In the quaint suburban bedroom of his parent’s house, Trevor Gray, now 39, fondly remembers the pinnacle of his literary career—an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) away message that not only captivated his contact list but also set a standard he could never again reach.

“tRaPPed iN tHe mAzes oF mY MinD GoNe fIShinG iN tHe rIvERs oF TrUTH, sEEkINg tHe BiG CaTCH. BRB wHen i fOunD wHatz reEL.”

“It’s my white whale; I will never have a single moment of clarity that compares,” said Gray, speaking fondly of the away message he crafted in the Fall of 1999. The Clarksburg, Indiana native and KeyBank branch manager says that despite being the first person in his family to go to college and own a jet ski; he feels like he reached his creative peak that day in October ’99. I was only 15, but I was so deep and reflective. It’s like I looked at life through a different lens. Everyone was seeing Black and white, and I was in color.”

Critics and scholars have now begun studying Gary’s digital literary works as poetry. Professor Janet Grossman heads the AIM Historical Studies department at Clarksburg Community College and uses Gray’s famed away message as a temple for her students.  

“Trevor was a wordsmith, there’s no other way to put it,” said Dr. Grossman. “His work underscores the very ideological struggle that suburban White teenagers were going through at the time, and it’s now finally getting the attention and praise it so richly deserves.” 

Despite the accolades from academia, Gray’s subsequent attempts at writing have fallen flat, lacking the concise emotive power of his AIM magnum opus. Gray is taking it all in stride. “I guess when you peak in high school, it’s all downhill from there,” he jokes. “I always have the Fall of ’99.