Regina was the first person that I got in contact with during the summer before I started going to DePauw. Regina is from Chicago, and is an incredibly adoreable person of Latin descent. Joking around in e-mail, I gave eir my number. Later that night and to my surprise, Regina called and we talked for about an hour and a half about goofy nothings and sex toys. We continued to talk via phone and e-mail until I moved in to my room. When I was with my parents in the student union, Regina came up and gave me a quick tour. There was no problem in the translation from a long distance friendship to a personal one, and we would always do things, bullshit for hours, and generally just hang out. We were in many of the same organizations, the GLBT org, the Independent org, the Resident Hall Association (we were both Presidents of our Halls), so needless to say, Regina and I did see a lot of each other. However, Regina was kind enough to show me a video of the play that ey's acting troupe had put on detailing ey's life. In fact,that video was what motivated me enough to write a piece about how fucked up my view on my family was.

Regina and I both had shows on the local radio station, WGRE during our first semester at DePauw. My show was from 12 to 3 on Saturday morning, Regina's was 6 to 8. We would do guest hosting on each other's shows, which gradually went more to me doing both shows as Regina rapidly got more busy in ey's classes than I did in mine. Saturdays would be the most surreal of days as well, as I would end up doing my show, going to various local parties, and then joining Regina for ey's show in the morning. I would get two hours of sleep back in my dorm, and have to go to work at the library for another two hours. Needless to say, I usually just found a place on the third floor to sleep, as I was still incoherent/on the verge of hallucination due to the varied alcohol and the states of sleep deprivation I had experienced.

Our first year at DePauw ended, and we both went our separate ways back to home; Regina to Chicago, me to Ohio. Regina was to be an resident assistant when we got back; I was scheduled to reside in the upperclassman dorm. Just like usual, Regina would pop on and off instant messenger, and we would talk as much as time permitted. Still, being across campus made it a little harder to see each other on a daily basis. After about a month or two of Sophomore, Regina just left the university and moved back to Chicago with her s.o.. After going to a culinary school in Chicago, ey is planning on going back to an Indiana school � this time, Earlham, which places itself between where my Ohio and Indiana homes are at.

Auriel shared the dorm room next door our first year. Ey�s roommate was pretty much a tool, and is still here, but Auriel rocked out. We would just randomly talk in their room about varied topics � sex, drugs, rock n roll � and I found a kindred spirit in that Auriel didn�t feel the need to conform to certain set beliefs like the rest of DePauw does. I believe it was these societal pressures, along with a s.o. that was not at DePauw, that saw Auriel depart not more than two months after our first year.

I always knew of Mandel*, especially during our first year at DePauw. However, I hadn�t spoken to em or think we had been formally introduced to each other until our second year. Rather, my second year � Mandel wasn�t actually attending classes, but was living at a house with some buddies. Early at this year, I saw Mandel at a party in one of the most queer-unfriendly houses on campus. For example, this house had an individual who hate-crimed one of my buddies, choking ey and pouring a drink on ey�s head. I was a little drunk at the time, but Mandel was definitely ripped and starting hanging on to me. I had no problem with ey hanging on to me, as ey was incredibly nice and was sculpted like a deity! Feeling uncomfortable, we went back to my dorm and watched Josie and the Pussycats and Shock Treatment. Nothing happened that night, but it would start the precedent of Mandel coming over and watching movies with me.

Aside from having Mandel over, I would talk to ey pretty regularly on instant messenger. One night, ey came over and we watched Trainspotting, during which I would have my first sexual encounter with a bio-boy. After that night, things were a little weird due to the transition between being friends to having a sexual component between us. I would say hi to Mandel in the halls and wherever else I saw eir, but there was just some distance between us. The event happened incredibly close to the end of the school year (April), and we weren�t really able to normalize our relationship again. Mandel disappeared into the mists, leaving DePauw, and I haven�t been able to get in touch with ey since. *(Name changed to prevent IDing of the person).

Joe hasn�t truly left me yet, but ey has announced plans to leave DePauw at the end of the year. This doesn�t change how bummed out at the fact that I will never see Joe again. Coming right out of Tennessee, Joe is the red-headed skinny younger sibling of Paul Bunyan. Sarcastic, snippy, and an outcast to DePauw�s ultra-cliquey GLBT scene like me, we didn�t really start off as friends. In fact, I think there was a little bit of animosity at the end of my Sophomore/Joe�s first year at DePauw. Still, we had a working relationship in our GLBT organization, United DePauw, and I was in awe of the unwavering dedication that ey had for the movement.

Unfortunately, I have no juicy tales to divulge about Joe. By the time that I came to terms with respecting ey, ey already had a boyfriend. I still haven�t been able to just sit down and talk to ey after ey�s announcement about leaving DePauw, as every time I see Joe ey ends up leaving right after the meeting, before I can say anything. Still, I think that this piece does a lot to show how much respect I have for Joe. Barring any permanent jadedness about the movement, I can see Joe in 25 years controlling a large section of a national GLBT organization. Excelsior, Joe!

Jenn is still one of my best friends, even if ey isn�t currently at DePauw. I added Jenn onto AIM really early in the summer, and finally went over to ey�s dorm where I got to know someone almost as wild as I am. Many a cold winter�s night was spent watching movies in Jenn�s room, talking to Jenn about Dragon Ball Z and Final Fantasy, and going out to a number of parties. Slowly, my jealousy towards the relationships that Jenn was having caused me to start making light of ey�s positive-sex lifestyle, even going so far as to call her a �slut� and �whore�. For a few months our first year, we didn�t talk at all due to this spat. However, I realized how much of a shithead I had become, and tried to get back into ey�s good graces.

The year ended, and I kept trying to make amends. Some oddness still persisted, as one can imagine, but we came back from the break with re-formed strength. Jenn always had money issues while at DePauw, and I cherished every time we hung out, knowing it could be our last. Ey moved out into an apartment along with another friend, Kayla, our second year, and we started to hang out more and more often. We went to my first drag ball (that I was actually in drag for), and drank a few times. A bombshell was dropped that ey would not be returning for our junior year during the last days of last year, and that ey would be trying to get something in the way of money together to return.

Jenn is admirable. Simultaneously dating a member of one of the largest bands in the West (E.M.T.) who is on tour fairly often while exotic dancing to make money and pulling decent grades is something that really necessitates a strong commitment. I know that whatever ey ends up doing that it will be the best for ey, and I hope that ey can come back to DePauw sometime in the new future.

Finally, Adrianne is this fabulous Jewish queer that I had the pleasure to meet during my second year at DePauw. Bi-sexual, loud, and good-humored, ey was the twin I never thought I had! Adrianne also took part in United DePauw, and was the only individual on campus that had their hair dyed more often than I did. Ey was a valuable asset to me when I still identified as a bi-sexual, as the vast majority of United DePauw�s members were gay males. Having someone else that individuals just couldn�t pin down was an incredibly liberating experience. While Adrianne and I had slightly different circles of friends, we still were close enough to chat on instant messenger, and became slightly more close in the months that followed. That is, until I was a dork and inquired about someone that ey might have been close with, where Adrianne blocked me on AIM� a block that remains to this very minute!

However, I made amends and definitely voted for ey when ey ran for President of United DePauw. Adrianne won, and was able to make the organization the strongest and most numerous in terms of attendance that I could remember. During my third year at DePauw, Adrianne and a number of ey�s friends started the �Big Queer House�, or the Activism for Alternative Lifestyles House. The house was slightly different than the other GLBT-themed (by design or by clique) houses that were on campus, such as the MATH (Music Appreciation Theme House) house or the Cosmopolitan, in that they had a mission in promoting awareness as well as actually providing individuals who were not in their specific clique a place where they could feel comfortable.

All these individuals are some of my best friends, even after they left for greener pastures. I try to keep in touch with all of them, and make sure that I keep them in my memory when I get down at what DePauw and life throws me. Some individuals felt lied to by DePauw, some people felt lonely, some people didn�t have money, and guess what? I feel that way just like they do. I think what is best for me is to complete school and just move on. They didn�t see finishing DePauw as a viable alternative, and I respect them for that. I just wish I could see some of these people more than the once-a-year I typically see them. Seriously, I love you all, and hope everything goes well in the near future.