I didn't like college. I decided early on that I wasn't going to complete my first semester. The only class I enjoyed was my acting class, and I even cut that one a lot. I auditioned for the college theatre production, a serious work by Henrik Ibsen, called An Enemy of the People. I managed to get a strong supporting role, and that's all I lived for. My classes meant nothing for me, all I cared about was my performance in the play. I completely stopped going to gym class, which was mandatory at Rutgers Camden, and I was called into the Dean's office to explain my behavior. I told the Dean that I simply did not enjoy college and was planning to leave at the end of the semester, so I didn't see the point of attending Phys.Ed. at all.
Remember how demeaning gym was at Gateway sometimes? Well magnify that times 100 and you'll understand what I mean. The gym "instructor" was old, overweight and overbearing, and since I was paying to go there I felt justified in not attending.
I didn't even go back to classes after the Christmas vacation. I was a success in the play, and that was all that mattered to me.
I decided that I would go to work somewhere, and then maybe study acting in New York or Philadelphia. How or where I did not know.
At the same time down in Millville, another young man was trying to decide his future. It would be a grim one, and I and my small circle of friends would come face to face with his decision.