Monday, May 19, 2008 | by nathan

Rumination

First off, let me apologize for the lack of Sam on Friday. I promise to rectify this omission soon; I could offer some half-hearted excuse as to why I didn’t get to putting up a Sam update, but the truth of the matter is I was swamped at work and just didn’t get around to it. It makes me a little sad to have left it undone, as I have some GREAT photos of The Dog to share. So we’ll get to that soon (like, maybe, after lunch).

The other strand of my thinking lately - something that has actually occupied a great deal of my thought life - has been the promise I made to myself when I finished my graduate degree (I FINALLY got my diploma last week. You know. After a year. Go Sooners!) that I would wait one year before I started thinking about whether or not I want to pursue my education further at this time.

There are so many options; the mind boggles. I have yet to decisively rule one of them out.

I work at a university, and when my employment situation becomes a bit more secure I’ll have the option of attending said university at 75% of the cost and to tailoring my work schedule around classes. This is great if I want to go to law school, but I’m just not sure I do. I think I’d relish the school part, the part where I’m challenged intellectually and get 3-4 years of fantastic instruction. I just have no desire whatsoever to practice law, or to take on any career that a law degree would open up.

I’ve sort of shaken the dust off my feet as far as journalism is concerned; I think the state of the media in this country is largely due to the state of journalism education, which I’ve decided more or less encourages every awful impulse our media has, especially the ones toward sensationalism and do-nothing, know-nothing reporting. I’m looking at you, here, broadcasting. I think that further academic study in the field of journalism would be fascinating, but it just seems like I’d be orienting myself toward a lifetime of frustration.

The most appealing option at this point is further study in my original area of academic interest, one in which I’ve excelled more than in any other: religion and philosophy. I did, after all, begin my graduate career in divinity school and despite the awfulness of that experience my passion for the field has never left me. Problem is, while the options I listed above would require very little of me in terms of geographic relocation - good law schools and journalism Ph.D. programs are available to me locally - for further religious study would require a major change of scene.

I have standing offers from former professors and mentors that would get my application serious play at some fantastic divinity schools. Problem is that none of them are here, and I’ve rather grown to like having my family and all my wonderful friends around. I’ve got a husband who loves his job and a house and a life I’m in no rush to give up. That said, I do know that the career I currently have, while good for me financially, is not something I hope to be doing 10 years from now. So I’m feeling a bit stuck and I’m beginning to chew over my options a bit. I’m trying not to feel a sense of panic or rushedness about this, but sometimes it’s hard, when contemplating the future, to not want the future to get here as fast as freaking possible. Even when the present is pretty dang fantastic, which it is.