carved angel

i start school on the 29th... i'm so nervous and excited, i can hardly stand it. i've been in two grad-level classes before, and they were really hard. it's only two classes, thankfully, so i'll have time to get used to it. the sylabii(?) are already posted, so i looked over them. one of the classes has a term paper assigned, and i know from experience with my other two grad classes, that it will probably be at least 50 pages. maybe i'll be pleasantly surprised, however, and it'll end up being more like 30 or so. eep.

but, despite having some mini-panic attacks about this, i'm still really excited. the coursework will be challenging, yes, but the classes all revolve around what i want to do with my life... the more i learn about librarianship, the more i know that i've made the right choice. when sohei started talking about law school, and his ambitions regarding fighting for the little guy, i was a little envious. but librarians are not - despite the stereotypes - boring people. they constantly fight small battles in their own communities, regarding such issues as censorship, and have had to start fighting larger battles against the government, due to the patriot act. while i won't be defending the average joe against corporate greed and the like, i'll be doing my own small part to make the world a better place. knowledge is power, and it'll be my job to share it with people, and make it easier for them to find. i suppose i'm being overly idealistic, but i have loved the library from a very young age, and entering this profession is like some kind of dream come true. i can't believe i made it this far.

some people seek fame and fortune. i seek knowledge and, well, quiet.

another thing i love about librarianship is the sense of community. i know i've mentioned it before, but i never get tired of the reaction i get when i mention to a librarian that i'm pursuing a career in the library. the sad truth is, this is a line of work that very few people are interested in. no one wants to be a librarian. either because it's too "boring," the salary is too low, or people just don't realize what it is that librarians do. (i can't tell you the number of times people have said to me, "you have to go to grad school to check books out to people?!") so if you express an interest in the field, there are a lot of people willing to do whatever they can to help you. which is really nice. and the library school at usf has this message thingy which keeps library students informed about new classes opening up, or local job opportunities. the english department didn't really do much to foster any kind of sense of community, so this is a nice change of pace.

i guess i could go on and on about this subject, but i can hear ya'll yawning already. but this is better than listening to me whine, ne?