ASSIGNMENTS:
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Chris
Charlottesville, Virginia USA
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REPORTS:
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Some advice to myself at 21
1) Wait more than one year after college before enrolling in graduate school. Find a job in a cityÑNew York? Philadelphia?Ñaway from your parents. Or actually join the Peace Corps, as you had planned to do after graduation. Use this time to cultivate your self-reliance. Graduate school will always be there, and you will know better what matters to youÑsomething important in studying literature, and in life.
2) Declare (to yourself) your independence from your family. However much you love your family, you need to claim your own life.
3) Don't wait too long before breaking up with S. When the good of this relationship is exhausted, be brave enough to see and accept this, and move on. Otherwise you will find yourself emotionally and imaginatively drained.
4) Start writing stories again, and keep at it.
5) Learn to draw. Read more books.
6) Spend more time with other peopleÑand not just people you feel easily comfortable with. You will find that they are real, and can be stimulating, challenging, and inspiring. Go to movies, lectures, museums, galleries, cafes, etc. Read the newspaper more. See what is making and has made the world you live in.
7) Make some new close friends with whom you can talk about things. Show them your work. And stay in better touch with your old friendsÑespecially SD, from whom you can learn something about quiet self-possession.
8) Above all, take more time to figure out what you want from life. Imagine your desires and hopes, and then find ways to act on them.
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