During a recent political conversation, my mom repeated a sentiment she's expressed several times. She said, "Emerson turned you into such a liberal, Maggie."
I've heard variations on this over the years. She has often wondered aloud (and sometimes as an accusation), "Where did you come from?"
I'm the type who generally does what I'm told, so it's a mystery to me how I came out believing the opposite of what my parents believe. And Emerson College may be the reason.
I applied to go there because the two tour guides had huge tattoos, piercings and brightly dyed hair. And because they had a writing program that was supposedly pretty great. I also liked that it was right in the city.
It's a cliche, but being there opened my eyes to lots of things. I felt like the most boring, plain student there. Aside from the millions of wild ways my fellow students dressed and decorated their skin and hair, they all seemed so informed. And they all cared passionately about things. They were strict vegans. They cared about the integrity of art. They protested the war in 2003. They gathered publicly in support of gay rights. They cared about the election; they volunteered to work in support of their candidate's campaign.
I didn't care about anything when I got there. I'm slow to change so I think it took me a while for the example of my peers to sink in. But I think I'm such a "crazy liberal, like that liberal hippie Jon Stewart" (as my mom says) because of the exposure to all of the crazy liberals at Emerson.
My mom may feel like she shelled out money for what ended up being liberal brainwashing, but I'm thankful for it. Thankful to my mom for letting me go to "that artsy fartsy school" and for paying my way. And thankful for what I learned from the other students there.
I like to think that Emerson helped me become the person I was already on my way towards being. It just nudged me there faster and educated me in the process. But I wonder if I'd have gone the other way if I'd attended, say, Bob Jones University?
4 comments:
Now, that's a scary thought!
Keith! We saw you've abandoned Facebook and we were worried you disappeared. :-)
Great post, Maggie! I'm glad for any excuse to think about the good old days of Emerson. Here's the reason I went there: My parents and I were on the tour. My mom asked about about whether the dorms were co-ed. The tour guide responded, "Yeah, but all the guys are gay so it doesn't really matter." And I thought, "Where's my application?!"
I wonder whether anyone would describe Emerson as artsy-fartsy today. Even while we were still there it was becoming more and more mainstream and BU-like. I think if we were to visit the dining hall today we'd be disappointed.
Sadly I don't think it can be described as an artsy school anymore. It definitely was when I toured there during my junior year of high school. And when I got there as a freshman, I was intoxicated by the pink mohawks and full-sleeve arm tattoos. But even just two years later, students seemed more yuppie, more about making millions than being artists.
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