The summer before I set off for my freshman year at Reed I had a part-time job as a gardener’s helper. I cut lawns, trimmed bushes, raked gardens, etc. I made maybe $1.50 per hour. And summers in L.A are hot! After learning that I was heading to college in August, my boss asked about the college.
Frankly, most people who lived in Portland, OR, didn’t know where Reed was located (this based on a poll taken when I was at Reed). And neither did my boss. But he was convinced that I was making a mistake. Why not go to Pierce Junior College or Valley College? Low cost, easy to get to, close to my family’s home in the San Fernando Valley. I told him – in so many words – that I had bigger plans. He said I was making a big mistake. He had never even heard of Reed. Then again, only a handful of my classmates in high school had heard of it. And I hadn’t ever even seen it myself.
But I wanted to keep the job, and to get along with the gardener, so I finally thanked him for his advice and said I would think about it.