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20 Years and Counting The Pleasures
I distinctly remember Beth, my neighbor at the time, and the assistant in the Humanities department, asking me the question: “Could you teach a public speaking class?” “Yes,” I said. “I was a mass communication major with a minor in speech communication.” It was the Thursday before Labor Day, and the course at the community college was scheduled to begin on Tuesday. In a matter of days, I read the textbook, outlined the goals of the course, and wrote my first syllabus on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland, my friends encouraging me as I scribbled in my spiral notebook and they helped me brainstorm ideas. On Tuesday night of…
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Ironic Twists & Turns of Fate
*** Looking back on my life thus far, I’m lucky: I’ve had it pretty good. You will hear very few complaints from me about the path my professional life has taken. As I spoke the other night to the graduating class at Baccalaureate, it was somewhat ironic that I was standing there giving a speech at all. While I’m a professor and have worked hard to be one, it wasn’t always the case. The fact of the matter is I didn’t really want to go to college. It’s true. My boyfriend at the time wasn’t planning on going to college, though he did end up taking some courses at the…