50 Semesters of Grey…

Everybody knows now.

(Note: I started writing this two weeks ago and forgot about it. So assume you’re reading about this back before I even started my finals.)

I used Twitter as my testing ground, posting a thread where I announced that I didn’t have a degree but that I was going back to school. I even talked a bit about the stigma surrounding those who don’t have a four year degree and why we should eradicate it (and make college free or heavily subsidized). You can find it here.

And then there were rumblings about it where I told people on my birthday in live videos on social media. Throughout that time (and before) I had spoken to others about it — starting to gain a bit more confidence. After all, this is my own story, and I might as well own it.

This pretty much all changed this past Tuesday.

Twenty-five years ago on Tuesday I wrote what I thought would be my last column in The Diamondback, the school newspaper where I would write my own bi-weekly musings. I’ve talked about it here a bit. I emailed them a few weeks ago to request that I write a follow-up — but that it be published specifically on May 5. Twenty-five years later. They were intrigued, I wrote the column, they published it, and the rest is history.

(You’ve probably already read the column, but if not, here it is: I’ve been a senior at UMD for 25 years. Here’s what I’ve learned.

It was published on their website (the newspaper is no longer being published in a printed format) as well as on their Twitter feed. And their Facebook page.

I discovered this when a friend of mine from college reached out to me. And then another. And then another. And then people started to comment to me. I retweeted the article on Twitter and got a lot of positive responses.

I took to Reddit. Posted it in the UMD sub. Made it into an impromptu “ask me anything” thread. Most folks asked me how I felt the school changed in the 25 years I wasn’t a student there.

But some asked if they knew me. Are you the guy who hangs out in South Campus Dining Hall? (no) Are you the one in my MATH140 class? (also no. Although I took MATH140 my first semester of my freshman year with an instructor who apparently is still teaching it.)

Someone was surprised that this was written by me, and not by someone else — who, apparently, is back at the school after a hiatus since 2002, finishing up his degree this year.

So — it looks like I’m actually not alone in my journey at the University! There are others who also have this very different path and nontraditional timeline.

And I found that out even more when I started getting emails from total strangers — some of whom had similar experiences. (One of whom finished his degree a few years back after a hiatus dating back to 1971.) Some of whom who just saw this as inspirational. And wanted to write to tell me so.

On Thursday night I posted this article to my own Facebook page. This was the real test: this was where most people were who didn’t know. Including friends of mine from UMD. Colleagues from work. People all over. As of this morning I have 300+ likes on my post.

And it feels — freeing. I don’t have a deep, dark secret anymore. It no longer feels like this cement block that’s been covertly chained to my ankle. I’m not afraid of people finding out. Because they know. Or if they don’t — they know it’s not something I’m hiding.

Anyway — here’s my piece from 25 years ago. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of this one. I really like my column about “The Goatee” much, much better.