Looking Ahead

Katie D.

December 19, 2010 - 8:18 PM

Now that I have a moment to pause between academic terms, I'm taking a breath and looking around at my plans and my future--both immediate and distant. So much is happening so quickly, as week follows week and classes add up, and work consuming so much of my imagination. There's so much to be done, and I'm constantly adding these side note hopes and dreams, to compile and research later on.

Some times in my life lend themselves to planning and dreaming. I get almost manic sometimes--the languages I'll learn, places I'll go, projects I'll undertake, and new programs I'll invent or get involved in. Tonight feels a bit like that--there's a sense of infinite potential right now. That feeling of being pulled in a million directions, with the inexplicable confidence that I'll be able to follow each passing plan.

So I'm daydreaming. I'm thinking about rock climbing again in January, re-starting Zumba, working harder on my Spanish, reading a pile of academic texts and novels, undertaking writing projects and new work ideas, and getting ahead on next term's homework. I'm thinking about new hobbies: woodworking, piano, tree identification, French, and pottery. It feels like it's all possible.

But I'm also taking some time to do some real thinking about my future coursework, the remaining two years in the CRES program, and the future that stretches beyond graduation. Trying to imagine the future in specific terms is still a little tough for me, but there are some exciting possibilities I'm beginning to uncover.

First, the short term. I'm the GTF for an Inside-Out class next term: Institutional Inequalities and Individual Lives with Professor Ellen Scott. We've selected our students (inside and out) and have begun the process of spending three hours each week teaching in the prison. I can hardly wait. And I'll compliment this work with continued engagement with the national Inside-Out program, including new projects and development work. I'll be taking sixteen credits, as well as auditing that Zumba class. I'll try to build in the self-care I need, and the creative activities that feed me. Plus more time in the Oregon outdoors. Rain or not, I live in a beautiful place.

Second, I've started thinking more about the shape of my remaining year and a half in the CRES program. There are some exciting required courses left, plus electives, internships, and a terminal project. I've started trying to narrow my focus of study and research, although I haven't made any solid decisions as of yet. On plan is to take courses in "Positive Psychology" or the study of human well-being and how people live fulfilling and balanced lives. I'm also thinking more creatively about my internship options: perhaps I'll go to South Africa, or maybe I'll do some media-based internship, or maybe work with Sister Helen Prejean. Maybe I'll do a longitudinal study and internship on the US/Mexico border. I've started making lists, and hope to spend the next couple of weeks thinking through the options. I have some amazing opportunities and resources for the remainder of my study at the UO. I hope to maximize my experiences while I'm here.

Third, the Future. The big time. I don't really know what to say except that I'm continuing to collect big dreams and solid career options. I'm accumulating job announcements sent through the career services folks, watching the openings for mediators, ombudspersons, NGO management, and paid internships. I'm also monitoring my networks and connections around the country and around the world, considering how I might spend a few years living intimately in the work of conflict resolution and healing communities.

I don't know if I've said this explicitly recently, but I see my ultimate career as a college professor. I can't imagine anything much better than teaching and researching, writing and speaking. I haven't quite settled on a specific plan yet, beyond a vague thought that I'll spend a few years working in the non-academic world, before settling into a PhD program and working toward a position of working for social justice through teaching and activism as a professor.

All that being said, I'm still collecting options.

Maybe the end of the year is a dreaming time for lots of people. I feel so inspired by all the opportunities and experiences of this past year, and feel such hope for the future. We'll see what happens down the road.