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Sunday is Show and Tell
I went to a university in New York. For one year. There. I said it. Depending on the day I am either ok with dropping out of the university after my freshman year or I have pains of feeling like an idiot. I feel like if only I had stayed another year or two that going back to getting a degree wouldn’t feel so overwhelming now. But I left after one year. I had NO qualms about it at the time. In fact I was pretty smug about it then. I knew that I would be starring on Broadway or a feature film in a matter of months and to twiddle my thumbs at University would be a waste of time.
Plus tuition was too much money.
I had made plans to enroll full time in a fancy pantsy acting school that was affiliated with the University and felt like as an actor that was just perfect. Doctors went to medical school, lawyers went to law school, and actors went to school at 3rd floor walk-ups across the street from a liquor store and a little theatre with a bunch of blue men.
And while the decision was entirely mine I will admit now that I had a tad bit of influence from a certain thinly stripped man named John. John came to give a little informal talk at the University and I went with some guy whose name I can no longer remember and a notebook that I reserved for such talks. You see I was the girl with stock in blank books. I had one for everything: addresses, notes for classes, recipes, things that I heard on the street or subway that were funny and even a book reserved exclusively for jotting town words of wisdom from guest lecturers.
We were early to John’s talk. I made sure of that. But I was not prepared for the amazingness that was about to happen. John began his ‘program’ by informing the mild mannered crowd that he was kicked out of our University his freshman year. He then said it was the best thing that ever happened to him. And something in my brain went, “oh. So you aren’t automatically a loser if you don’t finish University properly…hmmmm.”
And for the next several years it was, indeed, proved to be a good decision to drop out. I ended up graduating from my acting conservatory with an off-Broadway play under my belt and loads of experience. Plus I was able to have more free time to wait tables! I felt almost liberated for not having a university degree. There certainly couldn’t have been high expectations for me. It was that lack of expectation that allowed me to decide to move to L.A. and eventually get a job that people with multiple degrees would have killed for.
But still there are times that feel like people would be shocked to know that I am a college drop out. I do have a bad tendency to feel as if I am not smart enough because of it. And yet the very idea of going back to school exhausts me. I will probably end up being one of those weekend news stories about the 90 year old woman that FINALLY went and got herself a college degree.
Until that time I take a small amount of comfort in knowing that John turned out ok. So maybe I will too. So today I am showing (after the telling) a photo from that fateful evening.
Have something you want to show and tell? Read about how to join in on the fun here.
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