Education

Just before I turned eighteen, I entered an exclusive college.

I made the transition in the company of my closest friend -- a brilliant woman whose lightning-quick mind and thoughtful moral convictions have honed my notion of justice, humor, and friendship for forty years now. One night, we boarded a red-eye together and left our modest, union households in our diverse, working-class community. The next morning, we started new chapters amid privilege beyond imagination.

We couldn’t spit without hitting a world-renowned scholar, a state-of-the-art this-or-that, or the original, private papers of a transformational historic figure. History whispered from the spaces between each pre-industrial brick. It wasn’t a university we found ourselves in; it was a monument to knowledge. And to exclusion. With staggering opportunities at our fingertips, we asked questions, explored answers, and re-imagined ourselves and the world around us.

Many of our peers arrived fluent in the unabashed patrician customs of the place. The shared cultural touchstones; the steady creep of SAT words into casual conversation; the bizarre, centuries-old traditions; the inexplicable encouragement of A Cappella: so much was so utterly alien. But it all offered a valuable lesson in clarifying who we were and finding and building the places where we fit.

The memories I treasure most from those years are the conversations I shared with friends. On the way to classes and libraries, on dorm-room floors in the middle of the night, in dining halls hours after meals had ended, friends shared what they loved about what they were learning. The unfiltered enthusiasm and generosity they brought to these conversations revealed what was obvious to them and, embarrassingly, just dawning on me: education is a priceless opportunity to find and explore the things that fascinate us most.

Here's what I learned in college: curiosity and inquiry can be the foundation of a life that always remains rich and rewarding.

Taught by wonderful people I will always hold close, this lesson was the gift of a lifetime.

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