{"id":13083,"date":"2014-05-19T15:45:55","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T20:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/?p=13083"},"modified":"2014-05-21T18:01:28","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T23:01:28","slug":"seniors-speak-a-blank-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/2014\/05\/19\/seniors-speak-a-blank-page\/","title":{"rendered":"[Seniors Speak] A Blank Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Karen Olowu<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s 6:45. I\u2019m climbing down the stairs of my apartment building grinning like a fool because, for once, I\u2019m not racing to catch the train.<\/p>\n

The train station is just a few meters up the street from my apartment and I\u2019m half way there when I\u2019m struck by the thought that this is the last time I will be leaving my home for IMSA.<\/p>\n

As my brain processes this thought, I fell this most oppressive ache settle into my chest.\u00a0 Waiting for the train in the chilly May air, I search for the reason behind what I could only describe as heartache.<\/p>\n

After all, there was so much to be excited about. Prom would be that Friday.\u00a0 Prom, a day I had fantasized about since sophomore year. I was graduating in a matter of weeks. Soon I would be free from the burden of projects and due dates, if only for a while. I couldn\u2019t understand why I wasn\u2019t giddy with the prospect of my eminent freedom.<\/p>\n

Then I realized it wasn\u2019t only the thought of leaving IMSA weighing me down.\u00a0 It was fear as well.\u00a0 I was about to embark on the beginning of my adult life and\u2026I was afraid. Curiously, it wasn\u2019t fear of inadequacy or incompetency. It was a fear of the big, blank page that had suddenly presented itself.<\/p>\n

As the train rolled past Naperville I decided that I didn\u2019t have to be afraid of the blank page. That page was an opportunity. I could fill it with whatever I pleased. And the page didn\u2019t stand alone; it was part of a book. And yeah, what I was going to name this new chapter was going to be a big decision, but it was only one of many other big decisions I would have to make. Plus, who said anything had to be permanent? If the pages of my life were to be written in ink, I could always cross things out.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a writer; I live for the thrill of filling blank pages with the right words. \u00a0And my story is going to be bloody fantastic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Karen Olowu It\u2019s 6:45. I\u2019m climbing down the stairs of my apartment building grinning like a fool because, for once, I\u2019m not racing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":13134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1019],"tags":[1948,2305,1817],"coauthors":[2275],"class_list":["post-13083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-imsanews","tag-1948","tag-olowu","tag-senior-speaks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13083"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13096,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13083\/revisions\/13096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13083"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}