Admittance Essay

Baige Bell
11/27/11
Creative Writing

Admittance Essay
Share an experience through which you have gained respect for intellectual, social, or cultural differences. Comment on how your personal experiences and achievements would contribute to the diversity of the University of Michigan.

My friend Evan is a serial killer. He has no conscience, and these two traits make it difficult for him to socialize. He is a loner, and he has as severe case of antisocial personality disorder. Even though he sounds dangerous and scary, Evan really is a swell guy. Sometimes we go for runs together, and while we run we like to chit chat and gossip. For example, I help Evan out with his girl problems, and he in turn tells me all about his knife collection. He has taught me so much! For example, I learned that knives should be sheathed in leather because it doesn't dull the blade as quickly as other materials do. Storing knives in leather makes them ready whenever you need them! Evan uses his knives very often, so he is an expert when it comes to yielding them and taking care of them. The more time I spend with him, the more I learn! Like for instance, Evan lives down the street from me! I didn't know that when I first met him, but Evan did, because he's a serial killer and they know everything. I know that modern colleges like new aged ideas like diversity and tolerance, so let me tell you, being friends with a serial killer like Evan has provided me with enough experience to contribute to the diversity of the University of Michigan.

Evan really is a serial killer, and I really am his friend. I am not making this up to pad my essay, I swear (and I'm a Cadette in the Girl Scouts, so my sworn oath means a lot). I can prove it with an amusing anecdote. Evan and I went to high school together, and we had the same teacher for AP Language and Composition. Her name was Courtney, and she was a terrible teacher, a real witch with a 'b', if you know what I'm saying. Anyway, one day, we had a substitute teacher in her class, and Evan talked me into leaving class early (serial killers can be very persuasive). Well, some tattle-tales in our class told the teacher our names, and the substitute teacher told Courtney, and the next day when she came back, she yelled at me in front of the entire class! She sat at her desk and belittled me and yelled at me and told me she would get me suspended if I ever did it again. Like I said, she was a nasty woman. But the thing is, she didn't yell at Evan. She didn't say anything to Evan at all, because she knew. We all knew that Evan was a serial killer, but no one could prove it, not the kids in our class, not Evan's parents, not the FBI, and least of all, not Courtney. So she let Evan get away with it, but not me. Well, that was a mistake on her part. Evan talked to me after class and asked if I was okay. I told him I was embarrassed and that she was mean. He got this strange look in his eye, and he told me “don't worry, I'll take care of it.” The next day we had another substitute teacher. Evan didn't come to class either. We had a different substitute each day for the rest of the week, and Evan also didn't come to class. The next Monday, the principal came into our class and said that Courtney would no longer be our teacher, and that she had mysteriously disappeared. Everyone knew what really happened, but nobody said anything, because we all knew that Evan was too smart to leave any clues behind. So, in regards to Courtney, as Reba McEntyre said, “that's one body that will never be found.”

Dexter makes serial killers seem like a dime a dozen, but in actuality they are really rare, especially in northern Michigan. There's probably only one in the whole state! (Excluding East Lansing, but we all know those kids are nuts, and they don't count). In fact, I'd venture to say that serial killers are probably some of the rarest minorities in the whole world, right up there with albinos and people born with two heads. Being friends with Evan has prepared me to appreciate the different cultures of minorities. I have had to adjust my expectations of friendship to better fit Evan's needs. For example, Evan has to be gone for long periods of time. Sometimes when he is gone I miss him and would like to talk to him, but I can't because he is “on a mission.” I know that other minorities have similar issues, like if I came across a Muslim on campus I would totally understand that they can't eat during Rhamadan, and I wouldn't ask them to go out to eat or anything when the sun is up. Being friends with Evan has taught me that I can't do everything on my own schedule, that sometimes, to be a friend, you need to accommodate your life according to the way your friends live theirs.

Having Evan as a friend has taught me so much about life and diversity. I have learned how to befriend people that are different than me, and how to accept them for who they are, no matter what. I can apply this concept to other minorities too, not just serial killers, but also contortionists, people with double-jointed thumbs, kidnappers, and pregnant people. I have also learned a lot about knives. My appreciation for different kinds of people and cultures will contribute to the diversity of Michigan because I hope to use it to accept the loners and let them know they have a friend in me, and also to maybe inspire other people to look beyond surface labels like “social pariah” and “menace to society” to really and truly see the remarkable people within those classifications.