I graduated (again)!

Officially one degree hotter, nbd.

Very happy to announce that I shall forever be known as Master Kate now. (There's a good reason that's not an acceptable title listed on DMV forms and other places that care about those things...) But technically, I am! 

Exactly two months ago in early May, after successfully defending my thesis, I celebrated my graduation from VCU with my Master of Arts in English. There are countless people that made my pursuit of this degree possible in the first place and gave me the support, love, ass-kicking, and snack runs I needed to push through even the worst bouts of writer's block.

Gravel was an enormously unhelpful presence throughout

Since graduating, I've been slowly re-acclimating to life as a non-academic. You know, someone who only has one job and actual free time in the evenings and on weekends and can read for pure joy without overanalyzing every text to death. (I can't even lie to myself about that last one.) 

I did go a little stir-crazy at first, with so much free time on my hands all of a sudden. I started checking things off my "To Do Post-Grad" list, including flying to Seattle to visit Jess for her own MPO graduation, taking a couple of pottery classes at the cutest local ceramics studio, checking out the sickest traveling exhibit at the VMFA, and finding my personal yoga practice again after a long, long hiatus. 

4 degrees in one pic! 

Through it all, it has been incredibly gratifying to be able to share this experience with my classmates and professors, my friends, and my family. I couldn't have done it without the enormous influence of these people who have shaped me forever and especially over the past two years. 

I discovered a lot about myself over the course of earning this degree, including the sheer amount of joy I find in the classroom—both as student and instructor—and in the texts I consume. Consume, not read, because these texts and theories feel like they have, even in infinitesimally minute ways, become part of me. I look forward to carrying them into whatever comes next. 

Onto the next adventure!