2006-11-12 - 5:10 p.m.
This is a recent development; I only thought of doing it a few weeks ago. But I recently had lunch with a fellow RUE who entered with me and I hadn�t seen since I sat next to him at the orientation meeting the first day. I told him about this and he recommended I write about it here, perhaps to seek benediction from all of you. (My guestbook doesn�t seem to be working, so if you want to wish me well or say anything else, please leave a note.)
The big current plan: I�m applying to graduate school. Hoo. Yes. It�s quite a project, of course. I have to take the GRE, get recommendations, write a personal statement, everything. But I�m pretty sure it�s exactly what I want to do. This was initially prompted by the desire just to go back to school in any capacity. See, I�ve deferred repayment of my crushing loans for Brown all I can and next year I�m supposed to start shelling out for them.
But apparently if I go back to school, I can get an �in school deferment� on many of them. Hmm. This actually seems a bit like the downward spiral into destitution of drug addiction (remember that 1980s commercial: �I do cocaine so I can work harder so I can earn more money so I can get more cocaine so I can work harder��?), but whatever. I looked around to see if there was some kind of education I could pursue that appealed to me.
Well. It seems that right here in town, the University of Illinois at Chicago has the nation�s first doctoral program in Disability Studies! Wow. That I could certainly get into. Ethnic studies-type disciplines can sometimes be used to solipsistic ends, but they don�t have to be. Disability is unfortunately a daily part of my life now and there are several broad issues about its place in the world I think about. I�d welcome the chance to study them formally.
I�ve requested recommendations from instructors. I�ve already heard back with good wishes from Sarah (who also tells me she�s training for the Paralympics � right on!). I also asked several other teachers and even the head of Disability Support Services (who I helped initially interview for her job; I kinda dropped a hint that she should include my profile from the school paper in her rec).
I�m currently stymied a bit by signing up to take the GRE. You need to request testing accommodations (like extra time, which I very much need because I type very slowly) using a form you mail to them. Then it takes up to 6 weeks to process, so I�ll be lucky to get a test date by the end of December (fortunately the GRE is given every day and administered by computer). Then it takes them 3-4 weeks to send out the scores � well after the application due date.
I called UIC and told them about this problem. They said they understood; just include a note explaining the situation, take the test when I can, and it shouldn�t be an issue. Still. Now I wish I�d done this months ago. I mean, this is a major exam. I need this extra stress like a hole in the head, and I�ve already got one of those (well, lesions anyway).
Hoo. Wish me luck.
� 2006 Geoff Gladstone
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