The last time I wrote about my college I hated it. Every single aspect of it made me cringe, from the uninformed teachers (apparently they are called professors), to the absurd amount of useless information they tried to force into my head. I recently spoke with one of the smartest humans I have ever heard and they told me something that changed my outlook on things completely. Funny that they are a professor as well, the incongruence between quality and crappy is so comical. But don’t get it twisted, I'm not about to make amends for what I said before. I still believe that implicitly and I will until I die. What this academic mind told me was that no college truly exists. It is just a construct in our minds. If everyone on campus was to just stop believing that Illinois College was a college then it would do just that: it would cease to exist. Why does this matter? Because I now know that this institution is what I make of it, and to be honest I know that my vision is going to anger a lot of people.

I don’t care.

I will learn what I want from this school. Even if that means I do nothing but take independent studies until I graduate. I will not let some system define my experience. I found out what I wanted to do with my life last semester and that’s all that matters now. Someday I will write stories for groundbreaking video games. If you think that that is a dumb dream tell somebody else because I won’t hear it.

This summer I am going to St. Louis to pursue this dream. I will start in video game journalism, writing reviews and features for anyone and everyone who will hear it. I will build a formidable portfolio that will get me a job in the industry. My purpose is not to get paid, don’t put words in my mouth. My goal is to get as far as I can as fast as I can. If that means writing until my hands cramp and my fingers bleed, so be it. If that means networking until I become a walking, breathing, social media hub, so be it. Most importantly, if that means I have to jockey for position on the front page of a website to get recognition, I sure as hell hope whoever decides to wrestle with me brings some help. I want this more than anybody. And I don’t say that ambiguously. If you don’t believe me, just watch.

So what do I plan to accomplish this summer? Here’s the short list: I will make the front page of an online publication; I will be paid to write an article and then they will ask me to write another; I will be sent at least one game by a publication for the purpose of review; and finally I will earn credentials to make my way to E3. Whether or not that is this summer’s E3 or next? Guess what? It doesn’t matter. One way or another I will know by the end of this year which one I will attend.

Think what you want about my goals. If you think they are impractical or unrealistic I want you to think about one of your dreams. If it’s not impractical or unrealistic then you need to reevaluate your dreams. If you admire them then support me. Just please don’t try to stop me or get in my way. This is my dream. 

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
~W.B. Yeats