I Passed!

I passed my Research Literacy class with an A! Whew! My 4.0 stands...classes start back up tomorrow, but this was the SCARY bug bear of the program, its over and done. Still a lot of work to do, but for me, its easy work.
Life is good!

The Day Has Come...

Believe it or not...

Westboro Baptist Church is coming to protest at my college. 

 

Yep...the Phelps crowd is descending to protest a showing of "The Anatomy of Hate" on Monday night. I am looking into possible responses. Counter picket/protest, ignore them out of existence, what the college's official policy is, etc. 

There have been some very effective counter protests against the Phelps....the Angel Action in Laramie when Mathew Shepherd was murdered and the "Not Today, Fred" protests. On the other hand, piling protest on protest can get them all the publicity they want - that is what they want! Ignoring them into oblivion is often the better answer, and there have been a few places where the Westboro protest has packed up or cancelled altogether because of lack of visibility or publicity. Another good counter protest strategy is to set up a donation pledge, where for every x amount of minutes or hours or whatever that Westboro is picketing, people can donate money or volunteer time or whatever to GLBT and other pertinent causes. That tends to get them to shut down early too. I have to say that in protesting this hate group, we need to remember WHO we are. We don't wish to become like them. We must behave better than them. We must behave with dignity, compassion and common sense, and not descend to their level. I mean that! 

I have to say...I am rather proud of my school...this entirely indicates to me that we are doing something right!

Over due update, that some of you have heard...Back to School at Last!....

Finally, finally, finally!

Am back in school, as a graduate student now, going for my masters in Marriage and Family Therapy! This took some doing this time.... I graduated Converse with a 3.58 which meant I could apply straight for grad school at Converse for the MFT program. HOWSOMEVER...in the process of applying, I had to submit transcripts. The system applied my Limestone grades from 26 freaking years ago and in doing so, dropped my GPA to below a 3.0. Which meant I had to take the MAT or the GRE to apply to Grad school. Appeal to drop this requirement denied by the Dean. MAT available date was July 28th. Hence I was sidelined all summer. (Grumpily, I might add...)

So I took the MAT (Miller Analogy Test) and THEN we were in a OMG horse race to see if they would get the scores to the school in time before the graduate school committee met Aug. 12th to review applications. Much stress, chewing of fingernails, and many phone calls. (not to mention I had NO clue how I did on the test - its not the kind of test you study for and I walked out feeling like my brains had turned to oatmeal...) So the day before the committee met, I called the school yet again and of course my scores weren't there. *headdeskthud* The lovely lady on the other end of the phone asked me if I had gotten my copy of the scores yet, and I said, no, I hadn't - she gave me the fax number for her office and told me to go check my mail one more time - if the scores were in on my end, fax them to her and she would see that my advisor got them in time for the meeting. Off to the post office I ran! And the scores had arrived...I faxed them right then and there!

My advisor called me the day after the meeting and told me I had gotten in, and when could I meet with her! YAY! A few more bated breath moments waiting on financial aid to go through at the last minute - and you know, it's not like this last minute crap was me procrastinating! Arrgh! - and finally, I was in, signed up for classes!

Two further points of note - when I got my admittance letter, I saw that they had managed to jerk my chain one last time by admitting me "provisionally under academic probation due to my low GPA..." which means I have to maintain above a B+ my first 12 semester hours etc etc. CRAP! I'm not worried about my grades - I am perfectly capable of a 4.0 in this program! Its just the insult to injury thing, ya know? The other interesting thing is my MAT score - I scored a 93 on the bloody thing - 2 points shy of qualifying for Mensa!!!! 0.0 Who knew? I was shocked! One of my teachers said I ought to go back and try again, but I don't think so...I could just see me bombing it next time because of nerves! Besides they want me to pay for the Mensa membership, and I need the money for cheese sandwiches, ya know? But it was still cool to score that high! I had no idea!

I am taking Family Systems 1, Child Psychopathology, Ethics and DSMIV-TR for my first semester....more about that as I get into them! Boy, am I glad to be back on campus!

Will update as life goes on!