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So, I'm thinking about going back to school and getting another degree. I thought for a while about maybe doing law school (or, if I wanted to just skip all that, just get paralegal training) but I think I'd rather do something else. (Ideally, I'd like to finish my music degree, but I know that's never going to happen so long as I have tiny, deformed hands and can't play piano.) I think it would also do me good to get a few more English classes under my belt, particularly some work in fiction writing, so I can polish up the work I'm doing there.
However, I think in terms of a degree, I think I want to focus in a social science area (that overall subject being such a pet of mine), but I can't quite decide which area. I minored in Psych the first time around, so I could probably finish a degree in that pretty quickly, but I've discovered a bit more of a jones for bigger-picture stuff lately. It seems, maybe my strongest area of interest is Cultural Anthropology. However, I've noticed most of the programs I've seen for that focus on non-Western cultures. I'm rather more fascinated by the idea of studying Western subcultures, and I'm a little wary about Anthro being perhaps uncomfortably Euro-centric, in that they might be focusing on "exotic" cultures, as if Western culture were somehow the "normal" thing, and everything else was some strange creature to be studied in a petrie dish.
Sociology, perhaps, could be a better alternative. I might be able to find a women's studies program somewhere, too, although if I'm going to do that, I'd rather find a school that has a gender studies concentration, which covers feminism and glbt issues, etc., rather than just women's issues. Or maybe I can find an interdisciplinary Social Science degree somewhere. That might be cool.
In any case, I need to be sure to find a school that's somewhere nearby. If I have to, I don't mind living elsewhere for a few days a week while I'm in classes, but I'd like it to be no more than a couple of hours away from Seattle, so Mike and I can still see each other. Doing a portion of it through distance learning would be good, too-- get some of the simple stuff out of the way quickly that way, instead of having to sit in a classroom every week listening to someone drone on, when I've already read the entire textbook (can you tell I never meshed well in a traditional school environment? :) ) I also need a school that's friendly to older students. I don't want to be stuck in a class full of 20 year olds all wondering what the hell Gramma is doing there.
Anyone have any ideas?
However, I think in terms of a degree, I think I want to focus in a social science area (that overall subject being such a pet of mine), but I can't quite decide which area. I minored in Psych the first time around, so I could probably finish a degree in that pretty quickly, but I've discovered a bit more of a jones for bigger-picture stuff lately. It seems, maybe my strongest area of interest is Cultural Anthropology. However, I've noticed most of the programs I've seen for that focus on non-Western cultures. I'm rather more fascinated by the idea of studying Western subcultures, and I'm a little wary about Anthro being perhaps uncomfortably Euro-centric, in that they might be focusing on "exotic" cultures, as if Western culture were somehow the "normal" thing, and everything else was some strange creature to be studied in a petrie dish.
Sociology, perhaps, could be a better alternative. I might be able to find a women's studies program somewhere, too, although if I'm going to do that, I'd rather find a school that has a gender studies concentration, which covers feminism and glbt issues, etc., rather than just women's issues. Or maybe I can find an interdisciplinary Social Science degree somewhere. That might be cool.
In any case, I need to be sure to find a school that's somewhere nearby. If I have to, I don't mind living elsewhere for a few days a week while I'm in classes, but I'd like it to be no more than a couple of hours away from Seattle, so Mike and I can still see each other. Doing a portion of it through distance learning would be good, too-- get some of the simple stuff out of the way quickly that way, instead of having to sit in a classroom every week listening to someone drone on, when I've already read the entire textbook (can you tell I never meshed well in a traditional school environment? :) ) I also need a school that's friendly to older students. I don't want to be stuck in a class full of 20 year olds all wondering what the hell Gramma is doing there.
Anyone have any ideas?
