2011: to Everything there is a Season!

And so it begins.

Those Bryds knew a thing or two about life when they sang “to everything…there is a season” and as January 2011 kicks off a new season begins for me—my last (!) semester as a graduate student (gulp) ever. I thought since the majority of my degrees involve writing of some form or another it would be wildly appropriate to chronicle my last semester, so that I might be able to share with others the crazy, fast-paced reality of a Ph.D. student on the brink of entering the real world. Not that I haven’t been there before, mind you, but it seems like years ago when there were no little monsters running around (for you Gaga fans), when Tipper and Al were still a happily married couple, and when vampires still belonged to Anne Rice (I tend to live by pop culture references). Here’s hoping the real world hasn’t forgotten me.

Hi, I’m Kara. Let’s begin.

I’m a fourth year Ph.D student at Florida State University. I graduate in summer 2011 with a degree in English, with a major emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition and a minor in Media Studies. I have a master’s degree in education from Walsh University and a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Mount Union College. If you asked my parents, they might say I’m a perpetual student, and they are seriously hoping that I don’t decide to get another degree. I’m won’t and don’t plan to in case you were wondering.

The semester begins in two days, and as it stares me in the face me, I find myself oddly ready to tackle it perhaps because I’ve done what I can to prepare for it: (1) created a list of goals for each month beginning in January and ending in May (check); (2) uploaded all my syllabi to Blackboard, created blogs for my classes, and added assignments for the first month (check, check and check); (3) outlined my dissertation chapters (check!); (4) drafted #1 and #2 of my dissertation (check and almost check); (5) updated my job list (check); and (6) organized my calendar (check). So I appear ready. Here’s to the front holding up.

And so my season begins. My blog follows the semester as it winds up and down the roller coaster that doesn’t seem to have a stop button. Be prepared for endless references to pop culture (hope that doesn’t stop some of you from reading, but hey, we can’t all appreciate the gloriously fun tidbits that are found in pop culture). Be ready for frank discussions about the innermost thoughts of a job-seeking, dissertation-writing, WEPO/1102 teaching, and CCC’s assisting girl (er, woman). Watch out for those comma mistakes because even though I’m thisclose to having three degrees involving writing…the commas still get me.