for The Establishment

In February of 2007, I returned to my small liberal arts college in Ohio (let’s call it Freedman College) after having taken a semester off. Sometime the previous semester, something called the “Freedman College Confessional” had appeared online, an anonymous message board where students could write whatever they wanted about other Freedman students. I doubt a large percentage of the student body actually posted to the Confessional, but it was discussed and read more widely. Freedman is a relatively small school, so when a post reading, “does anyone know who that blonde senior who wasn’t at school last semester is?” appeared, I suspected the poster might be referring to me. When I read the response, “you mean the severely anorexic one? HAHA!” I knew for sure that I was right. I’d been passing up mac and cheese in the dining hall, opting instead for foods I can tolerate, like chicken, eggs, and oatmeal, and whispers about my presumed eating disorder had grown to a roar—especially when I lost a noticeable amount of weight due to all the foods I could no longer have. (continued)