I knew going into this weekend it would be a rough one. I was right.
Rather than focus on all the crap that's happened so far, I think I'll talk about the bright spots.
1) I have some incredible women who pray for me and believe that this step I've taken is the Lord. Their encouragement this weekend has been invaluable.
2) My God watches out for me. I learned a hard lesson the easy way this weekend when an editor caught a big mistake the reporter I was working with on a big story this weekend wrote before it went to print. I got a call from the main source for my story saying we did a fantastic job this morning. It could've easily been a phone call to cuss me out had they not caught it. Lesson learned: never put your name on anything you haven't read through all the way.
3) I got to hang out with a really cool photographer yesterday. We talked about more than photography, though. He tackled race relations in the U.S., religion (I think he's a non-practicing Jew and his wife is an athiest), MU classes, news reporting and the great outdoors. I'm fascinated by the people I get to meet on a daily basis.
4) I got my stuff out of storage on Friday. It's nice to have all my "stuff" in one place.
5) Best of all, I went to a meeting for Christian grad students on Thursday. I met some awesome people that I'm excited to get to know, plan to carve out an hour a week to meet for prayer and Christian community, and was super-excited to look around and see a bit of diversity in the room.
Now I've got to go write a paper that's due tomorrow so I can work on my Dreamweaver website building skills (for another class) in the morning.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Numb
I woke up this morning and realized that I didn't blog this weekend. I think this will be a common occurrence this semester.
Today marks the official beginning of the fall semester. I think I've reached a level on numbness in regards to what lies ahead.
My schedule is up in the air still due to dropping the International portion of my program. I realized that the focus of the international concentration was on news writing - politics, conflict, wars, etc. I'm hoping to focus on long-form narrative, features, culture and social justice issues. So, it wasn't a good fit.
At this point, I'm looking at 20-30 hours of work for just one of my courses. This doesn't count the research course I'm taking, or the cross-cultural journalism course I'm a teaching assistant for.
I've been trying to figure out where the numbness came in, and I think something my sister said helped me figure it out. The last two weeks ("boot camp", followed by one week of reporting for our local newspaper) were trial by fire.
I think the numbness is what comes after the burn.
Today marks the official beginning of the fall semester. I think I've reached a level on numbness in regards to what lies ahead.
My schedule is up in the air still due to dropping the International portion of my program. I realized that the focus of the international concentration was on news writing - politics, conflict, wars, etc. I'm hoping to focus on long-form narrative, features, culture and social justice issues. So, it wasn't a good fit.
At this point, I'm looking at 20-30 hours of work for just one of my courses. This doesn't count the research course I'm taking, or the cross-cultural journalism course I'm a teaching assistant for.
I've been trying to figure out where the numbness came in, and I think something my sister said helped me figure it out. The last two weeks ("boot camp", followed by one week of reporting for our local newspaper) were trial by fire.
I think the numbness is what comes after the burn.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
New Direction
It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m still hibernating.
After the long week of writer’s boot camp (which I was required to attend before I could register for classes), I came home and haven't left my apartment since 7 p.m. Saturday. Since I’m staring into a week packed full of orientations (three, to be exact), newspaper reporter staffing, teaching assistant meetings and social gathering with my fellow journalism grad students, I thought it was best. I'm trying not to freak out over how little sleep I’m going to get over the next two years.
I can’t help that sleep is important to me.
Over the last week I’ve learned that grad school is going to be a lot more complicated and challenging than I expected. I knew that the classes were going to be more interactive and that I would be expected to get a firm grasp on more complex material. I expected for the professors to be more critical of us and expect more discussion in the classroom. I knew that in the end I would have to defend whatever project I chose to devote my last semester to.
For the sake of time and space, here is a list of what I didn’t expect:
• To not like news reporting. At all. In boot camp we mainly focused on news reporting because the city newspaper that’s published by the university will be staffed by us next week. I hated every minute of prep for news writing (which is not good, since I’m taking a required News Writing and Reporting course this semester).
• To find switching from academic or personal writing to news writing so difficult. It really does take a switch in the way you think, in addition to learning a whole new language called “AP Style”. The goal is to get to the point and use no unnecessary words. Great …
• To have the likelihood of academic politics thrown into the mix early on in regards to finding an advisor, mentor and graduate panel. As if the process wasn’t difficult enough.
• To be under scrutiny constantly by my professors. We’ve already been told that we will need to grow thick skin in order to survive and grow over the next two years. Some of the editors like yelling at students. One editor has already told us he will rewrite every sentence we write. Our graduate advisor let us know that she meets with students every semester who are crying over it and she has to remind them it’s not personal. Hmmm … guess I better get started on that.
• To feel like there’s not enough time in two years to learn everything I want to learn. I technically only have three semesters for class time. The final semester is set aside for my master’s project. Most students leave Columbia to do internships, so options for summer classes sparse. You need 37 hours to graduate and I have my eye on 46.
• To feel like one of the “old people”. I usually do a pretty good job of fitting in with all age groups, so this has been interesting. It’s not that I don’t look like them. I definitely don’t sound like them, but that’s not where the shocker lies. The problem is that I somehow missed part of the technology explosion. I’m definitely feeling the pinch of the learning curve when it comes to using a Mac. I’m not even going to talk about Twitter …
For the sake of time I’ll stop here since the venting session is getting kind of long. :o)
So, this is how the newest leg of the adventure begins. I plan to update this weekly, so if you’re interested in hearing how the world is going up here in the middle of nowhere, Missouri, please subscribe!
After the long week of writer’s boot camp (which I was required to attend before I could register for classes), I came home and haven't left my apartment since 7 p.m. Saturday. Since I’m staring into a week packed full of orientations (three, to be exact), newspaper reporter staffing, teaching assistant meetings and social gathering with my fellow journalism grad students, I thought it was best. I'm trying not to freak out over how little sleep I’m going to get over the next two years.
I can’t help that sleep is important to me.
Over the last week I’ve learned that grad school is going to be a lot more complicated and challenging than I expected. I knew that the classes were going to be more interactive and that I would be expected to get a firm grasp on more complex material. I expected for the professors to be more critical of us and expect more discussion in the classroom. I knew that in the end I would have to defend whatever project I chose to devote my last semester to.
For the sake of time and space, here is a list of what I didn’t expect:
• To not like news reporting. At all. In boot camp we mainly focused on news reporting because the city newspaper that’s published by the university will be staffed by us next week. I hated every minute of prep for news writing (which is not good, since I’m taking a required News Writing and Reporting course this semester).
• To find switching from academic or personal writing to news writing so difficult. It really does take a switch in the way you think, in addition to learning a whole new language called “AP Style”. The goal is to get to the point and use no unnecessary words. Great …
• To have the likelihood of academic politics thrown into the mix early on in regards to finding an advisor, mentor and graduate panel. As if the process wasn’t difficult enough.
• To be under scrutiny constantly by my professors. We’ve already been told that we will need to grow thick skin in order to survive and grow over the next two years. Some of the editors like yelling at students. One editor has already told us he will rewrite every sentence we write. Our graduate advisor let us know that she meets with students every semester who are crying over it and she has to remind them it’s not personal. Hmmm … guess I better get started on that.
• To feel like there’s not enough time in two years to learn everything I want to learn. I technically only have three semesters for class time. The final semester is set aside for my master’s project. Most students leave Columbia to do internships, so options for summer classes sparse. You need 37 hours to graduate and I have my eye on 46.
• To feel like one of the “old people”. I usually do a pretty good job of fitting in with all age groups, so this has been interesting. It’s not that I don’t look like them. I definitely don’t sound like them, but that’s not where the shocker lies. The problem is that I somehow missed part of the technology explosion. I’m definitely feeling the pinch of the learning curve when it comes to using a Mac. I’m not even going to talk about Twitter …
For the sake of time I’ll stop here since the venting session is getting kind of long. :o)
So, this is how the newest leg of the adventure begins. I plan to update this weekly, so if you’re interested in hearing how the world is going up here in the middle of nowhere, Missouri, please subscribe!
Sunday, August 07, 2011
And so, it begins ...
So, the craziness that is grad school begins tomorrow. My J-School boot camp begins at 0900 and runs for two weeks. The goal is to try and catch me up to speed with Journalism jargon and concepts so that I can successfully tackle my graduate coursework.
I don't think it's possible.
Just in reading the text I'm wondering who this thing was written for. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great information in it and most of it is interesting. I'm just trying to figure out how they're planning on cramming two years' worth of teaching into two weeks.
But, I'm not complaining. I secretly love being challenged.
Aside from that, I continue to stand amazed at God's provision of my scholarship and His direction in leading me to Mizzou (aka, The University of Missouri, aka MU ... don't ask because I haven't been able to figure it out).
I had the chance to talk with the graduate advisor last week and came out of that conversation so pumped about earning this degree. We actually narrowed down my area of concentration (International & Magazine Editing/Design) and she gave me some great insight on how to construct the curriculum for my program so that I get the most out of the next two years.
This doesn't mean that everything is figured out, of course. I've got my classes picked out for the Fall 2011 semester. She explained how my scholarship and fellowship worked. I've figured out that there are a lot of options open to me in regards to how many courses I graduate with, how I spend my summers, and what my masters project looks like.
In some ways I feel like she gave me a bit more rope to hang myself with.
But, then I remember that I am not the one leading this adventure. I choose to hang on to the hand that's leading me, trusting that He's got the next two years figured out. I get to watch and wait, listen and obey, step out and experience Him catching me once again.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't sense that I'm standing on the edge of something big. It feels like the key that was spoken of so many times in my early twenties is finally going to be revealed.
I can't wait to see what doors it opens. :o)
I don't think it's possible.
Just in reading the text I'm wondering who this thing was written for. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great information in it and most of it is interesting. I'm just trying to figure out how they're planning on cramming two years' worth of teaching into two weeks.
But, I'm not complaining. I secretly love being challenged.
Aside from that, I continue to stand amazed at God's provision of my scholarship and His direction in leading me to Mizzou (aka, The University of Missouri, aka MU ... don't ask because I haven't been able to figure it out).
I had the chance to talk with the graduate advisor last week and came out of that conversation so pumped about earning this degree. We actually narrowed down my area of concentration (International & Magazine Editing/Design) and she gave me some great insight on how to construct the curriculum for my program so that I get the most out of the next two years.
This doesn't mean that everything is figured out, of course. I've got my classes picked out for the Fall 2011 semester. She explained how my scholarship and fellowship worked. I've figured out that there are a lot of options open to me in regards to how many courses I graduate with, how I spend my summers, and what my masters project looks like.
In some ways I feel like she gave me a bit more rope to hang myself with.
But, then I remember that I am not the one leading this adventure. I choose to hang on to the hand that's leading me, trusting that He's got the next two years figured out. I get to watch and wait, listen and obey, step out and experience Him catching me once again.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't sense that I'm standing on the edge of something big. It feels like the key that was spoken of so many times in my early twenties is finally going to be revealed.
I can't wait to see what doors it opens. :o)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)