Since my last post, Thanksgiving (or "Thanks-taking", which I say in my more militant moods, speaking of the abuse Native Americans have endured) has come and gone. I've seen a month of weather, mood, and life-changes - the biggest among them being graduate school orientation. I'm happy to announce that I've returned to graduate school to finish my master of library science via an online graduate program! I'm ecstatic.
The online angle excites me the most because we talk so much about how the Web is changing life and bucking tradition. Getting a degree completely online has been possible for the last decade, but many people have a hard time respecting and accepting people who've gotten their academic credential via the Web. Liken the web-degree to the distance education, mail-order diplomas of the 19th and 20th centuries, if you must. But if you been in grad-school (heck, any undergraduate institution in the country, for that matter), you know there are some people whose teaching and learning could be done from miles away, because there's so little connection and quality knowledge-transference going on. I know this, academic leaders know this, and the students of the future know it, too. With many schools already depending on Blackboard, WebCT, and other e-learning services, believe that on-line learning is the future. So, if I get criticism about my online MLIS I'll say, "Discount my program and my degree if you want - I'm getting it and doing the most with it. This is MY time."
I'm also just plain excited to finish this degree. I left grad school six years ago, jaded and distracted by family problems. Then, the HBCU I was attending closed their historic, influential library school because it wasn't a cash-cow. I was angry for a while, but now I'm at peace and believe things were meant to be this way. No alumni contributions for that school, though.
Culturally-speaking, life's been active lately because I spend lots of time indoors.
- I've been playing a lot of Kanye West, Lady GaGa, and Aaron Copeland pieces on my iPod, lately. Dunno why, but between "Bad Romance", "Robo-Cop", "Street Lights", "Flashing Lights", and "Fanfare for the Common Man", the music I'm hearing is big and hulking.
- I'm Tweeting my heart away, but being smarter about it. I've don't tweet on weekends, don't follow trending much, and simply have fun with it.
- My "To-Be-Read" Stack is piling up. In magazines I've got the last three months of Essence, Vogue, InStyle, & ELLE waiting. In books, these are waiting: one, two, and three.
Things I'm Feeling
- On-line jewelry shopping (the best mental drug aside from architecture and decor blogs)
- Balanchine's Jewels ballets - Diamonds, Emeralds, & Rubies (I've been mentally-choreographing my own to add, entitled "Pearls".)
- Dynamic photo slide-shows
- Sara Lee French Strawberry Cheesecake
- My brown & gold travel journal, gifted to me by a friend, used to write down all the notes I keep on my Blackberry, in case something happens to it.
- Motown music (Went to the Motown museum in Detroit this week, fell back in love with the ingenuity and class of these artists and their songs. I hate how it took British contemporary singers to introduce this music to today's kids. Pick up Motown Celebrates Sinatra or any Christmas album with it's artists. My favorite is this one.)
- My Dad, who proves how cool he is at every turn. Black fathers are precious and I'm so grateful for mine.
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