A bold kid on a mission to write When I was in fourth grade, I was obsessed with opera. And I had a bold teacher, Mr. F, who was lanky and fierce in creativity and temper. He always smelled like coffee. Luckily, he also was obsessed with opera-- some of the same ones. And, like me, he liked to write. Mr. F, however, was a musician who had actually written and produced an opera. About the revolutionary war. For fourth graders to perform. In a public elementary school. I was 9. I told Mr. F I wanted to write an opera. And what did he say? Go for it; I'll help you. This encouragement is what each of us needs to be equally bold. Someone saying, Got dreams? Got something to say? Go for it; I'll help you. What did I know then about ambition? I wore paisley print stretch pants, velour shirts, and Velcro sneakers, to give you an idea. I was still eating pita-and-peanut-butter-and-honey for lunch every day, and throwing my invariably mealy apple in the over-sized cafeteria trash can (and why was it over-sized? Guess!). But even with no feel yet for literary structure, never having written lyrics, I still thought I could write an opera. And I started right away on my dad's long yellow legal pads. What I wrote strangely resembled my favorite opera in character, in plot and....I had no idea how one would compose song. Do you get it? I could do none of the things required to actually write an opera, but I still THOUGHT I COULD DO IT. As soon as I was supported, I got started. I was bold. Self-doubt was not even in my vocabulary. I think the opera is somewhere in my parent's basement now. I don't need to see it because I'm embarrassingly confident how bad it is. But I'm so proud of that kid. In your college essay, be like a ballsy fourth grader.. Here's the deal: your work is only as bold as you're willing to be. And sometimes we need a hand at our back, a voice in our ear saying, Go For It. Sometimes we need to switch our seat at the Continue Reading …