I can do that!

I got to class and had it made
And so I stayed the rest of my life
All thanks to Sis,
I can do this!

Welcome to another post where I actually talk about something other then infertility!!!

I had a great day today. I never forget how truly lucky I am that to have the kind of job that I love. Now don't get me wrong, I still have a laundry list of things I'd like to change about my job, but as jobs go it beats the hell out of customer service!

When I was in college I had this crazy rose colored glasses ideal that education can change the world, that communities can be transformed and lives uplifted through learning. 15 years later I have struggled to hold onto that belief as my career has butted heads with policy and funding issues that sometimes have shown me the worst side of what people can do to other people. But today was different.

I spent the afternoon working with community organizations and colleges in our area on creating research and grant opportunities to serve the needs of the community. The idea was to focus on how to make our community better based on the work that higher ed does, rather then just doing research for the sake of publishing. Now don't get me wrong, I like my fancy new title of professor, I just dislike the idea that I am expected to research about people, not with them, so it was great to spend the day with like minded folks and actually get some things going.

The rest of my day was spent on the computer and phone with my sister. We are putting out a conference proposal that is due tomorrow. My sister is a PhD grad student whose work focuses on post colonial literature, which if you don't know what that is you are probably in the majority. Basically she reads a lot of books about the Caribbean. I work with adult education students, many of which are immigrants/refugees or minority students, both of which have spent a lot of time not seeing themselves or their culture valued or represented in school. I work on helping people improve their literacy skills, so working with texts that meet the needs of the students is primary. So like my sister almost no one ever knows what I am talking about in professional circles. We got to chatting (or we were venting about work) and discovered some similar themes and decided if two people from such different fields are looking at these issues, maybe there is some merit to our collaborating. Also, we are looking to get work to pay for us to go on vacation together, since our work schedules limit the amount of time we get to spend together we figure its just easier to combine sister time and work rather then wait for free time.

So at the end of the day I can feel good that sticking to my guns all these years was the right thing to do. I am actually going to get to do the work that I dreamed up as a wide eyed undergraduate, and how many people can say that their conversations in coffee shops came to fruition? And getting to develop this new side of my relationship with my sister is such a gift. She also remided me that its great to have a job where we can go to work in jeans.

So today was a good day. I can do this.