Rekha Basu,
writing in the Des Moines Register, tells the poignant story of a Le Grand, Iowa, teen, kicked out of his home at age 16, getting by with friends and a part-time job at Wal-Mart, and then winning enough scholarships to Iowa State to pay almost all his expenses.
Ben's is actually two stories in one. The first is about a kid rejected, homeless and compelled to live independently at 16, requiring him to take a late shift job at Walmart to help cover costs. That meant most nights he didn't start homework until 10:30. It's about a young man raised in a home where being gay was considered "right up there with being a child molester." At age 10 he was told by his mom that he didn't deserve to live anymore, after she caught him experimenting with a boy the same age. Later, when he fought depression, counselors told Ben, "You've been taught to hate everything you are."
But his is also the story of a survivor, staying in school and graduating, in spite of everything, with a 3.25 GPA. And it's about other people who helped pave the way to his self-acceptance and refused to let a kid be alone in the world.
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