Member-only story
IT’S MY LIFE
Four Years In A Classroom Was Not For Me
My college days were rough and rocky until I finally found my groove — Pt. 2
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS/CHICAGO CIRCLE CAMPUS
After licking my wounds for a couple of months, humiliated by my failure to make the grade at Parsons in New York (read all about that disaster here) in April I got a sales clerk job at an art supply store downtown. I was eighteen and it was my very first nine-to-five gig.
My parents had split up again but joined forces and together they resonated like one big, loud voice in my head, relentless in their demand that I return to school — any school — in the fall.
I had to get them off my back but looking into the School of the Art Institute or any art college so soon after New York was more than I could handle. I wasn’t ready for that. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go that route anymore.
My mother called me obstinate and yeah, I guess I was but in reality, I knew enough about clothing construction to design a garment. I understood seams, darts, tucks and pleats. Wasn’t that enough? The idea of spending years in school forced to learn how to sew when that was the last thing I wanted to do seemed like so much wasted effort.
