First podcast and my future...

SO, I finally started graduate school. I had always planned on going back sometime, I just wasn't sure where or for what. Well, Mass Communications finally offered a course that I was really interested in, a Video and New Media course. Basically, it is a class including a lot about video production. It was because of this course that I finally started to go back, and since I was working full time at Tech and get a free class each semester, I figured I would just stay at Tech.

Unfortunately, in a sense, I will be leaving my job in Mass Communications. Basically I am being forced out of my position because they (the dean and other faculty) want to do more with my position. They want it to be more involved with the newscast that is supposed to go on each day and to teach a course. Well, I have no experience with news or news production, which is something they want, and I cannot teach a course because I do not have the required experience or degree. I COULD teach a course; I have essentially taught the photo studio class the last two semesters; but because I do not have a Master's Degree Mass Communications will not let me teach.

They (the dean of the college of Mass Communications) say they can offer me a graduate assistant (GA) position starting in Fall, however I would have to be a Mass Communications Master student.

Let me explain: I always knew that if I went back to school that I wanted to learn new skills and improve on the ones I have. While getting a Masters in something like Mass Communications will help me with this, I will not learn much. Most of it will be research based and I would not learn many new skills.

I am looking at the Interdisciplinary Studies program. This will allow me to take more creative/production courses like photography courses, design courses and video production courses. Also, I do not have to do research.

So basically, I have a meeting tomorrow, Thursday, with the Dean and Associate Dean of the College of Mass Communications. It is here that I will turn in my letter of resignation effective after Summer II.

I know if I stayed, and they have made this clear because I am under qualified for what they want, I would eventually get fired.

I thought about lying and doing the graduate assistant position until they found out I wasn’t in the Mass Communications Master Program. But then I realized now is my chance to leave. I have not been happy here for a long time and have wanted to leave for quite some time just never had the money. Well, I still don’t have the money but the time is right. With the GA position they cannot guarantee what I will be doing each semester and they cannot guarantee summer work.

I do not know what I will do after that. I would like to at least finish my Masters at Tech especially since I know so many people here and I am also working on a side photography business, Triad Photography, with two other people here and things are really starting to pick up.

Will finally escape the Bible Belt? Maybe it is time.



Also, I finished my first video podcast I did for my graduate class. It isn’t that great, but this is the "finished" product. I recorded the audio too low and even with pushing it all the way up in editing, it is still very low. Also, there are a lot of jump cuts at the end that I just now learned how to fix. It was a learning experience and I am looking forward to doing my next one. I hope you enjoy it...