Becoming a lawyer

As graduation draweth nigh, I've been trying to remember what ever possessed me to want to be a lawyer.\nAt first, I wanted to be a writer. As a child, I wrote several gripping, insightful short stories. During the Panama Crisis in the 1980s, there was "Noriega the Nut." Then in the Gulf War, I wrote "Four Fourth Graders in the Fertile Crescent," a smash hit among my classmates.\nBut as I got older, I realized only a few gifted and tenacious writers can pay the bills that way. So I moved on.\nDuring my teens, I wanted to be a minister. I preached at crusades and church camps from northern Illinois to western Kentucky and saw many souls saved.\nThings got complicated when I came out, though. One family member was afraid I'd molest the camp kids, and some pastors forbade me to preach in their churches again.\nAlways a little naive, I finally realized being a gay Southern Baptist preacher wasn't a realistic career option.\nSo I set out for Indiana State, determined to become an English teacher. I fell in love with everything I read, from Shakespeare to Yeats, from Chaucer to Eliot, from Pope to Poe to Pound. I adored English!\nSadly, though, I hated kids, and after a semester of classroom observation, I abandoned teaching.\nI enjoyed writing for my college newspaper. Asking tough questions was a lot of fun. But being a journalist was too much pressure, and I didn't want to be in a profession where everyone hated me.\nSo I was a year from graduation with no career plans and no marketable skills. In the real world, there's just no demand for a guy who can compare J. Alfred Prufrock to Jay Gatsby over lattes.\nI considered being a translator. But since English was my only language, who would I work for? The White House?\nThen one day my English professor told me to be a lawyer. Suddenly, everything made sense. I could be a creative writer, telling my clients' stories in a positive light. I could use my mad preaching skills in oral arguments to persuade judges to side with my clients.\nI could use my knowledge of English and literature, and everything I'd learned as a college journalist would help me to know when and how to ask the right questions.\nOh yeah, and I could make money.\nWhen it came down to a choice between the University of Illinois and IU for law school, I chose IU -- for its basketball program.\nThose who knew me as a writer say I'm wasting a gift. Those who knew me as a preacher insist I'm running from God. And some of my professors tell me I could've done a great job teaching "Hamlet" to 12th graders.\nBut when I think back on all of it --writer, teacher, preacher, journalist -- it makes perfect sense. All I've really ever wanted to be was a lawyer.\nTo the IU School of Law Class of 2006.