Graduated!

So you can now call me a doctor, once in a while. I wouldn't treat patients but teach students, not diagnose diseases but data. Above all, I remain a storyteller and an artist-in-the-becoming. I haven't become so many things; don't really like the finality associated with that.

I do miss my old campus, all the hustle bustle and skateboard noises and conversations and peals of laughter and the melodious chimes heard in every corner of the campus telling time. I miss the student organization tables, advocating for racial justice, gun control and anti-bullying, existing in the same afternoon as religious groups trying to save us from going to hell because we are/support gays, feminists and immigrants. There is something timeless about college/university campuses, the mixing of ideas with ideas like colors on a palette, the mixing of old and new, the acts of starting over not unlike furiously painting over a canvas of shapes, hues and textures that bind us to a past that must be buried.

I worked in the "corporate" sector, I worked as a journalist, while constantly missing the feel of a college campus. I kept coming back. I couldn't keep my addiction to learn under check, and while I like self-learning I like learning and working together too. I like the interaction and the silences of classrooms, the insights and challenges. Thankfully, looks like I'll just transition from campuses that were my graduate schools to those where I'll teach as a professor.

This semester, being the last one in the doctoral program, I taught online. I stayed in my Utah home, that has a view of a lake and tall, snow-capped mountains, and taught over 400 students. The beautiful view outside made up for the hours of staring into the computer screen. Nate, my husband, pampered in all sorts of ways. I don't really like working from home, but it is fun to, for a change, not be in a long-distance marriage and spend quality time with him.

I'll continue to spend time on and be fascinated by all the beautiful art and artists that enrich and color my life. The following is a selection from my favorites folder, that I gathered as I this overwhelming semester progressed. Please show these artists some love

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Finally, some graduation themed art, one of them, my own.

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Stay well, everyone,