_The Marrakech Report_. A New Academo-Thriller. By the author of _The End-Times End-Notes_
Bismillah~
"The mission's not over til the reports are written." So it was written in one of my scifi thrillers; so it was this summer.
I organized and facilitated discussion groups between American and Moroccan students at the American Language Center in Marrakech on a University of Georgia "Scholarship of Engagement" grant, as applied for and overseen by my advisor, A. G., Ph.D. The talks were for the purpose of getting to know each other, following a paradigm of "dialogue, not debate." The talks were a success and lead to long conversations among the students after the groups let out.
Right after the last of the five sessions, Dr. G told me to get started on the report. Well, I was right there with the giddy undergrads abroad in wonderland as far as wanting to sit down & write a paper, but I made some notes. That was as far as it went until a couple of weeks ago.
Most of the summer I've been alternating between bouts of good energy in looking for work and days of depression, feeling like an unskilled loser for anything outside of the academy. When I was on, I looked for jobs. When I was not on, I did not feel like writing the report!
Finally, I started to work on it. I talked to Dr. G. and arranged, then broke, a deadline. It was terrible trying to write it. What did I have to say? It happened, it was a success, but now there was this weight of distance upon me. Finally, I got it done and sent it to Dr. G.
He loved it! He told me it would be a big help in getting a bigger grant for a much bigger program, which might mean a job for me down the line. I heard second hand that he couldn't stop talking about the report for three days after I handed it in! I never heard THAT about any of my essays.
"The mission's not over til the reports are written." So it was written in one of my scifi thrillers; so it was this summer.
I organized and facilitated discussion groups between American and Moroccan students at the American Language Center in Marrakech on a University of Georgia "Scholarship of Engagement" grant, as applied for and overseen by my advisor, A. G., Ph.D. The talks were for the purpose of getting to know each other, following a paradigm of "dialogue, not debate." The talks were a success and lead to long conversations among the students after the groups let out.
Right after the last of the five sessions, Dr. G told me to get started on the report. Well, I was right there with the giddy undergrads abroad in wonderland as far as wanting to sit down & write a paper, but I made some notes. That was as far as it went until a couple of weeks ago.
Most of the summer I've been alternating between bouts of good energy in looking for work and days of depression, feeling like an unskilled loser for anything outside of the academy. When I was on, I looked for jobs. When I was not on, I did not feel like writing the report!
Finally, I started to work on it. I talked to Dr. G. and arranged, then broke, a deadline. It was terrible trying to write it. What did I have to say? It happened, it was a success, but now there was this weight of distance upon me. Finally, I got it done and sent it to Dr. G.
He loved it! He told me it would be a big help in getting a bigger grant for a much bigger program, which might mean a job for me down the line. I heard second hand that he couldn't stop talking about the report for three days after I handed it in! I never heard THAT about any of my essays.