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thirteenrocksI'm not a big myspace person, although I have a page there.
Nights in the hospital can be long and borring. Sunday nights especially, long and boring.
Therefore, tonight, I surfed and checked out myspace. Low and behold i had mail.
I wasn't expecting this:
"without sounding too overly dramatic . . . you have no idea who i am, but you've had an impact on my life!
I'll start from the beginning (but give you the short version).
The signs were there from the very beginning, but I was in total denial - all the way through my freshman year at clarke. Then, during sophomore year, one of my class mates came out, and then another, and another. I thought to myself, "these people are not freaks, and if they can be out and happy, why can't I?"
That semester I was in Katie Fischer's essay writing class, and one of the assignments was a personal essay. So, I wrote about coming to terms with my being a 'mo. As part of the assignment, she wanted to "conference" with us. During our one-on-one, she gave me an essay another former clarke student had written. She should have left the name off the essay, but I think she forgort. The essay: "The Ballad of Little Joe" written by Kevin Mergen. Reading the essay helped me deal with feeling like an outsider among my family and friends. It helped me come to accept (and love) being gay. I figured, this Kevin Mergen guy sounds cool (and other clarkies who overlaped your/my time at clarke said the same). I thought, if I ever run across him - a huge improbability - I'll say "hi!"
Last week, I was surfing myspace, and checked the clarke grad profiles - and there you were! So, "hi," and thanks! "
Needless to say, I'm on cloud nine. Needless to say, I'm speachless. Totally Speachless.
Some history:
The essay in question "The ballad of little joe" started out as a 2 page essay for my Freshman writting class at Viterbo, Wi. By the promptness of the professor "Grant Smith", I revised the essay for the final conference i had with him at the end of term. Over the course of the Christmas holiday (how fitting this works out), I would revise the essay, send it to him in the mail, he would act like an editor, and send it back. The 2 page essay turned into a 8 page essay about my comming to terms with my homosexuality entitled "The ballad of Little joe".
I submitted it to a writting contest in La crosse, and won 2nd place.
While at Clarke College, I pulled it out for another writting contest, submitted it, and WON. The judge wrote a note "Surprising this comes from someone at clarke, what risks, what balls!".
I never knew K.Fisher had kept a copy, or that one was flying around. Because it's quite personal specialy in relation to my parents, I've kept track off all the copies. In fact, I have the orginal 2 page essay, al the revisions, and all the copies (I thought) known to exist.
Its really odd to think the impact this story has. Maybe its time to give rebirth to it...... but how, when, and where....
Nights in the hospital can be long and borring. Sunday nights especially, long and boring.
Therefore, tonight, I surfed and checked out myspace. Low and behold i had mail.
I wasn't expecting this:
"without sounding too overly dramatic . . . you have no idea who i am, but you've had an impact on my life!
I'll start from the beginning (but give you the short version).
The signs were there from the very beginning, but I was in total denial - all the way through my freshman year at clarke. Then, during sophomore year, one of my class mates came out, and then another, and another. I thought to myself, "these people are not freaks, and if they can be out and happy, why can't I?"
That semester I was in Katie Fischer's essay writing class, and one of the assignments was a personal essay. So, I wrote about coming to terms with my being a 'mo. As part of the assignment, she wanted to "conference" with us. During our one-on-one, she gave me an essay another former clarke student had written. She should have left the name off the essay, but I think she forgort. The essay: "The Ballad of Little Joe" written by Kevin Mergen. Reading the essay helped me deal with feeling like an outsider among my family and friends. It helped me come to accept (and love) being gay. I figured, this Kevin Mergen guy sounds cool (and other clarkies who overlaped your/my time at clarke said the same). I thought, if I ever run across him - a huge improbability - I'll say "hi!"
Last week, I was surfing myspace, and checked the clarke grad profiles - and there you were! So, "hi," and thanks! "
Needless to say, I'm on cloud nine. Needless to say, I'm speachless. Totally Speachless.
Some history:
The essay in question "The ballad of little joe" started out as a 2 page essay for my Freshman writting class at Viterbo, Wi. By the promptness of the professor "Grant Smith", I revised the essay for the final conference i had with him at the end of term. Over the course of the Christmas holiday (how fitting this works out), I would revise the essay, send it to him in the mail, he would act like an editor, and send it back. The 2 page essay turned into a 8 page essay about my comming to terms with my homosexuality entitled "The ballad of Little joe".
I submitted it to a writting contest in La crosse, and won 2nd place.
While at Clarke College, I pulled it out for another writting contest, submitted it, and WON. The judge wrote a note "Surprising this comes from someone at clarke, what risks, what balls!".
I never knew K.Fisher had kept a copy, or that one was flying around. Because it's quite personal specialy in relation to my parents, I've kept track off all the copies. In fact, I have the orginal 2 page essay, al the revisions, and all the copies (I thought) known to exist.
Its really odd to think the impact this story has. Maybe its time to give rebirth to it...... but how, when, and where....
