Graduation...Now What? at 9:42 AM

I got my last rejection letter the other day. No more school for me...for now. And I can't be happier.

If you didn't know, I'm about to graduate next month with a Master of Science in Sociology. I specialized in quantitative research in gender and sexuality, with an emphasis on STDs and HIV. My thesis is on behavioral outcomes and identity conflicts within racial and gender groups. Health research on heterosexual populations isn't always what it appears to be.

While I'm disappointed to be out of school, mostly I'm relieved. I know that sounds like I'm trying to be positive about the whole thing but it's the truth. No more running from work to class or putting in a ten hour day to go home and work on a paper. "Wait, I get to read this book for fun and don't have to cite it in my thesis?" I've been running nonstop for the last few years. It took me about the same amount of time to get two degrees that it is now taking the average student to get one. Plus I have two degrees more than over half the population. Go me!

Hopefully I'll be starting a new career. I'm averaging four to five resumes a week right now, holding all other variables constant (statistical humor). The goal is to have a full time, Monday thru Friday, this time next year. So... shameless plug, anyone hiring in market research or Analytics?

To sum it up. No PhD right now, stop asking. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life, but that's ok. Seriously happy to be done with school and can't wait to start a career. More time to read, write, and paint.

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Misunderstood Research at 7:22 AM

Been awhile since my last post, I know. I just finished a section of my thesis so I don't feel like I'm cheating on school when I write something not for academia.

I was working on my literature review at Starbucks, going through old articles and books, summing up past arguments and such. I'm specializing in sexuality and gender so my thesis is about sexual behavior across races. Nobody knows what I'm doing there, sipping my wonderful crack in a cup latte. I'm a student that is doing his homework...and getting the third weird look from a mom since I sat down.

Then it hits me. I'm not doing homework, apparently I'm a 20 something year old guy reading bad romance smut he got off of a check out aisle shelf at the Sack-and-Save. And in the middle of Starbucks? The nerve. Let's look at some of the books I'm using. Forbidden Fruit: Teenage Sexuality and Religion, Black Sexual Politics, and (the best title) Sex at Dawn. The covers of all three books are innocent on their own but paired with the titles and in a pile with other books and articles along the same lines...you get the idea.

Classic case of not judging a book by its cover. I can see it. I'm chasing some poor mom out of the shop as she panics to ushers her small children into the family minivan, rear window plastered with soccer team and school spirit stickers. Arms stretched out in front of me, holding the pages open in desperation, "No, no. This isn't a bad erotic romance novel. It's full of charts and graphs. Look! An extremely boring nonlinear regression model! (Well that's a bad example, that equation is kind of sexy.) But the charts are boring!" I press the pages against her window as she fumbles for her keys. The children, in their car seats, crying behind her. They have nightmares about sampling bias and non significant findings for years to come. (sounds a lot like graduate school actually)

After the third look of judgment I received I decided to put a few books away. In hind sight it really is a shame people have such reactions to my area of study. The research is actually rather interesting and informative. Forbidden Fruit might be of particular interest to those concerned parents. You'd be surprised what kind of affect all those Bible classes and Sunday church brunches are having on your child's sexual biography.

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