I am very fortunate to take a breath! I'm sitting in the middle of Red Square, the center of the University of Washington. I only get to do so because my first class was cancelled. I hope everything is alright.
At any rate, I believe it would be appropriate to take this "free" time to reflect on the near completion of my first year of doctoral studies. (Can you read the excitement in that last sentence? If not, I'm REALLY excited about it!!!) To say the least this first year has been way more than I expected in every positive way possible. I have been fortunate to be in the company of forward thinkers. That is not something you get to say very often, is it? I've been impressed and learned so much in each of the two courses I've taken for the past 3 quarters. It has only fueled my thirst for more knowledge, more wisdom. I really do feel like I am in the right place at the right time. I'm ready to move forward and explore things that I've never even thought about. In fact, that is exactly what I said to Nate Panelo, recent Ethnic Student Center graduate who came up to tell me he's going to graduate school in Vermont, "I'm so glad to be studying things that I never knew people even thought about. I mean, they thought about that? And now, I'm like... I'm really glad they thought about that. Now I'm thinking about it. Now you'll be thinking about it."
Well, the year went by quickly. I didn't even get a chance to talk about meeting Cornel West (who my son knows as "The guy from Matrix II & III." Nor did I get a chance to talk about meeting His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. That will be another day, hopefully soon. My short term plans are to take summer classes and bring the family to Hawaii! Yes, THAT Hawaii! It will be nice, not so much because we'll be flossin' in warm weather, but because I learned so much more about love and family this year and my Dad's family is all there. It will be nice to apply what I learned while we're there.
