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Dear Garrison, I am 20,

March 18, 2005 |

Dear Garrison,
I am 20, attending college in Washington, DC, studying for a degree in graphic design. However, my father has something negative to say about everything I want to do. He didn't want me to leave West Virginia, he criticizes me for forgetting my roots, and he doesn't think I can make a good graphic designer. Can you offer me any advice on how to not let my father's negativity bring me down?

Oh, and for an art project, I animated your penguins-on-an-iceberg joke in Flash. My professor loved it.

Carrie

Carrie, you're on your own, you've put some distance between you and your father, and now you have to learn how to listen to yourself and read your own mind and figure out what it is you want to do. Each of us has to do that every single day. Life is short and time is precious and we don't want to be just going through the motions. Whatever you do, do it with a whole heart, and if you can't bring the whole of you to it, then it's the wrong thing. And when you get your degree, come and design something for us. We've gotten dowdy. We need smartening up.

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