'm giggling so much - especially after the part where [you write about] running away."
Now, this puzzled me because our last conversation is what prompted the first column - his critique of me moving to Oregon.
I have to admit, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why Andy's opinion means so much to me. So, of course, I had to figure out why he was giggling.
"Cause I don't mean it, it's bullsh--." He put it best when saying, "I've taken sh-- with firmer holds in reality." As graphic as that maybe, it made things so clear to me.
Because I respect Andy's opinions, and they mean so much to me, I took it to heart. But there were also many other reasons.
I took it to heart because it was something that I did not stop hearing from the day I was accepted and decided to come to OSU. Having someone like Andy tell me this made it that much worse. It made it worse because it was something I had started to believe - and I will admit, in the back of my mind already believed.
The day after my first column about this came out I got an e-mail from someone which made me have a complete new outlook about my move. The e-mail asked if I had ever thought, "instead of running away from something, had I ever thought I was running toward something."
Thinking about this, I assume this is a better description than just running away.
When Andy got to the part of my column about the change I have been through, he stopped and came back with, "you aren't different, and you will not and never will be different. You will always be the same person who is culmination of all the things that have happened to you and all the people you have met."
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