One Down Three to Go!

I tried, I can't even tell you how many times, to return to college and finish my Degrees. Finally, after  30 years, almost to the day of graduating High School, I have earned my first degree. On Monday, May 23rd, 2011 I was conferred an Associate of Arts with High Honors from the College of Southern Nevada at the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Up to now you have read about the challenges of beginning an Academic Journey. Honestly, I believe the first two years of college is learning about how to learn and how to navigate the college system. Of course, you have to go to class, study and juggle your home and work life also. 

The College of Southern Nevada's 
Class of 2011

Special Thanks to Dustin Rains for the Photos in this Slideshow

I was one among a record number of almost 2,300 CSN Graduates. This graduating class also had a record number of Honor Students. Our Alpha Xi Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa broke a record of it's own.

Under the the leadership of Alpha Xi Beta's President, Dustin Rains, Phi Theta Kappa membership was raised 28%. We earned the highest Pinnacle Award possible, raising the College of Southern Nevada's Alpha Xi Beta Chapter to a Five Star Chapter for the 2010-2011 academic year.  

This is the highest and most prestigious honor possible for the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and I am uber proud to have been a part of it. 

Phi Theta Kappa also awarded Club of the Year Photo Susana Buller

As great as these achievements are, 

these accomplishments do not guarantee the ultimate outcome of our degrees. Before the crash of 2008, even an Associate's Degree opened many doors and employment was virtually a given. This, as reported in this Channel 8 News Now broadcast, is no longer the case.

I will continue my education, in pursuit of my ultimate goal of a MLIS, Masters in Library Sciences. My next step in my Adventure as an Adult Learner is my Bachelor's with a Major in English and a Minor in German. I am seriously considering changing my Minor to Spanish to increase my workplace marketability and reserving my German Minor for my Phd. You need two foreign languages for a Doctorate.

Thank You for reading Perpetual Andragogy Adventures of an Adult Learner and sharing my trials, tribulations and triumphs with your friends. Your interest in my Academic journey and your support of education for this Nontraditional Student inspires not only me, but also anybody who has even given the slightest thought to a return to college and the betterment of themselves.

Want to Go Back to College? Start Here!
Start your FAFSA
College by the Letters - I made you a FREE Outline of how to Start your own Academic Adventure
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society
Phi Theta Kappa Alumni List (I should be the first name you see :D )

Implosion: An Ode to Gilman's Wallpaper

by K. H. Ackroyd

Peeling, peeling ever peeling, your tattered sickness has me reeling
Look quick, Did you see?
I think that woman is looking at me
Can't you see her, she's just right there, why I see my face reflected in her hair
There



Hush now, do you hear?
Oh have no fear.
It's only the Dr. clomp, clomp, clomping up the steps with my cure
and I'm sure
or am I?
My nails they scratch me, no not me, I meant, the nails, they hold the bed down for me
or is it against?
Last night I laid on the FOR/AGAINST bed
and what was dancing to the right of my head?
or in it?



It moved I tell you! I touched it - it's true!
My, but this room has a lovely view
A baby is crying - I guess I should feed it  (look at watch) is it time?
or is there?
But work, work, work, work, work. I must write, as I hide, as I write
Rest, oh I should rest. But doing nothing is harder than doing something.
But I must rest
He said so
He



What is that smell? It smells like piss! It smells like stain. It smells yellow
fellow
Look!
I have the key! I won't be interrupted, I won't be interrupted
Hahahhahahhahhahhaha
Did you see? The Key! I threw it out the window!
Now, it's just me and this rope, and that woman
Did you see her?
she's just right there, why I hear my voice reflected in her hair

Somebody's knocking at the door, somebody's ringin' the bell, somebody's knockin' at the door, somebody's ringin' the bell, Do me a favor, open the door, let em in   Just ignore it 

That's only him, the Dr., John
That's  only
An axe? An AXE? A Shining Axe?
hahahhahhahahha

This room looks different
It's bare

Oh, I remember, it was that woman and me,

Did you see her?

we peeled, and peeled and peeled
Yes, we did, just her and I
Did I tell you? She broke the pattern?

She did!

Sources and References

The Morgan Library and Museum
One Hundred Years of American Women Writing, 1848-1948 An Annotated Bio-Bibliography by Jane Missner Barstow
The Charlotte Perkins Gillman Society
Women's Intellectual Contribution to the Study of Mind and Society
Norton Anthologies
Gilman's Authority with Subversive Commentary in "The Yellow Wall Paper" by K.H. Ackroyd 


IMPLOSION: An Ode to Gilman's Wallpaper by K.H. Ackroyd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at KHAckroydPermissions@gmail.com.

Where's the Break in My Spring Break?

Ahh, Spring Break. Usually I use this time to catch up on papers and studies, read a book that's not a text, play tourist in Vegas, work in the garden, or check off chores on my home maintenance To-Do List. But not this year. Nope, this Spring Break is different.

Now I don't know why, but UNLV and CSN have different weeks for Spring Break. Maybe some wise educator, way back in the 70's, decided that it wouldn't be such a good idea to turn loose upon the Vegas community all those college kids at one time. So instead of one full week off of school and studies, I get to go to one or the other. Well, that's not so bad. But that's not all I've committed to.

Photo & Quote by Justin J. McAffee, 

President of the CSN Capitol Club  

"At least 1,500 students came to Carson City on March 21st, 2011. A state historian said this was the most people in Carson city since 1903 when Teddy Roosevelt came to town."

While at CSN, I joined and became very active in the Alpha Xi Beta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. Joining this wonderful organization and participating in as many Service Opportunities as my schedule would allow made and continues to make a great difference in my life. I've also been involved in the campaign against the looming education cuts in Nevada by spreading the word in every way I can think of. 

Setting and accomplishing my educational goals and becoming more active in my community and its well being are fine endeavors but my ultimate goal is a job I love and enjoy. I've always loved creation in design. I've had a few odd jobs here and there to support my paper and ink habit, but I really needed something more substantial.

What the Garden is supposed to look like

So I got a job. And WOW am I overwhelmed! Not by the job, the job is fine - fast paced and always interesting, it's the hours that I no longer have for watching my favorite show, reading my magazines, or working in the garden. And that last one, working in the garden, or rather, not working, is a double whammy. Preparation and planting is behind schedule and I keep getting that look from my Mom. That one that says "when are you going to have time for me?" I feel so guilty!

This is just one story. There are millions more. Many Adult Learners are members of the sandwich generation. They have to care for their children and their aging parents simultaneously, hold down a job, keep up with their social and community commitments AND have three hours of study set aside for each credit hour taken. Oh, and they have to go to class also, so figure in commuting and the time spent in class.

There are only 168 hours in a week. Where can it all possibly fit? In order for me to organize and schedule my life, first I had to know where my time is going. 

Most every Freelancer uses time tracking software of some sort. The best I've found is Paymo. It comes with a downloadable widget that I can desktop in and out of, set up my projects, and add tasks as I go.

So I tried a little experiment of sorts. I added my time spent on school, activities, work, the garden and things that need done around the house. Just please don't tell Mom I added her as a project. I don't think she would ever forgive me.

When I charted it out, I was astounded!

The orange and blue is my new job, the yucky green is my studies, and then there's all the rest. I need to find some balance or my grades will slip and I've worked far too hard to get this far. 

Now, I don't know exactly the steps I will take to manage this all a bit better, (I'll experiment and keep you posted) but I do know one thing. By tracking it and having a visual representation, I have taken the first step.

Do you know where your time is going? Have you found ways to juggle your home life, work schedule and college studies? If so, I'd love to hear from you. Well I'm off to get some work done. (notice the post time on this?)

Join the “We are One, Respect Our Rights” action to demand a reasonable solution to the state budget crisis!

Happy Birthday Perpetual Andragogy! with a revisit to Why Go Back to School Now?

I can't believe it's been a Year already! Thank You for reading what I have to say as an Adult Learner and taking this wonderful journey through the World of Academia with me. Your words of encouragement, with your public and private comments, only reinforces  my decision.

Looking back on this first post, I see I have strayed from my original plan of drawing correlations between Knowles' principles of the Adult Learner and my real world application through experience. I believe I still have the spirit of this theme though. 

 CSN (my first college) is almost as old as I am.

Have you, or someone you know considered a return to college? If yes and you don't know where to start, hop on over to the wiki. (just click the blue wiki button at the top right) It's not too late and no one is ever too old. Heck I'm (darn, those number keys aren't working) but let's suffice it to say my first concert (age 4) was Paul Revere and the Raiders. How's that for a flashback?   

Thank You again for reading. I am having great fun! I just love adding all this Scholarly information to my life experience. It feels right; that it should be this way. If you have any questions about college as an Adult Learner, drop me a line at Kathleen@perpetualandragogy.com

I'm claiming bragging rights for coolest college commute!

This is on the way home from UNLV

Why Go Back to College Now?

I wanted to be a Librarian, but when I looked at the qualifications, it required a Bachelor's Degree. (actually a Master's, but more on that later.) OK, but where to start and would it be worth it? 

The Chetham Library was founded in 1653 and is the oldest known Library in the English speaking World. Photo used with permission granted by Darby Sawchuck. Be sure to visit this wonderful Photographer.

After much research and positive self-talk, I mustered the courage and enrolled. I started slowly, with only a couple of classes, just to get my feet wet. At orientation I learned of a course called College Success. It was recommended for Freshman and Nontraditional Students.

Returning to college after 25 years well qualified me for  Nontraditional student status. Out with the math class, in with the College Success class. I added The History of Rock and Roll. "You can actually get credit for that?" I marveled, 
"Sign me up!"

 That was in the Fall of 2008. It is now Spring Semester of 2010 and forty class hours later. Along the way, I have learned something about myself. I don't learn the same way my younger traditional classmates do. With experience comes different ways to think about problems or theory set forth in standard curriculum. I ask more questions, hoping I am not dominating the discussion, and look for more interactions and applications of what is being presented.

I knew there had to be others like me, or somebody must have addressed this aspect of education. A bit of research later brought me to Malcolm S. Knowles and his theory of Andragogy. In his chart, Andragogy in Practice, I found the Six Core Adult Learning Principles. 

Professor Knowles and his contemporaries wrote this from the outside looking in. I have the great benefit of writing from the perspective of an Adult Learner in Action. In future Blogs I will share a learning experience, draw correlations between the experience and one or more of Professor Knowles' principles, then relate it to you in what I hope will be an informative and entertaining style.

Until then, I leave you with this.

 Hernry Latham Doherty from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 

Columbia University|Earth Institute

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. 

Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.  

Can I Hear Your Story?

I am doing what I Love! Isn't that what we all want? How silly of me not to have been an English Major to begin with. That's OK. I learned some great technical and real world applications along the way.

This semester I have two Literature courses. I chose American Literature, well, because I'm American. And WOW! how the texts have changed since I was in school and first read our Nation's History. I am very much pleased that we begin our readings with the Native Americans instead of Christopher Columbus. I am so looking forward to future readings, that I 'thought' I knew, because now I will read them through the eyes of experience. 

Can I Hear Your Story?

Before I was of reading age, Oma, Granny in German, would read me German Fairytales in German from Das Goldene Mårchenbuch. Her contralto voice accented by varying tones and punctuated inflections gave each line of the story depth and dimension. No longer were these mere words spoken from a book. The story had now evolved to theatre and seeded well in my young and fertile imagination.

 Image Source

The authors of our Bedford Anthology text are quick to point out that the Native American Myths and Creation stories in this collection do not fare well when translated to English and imprisoned in the written word. “Words, spoken words, were the manifestations of their [The Kiowas] deepest belief, of their deepest feelings, of their deepest life” (58). Just as Oma had made ominous Hansel and Gretel’s witch by the lowering of her tone, so too does the Native American storyteller use his or her tones, dramatic pauses and accompanying sound effects to embellish the story. 

 Box turtleshell rattle made by Tommy Wildcat (Cherokee-Muscogee-Natchez)

But these are not mere embellishments; the ‘sound effects’, if you will, are part of the story. And I feel cheated. I want to hear the sounds and pauses, inflections and intonations and marvel at the wildlife mimicry. I want to see the expression on the storyteller’s face as he or she relays the drama through wise eyes and a deeply lined, tanned and weathered face. I want most of all to feel the emotions sent to me via human voice and have its timbre shudder my soul. 

I became very lost and much confused with the reading of A Tale of the Foundation of the Great Island, Now North America ~ The Two Infants Born, and the Creation of the Universe (37-40). It seems I could get the gist of the story, but that is all. I don’t know if this is caused by the inability to understand the story as it is told to the scribe, or if it is because of the language of the years 1827, 1828. I took to heart that many of these stories vary greatly both in translation and are dependent upon the individual storyteller’s style. So, I Googled ‘Native American Turtle Story’ for a translation that maybe I could better understand.

I found the site, http://www.firstpeople.us. This has a Turtle story that I could understand a bit better, but it still was not the same story as in our text. I will have to research further in order to find a translation that I can “get” and perhaps some sound bytes as well. I noticed also, thanks to the information learned from our authors, that this story would also benefit from the telling instead of just the reading of the story.

 Image Source

In answer to this paper’s title Can I Hear Your Story, no I cannot. Nor will I ever be able to hear this or any other story that can only be imparted by the seasoned storyteller. Language is a barrier as well. Just as the Bible should be read in the original Hebrew, so should any Native American tale be told in its original Language. I do not have this capability. I find myself wondering if I should add a Native American language to my Academic repertoire, or perhaps learn it on my own.

In summation, words and the way they are imparted, either spoken or written hold not only meaning, but also meta meaning. I will attempt a critical analysis of these stories and those to come. Perhaps, by either dissection or applied and learned meanings I will gain a greater understanding of what these authors and historians were trying to tell.

Works Cited

Momaday, N. Scott. "The Becoming of the Native: Man in America Before Columbus."

Belasco, Susan and Linck Johnson. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature Volume One: Beginnings to 1865. Vol. One. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 58.

I've Got a Golden Ticket

Well, not really. However, the nice young lady at the RebelCard office told me that, amongst other things, my RebelCard (UNLV Student ID) grants me a free ticket to UNLV sporting events. Free! Wow, what event do I want to go to first and how does the UNLV fight song go again? But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I had spent the previous night making sure that I had all my paperwork together for my required meeting with my Academic Advisor. I had checked and re-checked my student account, activated my RebelMail, made copies of immunization records,

"...going to college and taking the classes isn't the hard part, the paperwork is."

class schedules for two colleges, put the finishing touches on my Department of English Degree Requirement Evaluation Sheet and highlighted Building number 34 on an 89 numbered building map. You know, going to college and taking the classes isn't the hard part, the paperwork is.

I wasn't too worried about getting there, it's an under half-hour commute through city traffic, until I woke up to this.

I know, I know, some of you are laughing and saying "Aw, that's nothing" but you don't know Vegas drivers! Hot & Sunny,  the Las Vegas weather motto, has spoiled us. More thought and expense goes into car air conditioning than serviceable wiper blades. I allowed an extra twenty minutes for the drive and extracted a warm winter coat with a hood from a forgotten corner in my closet. 

Traffic wasn't too bad. I only saw one fender bender and drivers were more cautious than annoying. I easily found metered parking with a two-hour limit right across from the bookstore. I knew parking wouldn't be this easy for long.

Now, to get my bearings.

 

 I guess the print is so small because the campus is so big!

Found it!

The Office was void of traffic and I got in early. "You have been admitted under Liberal-Arts General, but we can't make that your major" my Advisor told me. I showed her my Degree Worksheet with the English Major/German Minor and asked about the second fine arts requirement.

NSHE (Nevada System of Higher Education) requires three credit hours of fine arts. COLA (College of Liberal Arts) requires an additional three for its program. I found myself wondering if I could sandwich a Pilates class in between lectures to give my mind time to 'digest'.

The meeting only lasted about twenty minutes. I was given advice on summer sessions; three terms, the first being only five weeks, where to obtain my RebelCard, and how to find the online parking pass information. I tried to hand her my Honors College application and proof of residency paper work, but those had to go to separate offices.

"I went to the wrong building, not once, but twice!"

"It's easy to find", said my Advisor, as she walked me to the door. "Just go down this wide path to the SSBC building." Of course I walked into the wrong one. I went to the wrong building, not once, but twice! But that's OK. I thought of it as my own little private tour, plus there are some nice little paths on this campus with lovely desert landscaping.

Now you know this aspiring Librarian could not leave campus without a Library card. After dropping my Honors College application on the third floor, I returned to the circulation desk and asked "Do I need my Student ID before I can get my Library card?" 

I had a sneaking suspicion I did, and yes, I did, so out to find the RebelCard office in the Student Union Building. This was cool too, because as I came out of the Lied (pronounced Lead as in Take me to your Leader) Library, I had a view of both buildings at once for the classes I would be taking.

 

The Student Union has a coffee shop, food court, Wi-Fi, Help Desk and the RebelCard office. The extremely nice and helpful young lady at the Help Desk mapped out how to get to the Multi-Cultural lounge where ANTS (Alliance of Nontraditional Students) meets.

A few short steps from the Help Desk brought me into the small and empty RebelCard office. I made a mental note to take advantage of the Winter Break Ghost Campus. You know for a fact, that most any other time, there will be long lines and waits for services. "Are you a student here" and "Do you have a photo ID?" were the only questions I needed to answer to have my picture taken and my RebelCard generated. 

Card in hand, humming I've Got a Golden Ticket, of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory fame, I went back to the Library. 

"Did you get your ID?" the nice young man at the circulation desk asked. (I know, I have been using "nice" to describe everyone I encountered, but they all really were!) And what does he say when I hand him my card? "Oh, nice" I smiled at his polite comment. Photo ID's and me make a lousy pair.

"So, I can use this to access all of UNLV's online databases for research and book reservations now?" "You're all set" he answered, and added, "You will also need it to make copies and print from the computers or your laptop."

As I turned to leave, I looked out and up and marveled. I now have access to every knowledge-filled floor; five floors of books and media references and research and more. There's even an entire floor dedicated to the UNLV Special Collections. I guess I really do have a Golden Ticket after all.

UNLV Fight Song: "Win with the Rebels"

  
Lied Library
UNLV Main Campus Photo Gallery by UNLV Photo Services