Last night I dreamt I was back in my college dormitory. I had an exam the next morning in Linear Algebra. But I had never been to class. I hadn’t even bought the books. I didn’t know the professor’s name or where his office was. Or what building the class was in. To make matters worse, I’ve always been terrible at math. How would I be able to graduate with an F in Algebra?
I know—it’s common to have this kind of anxiety dream in which there’s some kind of test you are doomed to fail. Afterwards, I woke up thinking I should go back to college, start all over again. College education is wasted on the young.
All of this reminds me of the brilliant and witty poet, Karen Schubert, who completed her college education when her children were teenagers, and went on to earn an MFA and start Lit Youngstown, a thriving literary organization in Youngstown, Ohio.
Non-traditional Student
by Karen Schubert
I changed my major at 40, stuffed
everything I’d need to survive
on a desert island into my new
backpack and joined that tribe
of nomads, The Undergraduates.
The professors were my age,
remembered Johnny Quest, Joni
Mitchell, told jokes. Like summer
camp for grown ups, the way
they made us sit down and read
in the middle of the day. It was
the most fun I’ve ever had.
At graduation I put on the long
black dress, we looked like a thousand
mourners, the speaker told us
we were like eagles. I believe I can fly
sang the p.a. system. I whispered
to the guy next to me, Wasn’t that
the theme song of Icarus? He asked,
Who? and I remembered that we
only know a little more than we
used to know. He’s itching to find
a job in the Real World. I’m staying
as long as I can.
Go to Source
Author: Nin Andrews
