Pomp & Circumstance

After 5 years in a doctoral program, one doesn't have much interest in big words. So, here is a very simple story about a very big day.


Mom and Dad watched me get "hooded." I wish I could say it put me out of my misery, but unfortunately, a little thing called revisions got in the way of that.



















Ann & Anny, who ought to open a company called Dissertations R Us with the slogan: "We help you get 'em done!"













Punya Mishra, the professor who changed my perspective and my world (and provided evidence that true scholarship involves plenty of play).















Pomp and circumstance (in non-academese: We walked in while they played music).














The President of the University spoke. The image amuses me, even at commencement, the influence of sports cannot be escaped.













Honorary doctorates were awarded (ummm, I'd like one of those please, as I'm quite certain there are a lot fewer tears associated with them)! Steven Squyres, of the Mars ROVER project, spoke, explaining that "adventures are what happen when you don't know what you are doing." I guess I must have had a LOT of adventures over the last 5 years, then.







I graduated. It was about as anticlimactic as the sentence that I just used to state it.












I defended my dissertation. Do I look like a "real" Dr.?

The Test

Standardized
For the fourth time
But it didn’t help
Her make sense

What was
Didn’t matter
She felt

Her meaning
Reduced
Like a fraction
No remainder.

Cherice Montgomery, July 11, 2008

A Very Happy Day

Friday was graduation day for my student
teachers. (Don't they look like true professionals?! :-) I was so proud of them!

Although it was the very last class session I would teach at MSU before graduating with my Ph.D., it it was still a day filled with little happinesses for me. Dr. Fendler began the morning by giving a nice speech to the class about the importance of developing "generosity of spirit" in our teaching careers. (Hmmm, I think I need to do some serious improving in that area). She then presented me with a bouquet of flowers as a token of appreciation for my service to the world language program at Michigan State.

One of my student teachers created a parody about their internship experience this year that was based on the One Semester of Spanish Love Song. (You have to watch the video first in order to fully appreciate the parody!)

Several other students had prepared "paper plate awards" for everyone in class, including me! Someone captured my reaction when they read it aloud:















Here is the award they gave me:

I was surprised and humbled by the allusion.

In order to fully understand the remainder of this post, you first need to take the True Colors Survey. (It is only 5 questions long. Wait for all the flashing to quit, then drag the numbers into the circles.)

Mouse over the bar graph that will appear at the end in order to see a very basic interpretation of the results. If you want more details, take a few minutes to read through Jennifer Niskanen's True Colors Pages. For those of you who REALLY want the information to be "all about you, and only about you" scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the colors that apply to you.

My student teachers took the True Colors survey at the beginning of the year. It gave us some new perspectives on our relationships with one another (and why our relationships with certain people sometimes break down). It also provided us with quick language we could use to help us describe problems and sketch out potential solutions. It influenced our interactions deeply.

(This is their visual representation of some of the key characteristics of the various colors.)

Consequently, it was incredibly amusing to me to see them appear in my class on the last day wearing these shirts, and, because I am definitely part blue, it was also very touching to be presented with my very own t-shirt. It captured our journey together very poignantly!

My class even gave me a standing ovation when I was introduced as their instructor at Convocation!

(Team Advanced Low refers to the fact that student teachers are now required to demonstrate that they have achieved Advanced Low Proficiency in the language they intended to teach in order to be certified.)

Meanwhile, a student who was not even in my class stopped me in the hallway to express his appreciation for my work on our class wiki, explaining that the materials on the Getting a Job page had been helpful to him in constructing his portfolio and preparing for interviews.

I could go on and on about the surprise e-mails I received from former student teachers, as well as several professional invitations that also coincidentally appeared on that same day . . . not to mention an impromptu invitation to dine with friends that evening.

It was a wonderful day--one that restored a lot of confidence, one that reminded me that it is really true that you grow to love those you serve, one that suggested that the Lord is intervening in my life more than I might suspect, and one that encouraged me to believe that maybe I am making more of a difference than I realize.

You know you've been at MSU too long when you realize . . .

. . . you forgot the sky could be blue until you went to California to give a presentation!

(This is the color of the sky here close to 80% of the time and those little flecks happen to be snowflakes from our first real snowfall of the year.)

. . . you forgot the grass doesn't stay green in the winter in the rest of the United States!


. . . you forgot that there was a time when you read something besides non-fiction!


. . . you forgot that you've invested so much money in Post-Its!


. . . you forgot that you made that investment more than once!


. . . you forgot that the rest of the world isn't particularly fascinated by the geometry of an airport, much less the profound meaning represented by a reflected triangle!


. . . you forgot that most people go to bed before midnight!

Veggie Burgers

It is no secret to anyone who is even remotely acquainted with me that I find the conventions of academia stifling. Grad school is truly hazardous to all forms of health (or life, for that matter)! It is killing me and I really think the Surgeon General ought to get involved! (Grin)

In an attempt to be responsible for my own health, however, I am trying to find the positives in the whole experience (and that takes a LOT of effort, which requires a LOT of energy!) So it is no surprise that food has captured my attention lately. I am also finding that food is a particularly satisfying outlet for creative self-expression.

Here is my latest attempt. It is modeled on a veggie burger that Cindy ordered from Zuni Grill in San Antonio. I've found that they don't take long to prepare and they are a satisfying (and healthy) substitute for hamburgers. In case you're curious, this one has asparagus, peppers (green, orange, red, and yellow), portabella mushrooms, and zuchinni on it. It is held together with fresh guacamole, garnished with grated cheese, and is served on an onion bun.


The plan is to finish grad school by June, but if not, maybe there's hope for me as a chef (or at least a food artist)?!

Hot Off the Presses (Well, at Least the Presses of My Mind!)

I've always liked to write, and producing copious amounts of text has never been a problem for me . . . until I moved here. Now that someone is telling me I have to write, I finally understand what the phrase squeezing blood out of a turnip means. (I am also coming to understand that turnips are entirely way too stubborn for their own good!)

Nonetheless, I still entertain thoughts about how school must have made Einstein feel, along with ideas about all the things I might write if someone weren't insisting that I do so. I derive a secret pleasure from generating potential titles and acknowledgments pages--both layered with lots of barely disguised meaning. I've forgotten the more "scholarly" ones because I haven't bothered to write them down, but here are a few whimsical ones that amused me:

ABD is Good Enough for Me!: Why Our Best & Brightest Are Checking Out Instead of Trading Up

ABD - All But Dissertation or All But Dead?: How Grad Schools Are Smothering Innovation & Killing Creativity

From Pollyanna to Puddleglum: Case Studies of Depression, Dementia, & Distractability in Doctoral Candidates

Bitter? Who me? Naaaah!

How's Your Math These Days?

Cherice x Your Mind = ?

It occurs to me that I am a product of all the people whose minds I have experienced. With every blog or book I read, every conversation I have, every del.icio.us account I explore, every non-verbal communication I notice, every piece of music I listen to, every website I view, I am taking the best of other people's minds into myself . . . internalizing them . . . making them a part of me.

Cherice x School = ?

I have concluded that, for the most part, the institution of school gets in the way of learning. Its conventions and structures constrain natural patterns and rhythms of learning (which I believe to be highly complex, embodied, non-linear, and relational) and limits understanding by chopping everything up into itty bitty decontextualized pieces in the name of making it all comprehensible.

So with what answers would YOU complete the equations above? :-) Do the answers change when you insert your own name into them?

Quintessential Quantum Quips

As some of you may know, I have developed an interest in the principles of quantum physics over the last few years, so it will come as no surprise to you that I was completely delighted by the latest series of panels from PhDComics this week:

Slave Part-Equal Duality (An Introduction to Quantum Gradnamics) (On Comps)

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (An Introduction to Quantum Gradnamics) (On the Prospect of Graduation)

Schroedinger's Cat (An Introduction to Quantum Gradnamics) (On Productivity)

These REALLY amused me . . . in part because they are SO true of me, in part because they draw the parallels between doctoral work and quantum physics so substantively, in part because they do such a beautiful job of layering meaning via allusions, concepts, images, and text, and in part just because laughs come so few and far between these days that I'm thrilled for a REAL excuse to smile . . . let alone actually giggle!

The comics perfectly capture my present "location" in the developmental trajectory of tasks and experiences that comprise doctoral work. They also encapsulate my current thoughts, feelings, and frustrations beautifully, but in a much more witty and sophisticated way than I am capable of at the moment.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!