World Without Walls

Magnify

high school began to feel as musty and claustrophobic as an old broom closet. I wasn’t the type to cut classes intentionally, so I signed on for a community work/study program which allowed me to leave the campus most afternoons by lunchtime to help teach at a local elementary school. But every other aspect of the school routine was boring or frustrating, even my boyfriend was beginning to drive me up the wall. I was sick of climbing into his secondhand brown station wagon, despite his willingness to drive me anywhere I cared to go. I was tired of his Pall Malls, his grimy basketball jacket, his dumb jokes and the way he guffawed after reciting them for the third or fourth time. I was sick of the corner coffee shop where my girlfriends and I met to share hot fudge ice cream cake. Each week I felt more miserable and disconnected from geometry homework, blue gym suits, football games I no longer bothered to attend and gossip. The only class I still liked was Drama, presided over by a gaunt, unkempt teacher, Mr. Wilder, who bore a passing resemblance to Ichabod Crane. True to his name, he was wild-eyed and stringy-haired, fond of giving us eccentric pop quizzes with only one question: “Why Drama?” or “Why Art?” We never discovered whether there was a correct answer.

When I learned of an early-admissions option to a nearby university, I rejoiced. I took great pains with the application, viewing it as my parole from the prison of home and high school. Antioch University, which was based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, had opened a branch in a Maryland town not far from where I lived. The campus was far enough away, however, that I could shed my old life like a second skin. I was ecstatic when the acceptance letter arrived, and my glee increased when I learned that the campus didn’t even have dorms. Much to my parents’ dismay, I’d be required to live off-grounds in an apartment or townhouse, like all the other students. Things were definitely looking up. I left for college midway through my senior year, giddy with goodbyes and solemn with the knowledge that I would now begin my formal education.