It’s Me!

 

 

My name is J.D. and I am a grad student at the University of Texas at Arlington in Modern Languages- Spanish.  I just started in Fall 2006 but this will be my second MA degree.  I am trying to also do a dual MA in the English department and teach as a grad assistant there but so far they haven’t let me in.  jajaja……serious………..something about presenting a 10 page research paper.  Man, I knew I should have written more about sociocultural theory last semester for Dr. Rings! 

 

I live on campus in the apartments but I work for the Dallas ISD (long story and fun fun the commute I go!  I love Interstate 30 gridlock……is there a reason “night” classes begin at 5 in the Modern Lang department and not later for those of us who work until 4 or 430 in the Metroplex?? oh, well).  I recently moved to the DFW area after living and working 6 years in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (think La Paz and the Altiplano, then forget everything that comes to mind, and you are closer to what Santa Cruz really is puejjjj). I taught 7th, 8th, and 9th grade English at the Santa Cruz Cooperative School and worked as a missionary with the local Awana ministry there.  I can’t begin to explain how those 6 years changed my life in so many ways. 

Before Bolivia and apart from a couple of summer study abroad programs in Madrid, Spain in the 90′s, I had pretty much stayed where I was born and raised in the hills of West Virginia (no, I am not from WESTERN Virginia, and yes, we have indoor plumbing and even wear shoes! Even though I am not a country music fan, John Denver’s ”Take me home, country roads” song still brings out the West Virginia boy in me).   I am proud to have received my undergraduate degree at Marshall University in English and Spanish Secondary Education and my first MA in Curriculum and Instruction. 

 

I am even more proud to now wear all my “We Are… Marshall” clothing that I got for Christmas.  If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend you see it.  No matter what any movie critic will say about the acting, the over-cliched football scenes, or the too-predictable ending, that event really happened and it impacted the lives of not only my town in 1970 but forever changed my city and my university.  This was not Hollywood’s make-believe story line. Real lives were lost and a university and town were left devastated.  However, every year when the fountain outside our Memorial Student Center is turned off and we gather to remember that horrible night and pay our respects, we are reminded of our strength and our courage to go on no matter what…..”from ashes to glory.”  I am a strong supporter of UTA both academically and in attending athletic events.  However, I will always bleed green and call Marshall my home.

 

After completing my MA’s (in hopefully English and Spanish!) here at UTA, I hope to either begin a doctoral program at UT in Austin in Spanish/Portuguese and specialize in gender/sexuality studies in Latin American contemporary literature or apply to the University of Indiana at Bloomington’s first ever in the nation Ph D in Gender Studies program.  That would be really cool because there are faculty in the program from the Kinsey Institute.  This field is so new and wide-open for research especially in relation to Latinos, machismo, cultural upbringing among Hispanic males, etc. and it thoroughly interests me.  Also,  depending on my job situation here in DFW, I may begin a doctoral program in K-16 Educational Policies and Studies at UTA in relation to gender/sexuality in testing and assessment.  Everything is still up in the air and hopefully in the next year more will become clearer to me. 

 

 I look forward to reviewing the major literary movements in Europe and LA in this class (since they were beat into my brain during my English major undergrad years) and learning to look at them in different ways now and to see them as not tight, neatly wrapped boxes of static information to be memorized and poured into my brain.  I also like the idea and look forward to hearing from all the different departmental professors and their “take” on their area of expertise throughout the semester.  Finally, I really appreciate being allowed to even be in this class since it was questionable if there would even be room for me in the class the week before classes were to begin. I owe you one Dr. Conway!