London calling

Last week’s column created the most buzz among kids I know who have gone off to college at the far reaches of the solar system.

Here’s some of what that former student who’s now working on a Masters in London had to say:

“I went out tonight with a Chinese, a Hong Kongese, a Japanese and a Korean. (3 of 4 were college girls) The Korean turned out to be a Christian, so I'm inviting him to church next week (the Hong Kongese is a Christian too, who already goes to St. Martins in the Fields, a famous Church).”

Wow, naturally I was impressed. What fascinating conversations did they have? Naturally I like hearing about my friends adventures. I’ll admit, it’s allows me to live vicariously through him. But that is exactly what bothers him about living abroad and makes him want to come home.

“One of these days, I'll be living purely for myself and you guys will have
nothing interesting to live vicariously through me. I guess that is my life dream: to live
for myself. It's tough having what I estimate to be 1,000 people watching every move I make. I'm a sucker for pleasing everyone.”

“Write about that!” he told me. “There's a huge social push for the young to do what the not-so-
young felt they couldn't do; but those people just didn’t take the chances to put
themselves out on the line like they are pushing us to do.”

He said that he wants to ignite a new social movement of kids who want to live for themselves instead of trying to please us older folk. But he also told me that in spite of all the ill will toward the United States these days, and even with so much unrest and an unpopular war in Iraq, America still stands for what the rest of the world wants to be.

“I am continually amazed that people still regard 'America' as this great nation, as if it were still the new land to the West that it was back in the 18th century, when I know the hell it's in, just as many of the nations of the world are at the same time. The USA has the 'American' brand that it cannot shake, which is fun for a person preparing to work in image management. I only wish I could create something with such a strong image as 'America,' which is the strongest brand I've yet to find.”

Another of my former students is at art school in Long Beach, California. She writes:

“I read your little article ‘How are you gonna keep 'em on the farm once they've drank a Starbucks?’ I really liked it. I felt like I can relate to it. Even though I do want to see the world and do everything, eventually I want to settle down back in Soldier and raise my kids there.”

“Whenever I tell someone out here about my plans, they seem in shock. My teachers don't want me to ‘waste’ my talent by not living in London or LA or New York. The truth is, I do want to do all those things, and I will, while I'm still young, but when I'm finished with everything I will go back home to my roots, because that's just what feels right for me.”

“I like living in LA and I'm proud of myself for getting out of Iowa and living a life that my friends envy, but the truth is that I actually envy the ones who stayed back home. I envy the fact that they can go home on the weekends, that they can see high school friends whenever they want, and that they never have to deal with the pressure of letting everybody down who believed in them back home.”

This kid is majoring in graphic design and the plan is that she’ll be transferring to another college in London next year. Of course, what makes this third student different from the on in Washington D.C. or the one already in London, is that the one in L.A. had a different plan. She always wanted to work for the C.I.A.

That’s right. And I have no doubt that unless God or the Secretary of Defense get in her way, she’ll probably do it. She was headed for an elite language school before art college, but the Army turned her away because of health concerns. She is determined to get a double major in languages and graphic design, even if that means getting it through public universities instead of the military. She’s even researched enough to know that the CIA actually hires graphic designers to help analysts make presentations in Langley.

All that, but when she settles down, she doesn’t want to do it in the beltway or Europe. She wants to come home to the Loess Hills.

One more young person proving the benefits of small town values and small, rural schools. Also proving my contentions that L.A. is a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there again. And Iowa may or may not be much to visit, but it sure is a great place to call home.

How’re ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm, once they’ve drank a Starbucks?

I’ve recently been having some pretty interesting discussions by email with a couple of former students. They’ve both excelled academically, I believe, proving the benefits of a small school education. One is a Sociology major at Georgetown University in the Washington D.C. area. The other is working on their Master’s Degree in Communications at a University in London, England.

First of all, this wonderful thing called email is amazing. Without it, I couldn’t write to these kids who are thousands of miles away a couple times a day, before and after school end receive their responses sometimes within minutes.

The student in London can’t wait to finish his degree and return home to Iowa. He doesn’t even want to live in Ames or Des Moines or Omaha, Nebraska, he wants to put his roots back down right here in Crawford County. Score one win against the “brain-drain,” right?

But he seems to be facing quite a bit of opposition on both sides of the Atlantic. Friends and family members here don’t want him to “sell himself short.” They’re very proud of him and want him to see the world while he’s still young.

Friends, colleague and cohorts in London are perplexed that he’d want to return. They assume he should pursue a career in academia, teaching and doing research in college forever. He’s weary of always being in school but never really starting life. He’d just assume be a farmer, sort livestock and mend fences.

The student at Georgetown feels like everyone is staring at her when she walks into the local tavern back home in Dunlap. She wrote a paper for a History course about how differently rural Midwesterners and metropolitan Easterners dress. Midwesterners value physical labor, a strong work-ethic and plan talk, but hate pretentiousness and rampant materialism. And they have a hard time understanding the value of mostly intellectual and abstract labor, like data processing, information technology and excessive reading.

When she comes home, she feels somewhat judged for indulging in exotic coffees, stylish clothing and ethnic cuisine. Yet, this is a kid who is more compassionate and concerned about economic inequality and social justice than most any Midwesterner I know.

The kid in London wrote a thesis on rural Midwestern speech patterns. He’s even applying for a fellowship from some institution to study it for a PhD. He figures it will be at least one way to get back home. He can research, analyze and write at night and be a farm hand for his neighbor or work as a contractor for his cousin during the day. He’s observed that Iowans don’t speak much. And we really don’t speak much about our feelings.

He says we pretty much talk about work, and sometimes about the weather, which of course effects our work, especially for farmers. I think that most Iowans could’ve told you that without a bunch of high-falootin’ academic jargon about linguistics and grammatical construction and what not.

He thinks that most of the people who don’t want him to come home are trying to live vicariously through his adventures. Well, duh. He spent a semester teaching English in a suburb of Shanghi China, he took a road trip to Ireland to tour the Guinness brewery and visit medieval castles. He’s going to art museums in Paris and seeing musicals and dancing at night clubs in London. Of course people are living vicariously through his adventures.

The Washington D.C. kid spent a semester in South Africa, and just happened to check out the art museums in Amsterdam during a layover between fights. She’s making every effort to visit museums in our nations’ capital and in Yew York City whenever she can.

When she’s done with college, she hopes to work for the State Department or some international Non-Government Organization (NGO) helping people in developing nations with urban planning and solving the problems caused by the gap between rich and poor. Yet she has a hard time coming home because people think she’s full of herself because she’s used to dressing up for class or work and looking professional.

The kid in London just wants to hang out with the guys at the local bar and relax with a bud light after a long day of back breaking work that he can be proud of. But I worry about him fitting in. He loves to talk about books and theology and philosophy, and while he likes to wear Carhart overalls as much as the next “regular guy,” he also spikes his hair and wears ear rings.

I get a little stir crazy for a city once in a while myself. So once every month or so I get a chance to make it down to Omaha or up to Sioux City. I make it a point to spend $3 on a cup of fancy chocolate flavored coffee, but 9 times out of ten the traffic and clutter tick me off so much that I’m more than happy to come home to our cozy antique house quiet little hamlet, nestled in the rolling hills of corn and soybean fields.

Those college kids don’t know always how good they have it, but they also don’t know how lucky they are to come from someplace that nurtured them so much. Iowa really is a great place to grow.