IU, unplugged

Enjoy the moment, but always look forward to the next step.

With the insecurities that came from high school, I tried to fuse this simple fact in my head. There will always be another journey and a new chance to change yourself once again. And as the time has come to transition to a new level in my life, the same motto will have to be in play.

In high school, I was the overly outgoing popular kid who was coming to terms with his homosexuality. This Drew, though widely accepted by his peers, feared rejection about a personal trait that’s simply uncontrollable. So I looked forward to Aug. 19, 2007, my move in day at IU, and my new chance for redefinition.

IU appealed to me because it seemed to be the most liberalized college in Indiana. When I was 13, I was awarded the 21st Century Scholarship, a program for Hoosiers who fit in the state’s lower class system. To receive this gift I had to stay in state, and for Indiana, IU is George Washington University in the east coast, preaching development and open-mindedness. IU was my ticket out of Tipton, Ind.

Initially, IU provided me everything I could have wanted from a university. The classes challenged me, the people were ambitious and my independence excelled.

But by the end of my sophomore year, I began to realize the faux bubble IU claimed to construct. Though this town does support diversity and acceptance, it’s a sort of commercialized warmth where only stereotypes could share prominence with the dominating social norm.

As long as we fit within these pre-existing conditions, all is well. When we don’t, then we’re put in our place.

If last week’s anti-Semitic attacks weren’t a clue, maybe this column will be a dead ringer. IU and the city of Bloomington are far from its embroidered liberal tag. This town is full of kids who view blackout stupidity as a indicator on how well the week went.

Also, I don’t know what drug the Advocate’s Mike Albo was on, but we are not one of the “Gayest Cities in America” either. Our parties are immediately shut down, and the nearest gay bar is by Wal-Mart. How’s that for equality?

While I will miss the memories IU provided me, I will not miss the seclusion my gay friends and I encountered each week.

I look forward to the time when women won’t harass you about this “lie” your living because you’re “too masculine and cute” to like guys, as if a cookie-cutter image of a gay men existed.

A good friend of mine in Washington, D.C. told me that for gay men, college is like our high school years and our 20s will be our collegiate ones.

He couldn’t have said it any better as it sort of complements my motto — always look forward to new adventures. I’m not going to be the guy who says “the college years were the best of my life.” I didn’t do it in high school, and I won’t do it here.

The best years of your life occur when you lose ambition for what’s to come. I’m going to miss everything about IU, but my flight is booked literally hours following my commencement. It’s time to move on.

After three and a half years, it’s time for a new ride, but on this trip, there will be no expiration date.


E-mail: dreander@indiana.edu