Acrostic

  At Anderson College, I had a reputation on campus for being a writer.  I had written a poem, which was published locally and nationally.  That story was covered earlier.  I had written a lot of the copy for the 1973 yearbook, especially as it related to Speech and Drama.  So, I was approached by the Academic Dean to write something that would entice high school students to come to Anderson.  This was a big honor for me, and I gave it a lot of thought.

 I had been writing poems in recent days using an acrostic.  I spelled a word going down a page and then using the first letter of that word to form a line.  The second line started with the second letter down and so on.  The Dean had told me that my creation would be printed on a poster and distributed to churches and schools around the state.  It would also be used on the campus to build morale amongst the current students.  

 I worked on it for a week or two, going through several drafts.  I spelled out "Anderson College" down the page and used the first letter of each word to write something about the school based on each letter.  It wasn't really a poem but more like a description on what AC was like.  Each line, in my mind, was perfect.  I loved Anderson College.  It had done a lot for me in getting me out of my shell.  I had received awards for Theatre and Speech.  Our debate team was undefeated and were ranked one of the best in the country.  I was awarded a spot in Who's Who in American Junior Colleges.  A lot of other accolades came my way, and I also found love there.  The best thing I could do was to carry on my legacy for future students.

 After going over it again with a fine-tooth comb, I turned it into the Dean.  He read it and liked it except for one line.  The "G" in College read:  "Giving all you have to give".  He said that could be interpreted as sexual, and I should rewrite it.  I didn't see that interpretation at all.  I saw it as a call for students to do everything they could possibly do to succeed.  He said that it could be interpreted at a girl losing her virginity.  Granted, Anderson College was a Baptist school and very religious, but I just didn't write that line in that way.  I showed it to my father who was a Baptist minister, and he said the same thing. It could be interpreted as sexual.

 Due to my incredibly big ego, I couldn't deal with criticism like this.  I had worked on this project much longer than anything I had done before.  I told the Dean that I wasn't going to change the line, so he got someone else to write some words for the poster.  To this day, I think they should have used my acrostic.  Why?  Because I was a creative genius in my mind, and that is what other people told me, too.  I hoped students were inspired to come to Anderson by whatever that other person wrote.  In looking back on their history since, they did, because now it is a university.