I took my first step toward that by enrolling at Sarah Lawrence in 2007, at the age of twenty. I had managed to obtain entrance to this storied school on the basis of three essays, with neither a high school diploma nor a transcript, and nary a recommendation to my name. The religious school I had attended as a child did not meet government standards for accreditation. Yet there I was, changing into jeans in the car, combing my hair out after removing the burdensome wig I still wore, stepping briefly into the other world to mingle among these alien folk before retreating back into the community where I felt so confined. I was still married then, but I was dreaming of a day when I would be free. Sarah Lawrence was integral to my escape. It was there that I looked out into secular society and found it quite different from the descriptions of doom and gloom I had heard all my life. It was a world I wanted to be a part of, and eventually, I was able to act on that desire.
