life plans?

a delayed post, but a post.

December 9, 2009
where: plane to ATX
time: 6:01 pm

Coming through security at the Pitt Airport, my status as a student was questioned along with my life plan. Undergrad to grad to Phd.
"So what are you studying? What do you want to do?"
“I have to get a doctorate becuase I want to write books.”
“There are lots of people who wrote books without a degree.”
This statement at first annoyed me and made me pity the man who said it. Then I turned inward. I am going to go to school to get my doctorate and expect to achieve a certain level of credibility because of my status as a Doctor. However, the world at large, especially older people, does not set as much stock in having a degree as those of us in the midst of academia. My goal should no longer be to get a doctorate so that people will read the works I write because the by-line reads “Dr. Maria Cecilia Rocha” rather I should get my doctorate so that I can know enough to write things that people will read and benefit from with or without the title of “Dr.” in the by-line.