Every wild fantasy - read "stupid idea" - I've ever had has come true in Auburn.
Giving credit where credit is due: Auburn and the University, compared to everywhere else in the world that I've ever been (and I'm an Air Force brat, so that number is pretty damn high), host some of the most helpful, outgoing and supportive communities, social circles and individuals.
Want to start a small business? Go for it. The folks at Auburn City Hall will get you squared away.
Want to start a student organization? Utilize Auburn University's O-Board and AUInvolve resources, or just email John-Michael Roehm at roehmjm@auburn.edu.
Want to be a radio DJ? Sign-up at WEGL 91.1 FM or ask the Auburn University New Media Club if they'd be interested in producing a podcast. Seriously, you just add your name to a list and attend a few meetings.
I have done all of these things, and they aren't hard to do.
Auburn has helped me take everything I've ever wanted to do and turned it into what I am doing, and often times helped me get paid for doing it.
But, there is a caveat.
For all of the interesting and creative avenues available to students and locals, there are those whom simply see students and the Auburn youth as free-labor, easily manipulated "apprentices" of sorts - and as a demographic to exploit for profit.
They are the "Pied Pipers" of our small community.
Because Auburn has a scene ripe for the picking - scattered and with a lack of leadership - all it takes is a new face with a lot of talk to make us all dance to their tune and think we've finally found our own personal patron.
This is where the moral kicks in, the big, inflated, bouncy-castle of a message that I want to blow up in your mind: DO NOT BUILD YOUR IDEA AROUND A CORE PERSONALITY.
It's like every bad band break-up you've ever read about, and a lot that you haven't. There are those that want to be heroes and those that love to take part in hero-worship.
DIY culture, generally and in Auburn, only benefits from a collective of folks that share ideals, principles, and the same idea of what makes something cool as hell. But all of those things can get flushed faster than you can say "local arts" if the organization or group becomes a monument to one member's ego - and there is no use saying that "it'll never happen here", because it already has.
Out of the decade and some change that I've been a member of the Auburn community I have seen some great ideas go from talk to reality, and some go from talk to hurt feelings and a desire to never take part in local enterprise again.
Cool stuff happens in Auburn, all of the time, but the best stuff, the stuff that lasts, centers around an idea and some honest-to-God students putting their souls into their work.
So my PSA of the semester, my swan song of my time at Auburn: if you want to do something, start doing it.
But if in your travels you encounter some folks who seem too eager to help you, who seem to want something for helping you even before they lend a hand - and who you've heard a lot about but have never really seen anything they've done - you should be cautious. That isn't to say there aren't helpful people in Auburn and you should throw every opportunity to the curb; just be careful.
Find other people just like you and make something wonderful together. Don't let someone hovering in the wings tell you what you should do and how you should do it unless they really garner your respect and you genuinely feel like they know what they are talking about.
Auburn University - and college in general - really is about experimenting and learning what makes you happy, but it isn't about throwing away the best years of your life to someone telling you what you should care about. Just stick to your guns.
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