After living in Bloomington, Indiana my entire life, I was pleasantly inoculated into the more patriotic environment of South Carolina last year. Though Indiana is a red state chock full of old- fashioned Mid-western values and team-playing traditionalists, Bloomington houses the increasingly liberal minded Indiana University. The Hoosiers I adore, but a left-wing sentiment saturates the campus like the moisture of each season’s grimey residue. Such classroom direction roots a tinted worldview at the forefront of many still-pliable young minds.

Relocating to the South jumpstarted my rolling recognition of the left lilt of a twilight zone that is Bloomington. Before leaving, I found it hard to believe there was enough support in any part of the country to elect a Republican administration. Cars were wall papered with Kerry bumper stickers, plastered on top of peeling Gore support and “My Body, My Choice” advocates. It was a step of social martyrdom to utter presidential support in class or, god forbid, mention you think it’s a bad idea to put children in daycare or don’t believe in handing out condoms in high school health class. I think people thought you had to be Amish if you really thought that.

In South Carolina, I couldn’t go anywhere without being bombarded by a sea of American flags or Support our Troops posters. I was relieved to feel bonded, linked to an attitude of simple spirited patriotism that transcended the ignorance of privileged bias so prevalent in the news media, Hollywood, and of course, public education. There was no sheath disguising national weakness with peace marches and cheers of governmental rebel. The option of dissent is certainly valued but the idea of it at IU was sometimes elevated to a position of importance that overshadowed more significant matters.

Another taboo policy to object at IU was affirmative action. To admit you didn’t support this prejudiced strategy, basically labeled you a racist. Hatred erupted when an activist group on campus hosted an “affirmative action” bake sale, pricing their cookies according to minority status. Heated arguments ensued but the point was made and interestingly, the bake sale shut down. Disagreeing with gay marriage, or mentioning you thought the “V-Monologues” was grossly outrageous resulted in cries of judgment, intolerance, and oppression. Opinion columns in the student newspaper about “idiot” Bush and his “lies” were overpopulated as well. South Carolina made me realize that the bubble of Bloomington was not representative of the proportionate country. The South city in which I resided may have been tilted slightly the other way, but it took moving to a different state to see that the spin zone of IU’s revelry was not, in fact, reality.

I come from a family background riveted with some political discussion, a black and white stance on social issues, and convoyed by bootstrap philosophies, straight from “the school of hard knocks.” A fine balance between formal and real world education should prevail for the maximum achievement of learning. Unfortunately, that critical vice is often lost in the 10-story library stacks and echo-ey lecture halls of uber-college pseudo world. Though I appreciate the volumes of knowledge rendered me during my 4 ½ years at this crimsoned alma mater, they perhaps unconsciously employ a staff of ideas crafted in generous favor of an extremely liberal mentality.

For example, as a part-time student at the school of education, I learned that minorities are priority in the classroom. They didn’t say it like that but it is quite obviously the dream. In my personal essays class, taken during the semester of the 2004 presidential election, I could have been hanged for expressing my vote. The commentary bouncing around that classroom had one believing we were in the midst of a Hollywood anti-Bush rally. I wrote my first essay in dedication to a fallen soldier, out of respect and gratitude, but the response was minimal, paired with averted eyes and obvious facial disgust. My professor, though a brilliant writer, who definitely inspired my creativity, was blatantly anti-war and encouraged the daily bolstered this mentality. Unless I was previously secure and healthily grounded in who I was already, IU could have sucked me clean and had me walking out with a diploma and a twisted mindset.

Luckily, I was able to keep a level head despite the imbalanced mal-nourishment of my university-drenched brain. Unexpected benefits did accompany the attendance of a big name, public university. I fashioned a more open, honest, and tolerant mind. This does not mean abandoning my values to rally for the equal rights of illegal minorities or accepting a religion of unity of course, but it helped me find stability. It meant deeper thought and stronger conviction of my traditional mind, crucial examining of unquestioned theories, and the ability to garner respectful disagreement on a wide spectrum of issues. And though if often caused frustrating arguments with my ultra-conservative mother, I felt enlightened, escorted into a wiser reality.

I end this entry with a postscript. I love Indiana University and the people, education, and excitement woven into its history. It is this campus that draws cellists from Korea, chemists from Indonesia, and linguists from Hungary. Their educational plights landed them here in the midst of America’s corn-fed heartland, huffing it along the ancient cobblestone streets, and studying against historical brick wound upward in green ivy’s lively anticipation for the stars. The dreaming rubber souls of shoes on many thousands of dreamers lift forth, squeaking atop these red brick carriers of the future. Some left behind families across the oceans for years at a time in effort to embrace this aspiration of something greater. This was surplus of learning, a buffet of knowledge garnished with sides of culture, music, drama, art, spirit, ambition, hope, and opportunity. Insomuch, I had a great college experience overall; I just see how easily some poison can be disguised as enlightened truth when presented as fact.