(no subject)
I walked in the Mesa graduation yesterday. Thats me, the graduatrix.
It was incredible and overwhelming. I had been to a lot of college graduations, but this one was so much more jubilant, the audience was not staid at all, they whooped and screamed and it just seemed like a really big celebration.
I get the sense that a lot of people I've met have just assumed that college would be part of their lives itinerary, and never really considered anything less as a possibility, something that I never really had. So many people participating in the ceremony yesterday were the first people to get any sort of college degree in their entire family, and you could tell that they ecstatic, and that they, like myself, had not even considered college as an option for much of their lives. A lot of people had gotten a certification in something, and a lot of people, like myself, had gained admission to a university.
I don't talk enough about how wonderful I think community college is, and they get a bad rap, but it goes like this: I didn't graduate from the 8th grade, I didn't go to high-school, and was placed in a home-schooling system because I was deemed too mentally ill to function in normal high-school. I had more than one councelor tell me my best option was to get on social security when I turned 18 because it was assumed I was too mentally ill to work. I stayed home for weeks at a time and read books, lots and lots of books and websites made by fantastic women and kept journals and got better (although I hesitate to use the word "well"). When I was 18, I decided to try taking a class or two at the community college, basically psychology and women's studies and within two semesters, I had decided to transfer to a university.
And with the exception of family problems, that basically brings us up to today.
I cried a lot yesterday. I cried when I got to the end of the stage and the person handing out the carnations was my Old Testament professor, who had been a marvelous inspiration and a great teacher. She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek and said that I had done a great job. I cried when my sister told me how proud she was, and how she never thought I'd be able to do it. I cried in the car with Adam because he had been there with me the whole time.
It was incredible and overwhelming. I had been to a lot of college graduations, but this one was so much more jubilant, the audience was not staid at all, they whooped and screamed and it just seemed like a really big celebration.
I get the sense that a lot of people I've met have just assumed that college would be part of their lives itinerary, and never really considered anything less as a possibility, something that I never really had. So many people participating in the ceremony yesterday were the first people to get any sort of college degree in their entire family, and you could tell that they ecstatic, and that they, like myself, had not even considered college as an option for much of their lives. A lot of people had gotten a certification in something, and a lot of people, like myself, had gained admission to a university.
I don't talk enough about how wonderful I think community college is, and they get a bad rap, but it goes like this: I didn't graduate from the 8th grade, I didn't go to high-school, and was placed in a home-schooling system because I was deemed too mentally ill to function in normal high-school. I had more than one councelor tell me my best option was to get on social security when I turned 18 because it was assumed I was too mentally ill to work. I stayed home for weeks at a time and read books, lots and lots of books and websites made by fantastic women and kept journals and got better (although I hesitate to use the word "well"). When I was 18, I decided to try taking a class or two at the community college, basically psychology and women's studies and within two semesters, I had decided to transfer to a university.
And with the exception of family problems, that basically brings us up to today.
I cried a lot yesterday. I cried when I got to the end of the stage and the person handing out the carnations was my Old Testament professor, who had been a marvelous inspiration and a great teacher. She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek and said that I had done a great job. I cried when my sister told me how proud she was, and how she never thought I'd be able to do it. I cried in the car with Adam because he had been there with me the whole time.