You know, it's funny. When I was a little kid, I knew what the life plan was: grow up, get a PhD in English lit, publish like crazy and become a writer, and somewhere along the way find the love of my life and become, you know, an adult.
When I was in high school, the plan was pretty much the same, except that the love of my life became a brilliant, funny, surprising, socially aware woman. And I planned to be a total playa when I first got to college, but to settle down shortly thereafter.
When I got to my undergrad, I found the woman and realized that, more than anything, I wanted to be able to teach radical stuff as a professor one day with my PhD. For the first, erm, three and a half years of college I planned to teach radical Russian literature. Then, at the end of Smith, I thought... what the hell? Maybe I can teach radical feminist and body stuff.
So I dunno. Now I'm in my MA program, pretty much guaranteed to get into a PhD somewhere, and I think I'm in a good position to be teaching my own course next year on radical (feminist) concepts. Which, when I think about it, is kind of eerily close to what I had planned when I was a little kid - in a grad program, teaching at a university, found the love of my life... It's freaky, man. Especially when sometimes I think how lost I am and how I've totally failed at all my plans, but now that I look at it in the big retrospective, things all sort of came together as I wanted them to. Weird.
Hm.
When I was in high school, the plan was pretty much the same, except that the love of my life became a brilliant, funny, surprising, socially aware woman. And I planned to be a total playa when I first got to college, but to settle down shortly thereafter.
When I got to my undergrad, I found the woman and realized that, more than anything, I wanted to be able to teach radical stuff as a professor one day with my PhD. For the first, erm, three and a half years of college I planned to teach radical Russian literature. Then, at the end of Smith, I thought... what the hell? Maybe I can teach radical feminist and body stuff.
So I dunno. Now I'm in my MA program, pretty much guaranteed to get into a PhD somewhere, and I think I'm in a good position to be teaching my own course next year on radical (feminist) concepts. Which, when I think about it, is kind of eerily close to what I had planned when I was a little kid - in a grad program, teaching at a university, found the love of my life... It's freaky, man. Especially when sometimes I think how lost I am and how I've totally failed at all my plans, but now that I look at it in the big retrospective, things all sort of came together as I wanted them to. Weird.
Thanks for this post. It got me thinking. :)