Skip to main content

B.A. Degree in English: The Timeless Pursuit of Fulfillment

Watch this before you read today’s blog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4GwrEuULwY
Pause. Deep breath. Commend yourself for your (insert degree).
Now you’re ready to read.

I’ve never been the kind of guy to plan out my entire life. In fact, though I am organized and a little OCD about my living quarters, my future has never been something that I’ve bothered to give much though to…so I got a B.A. degree in English. Why? Well, because it’s what I enjoy: I love to read and I love to write. Isn’t that what life is about? Finding that something you love and exploiting it for all its worth?

People used to ask me—they don’t now because the only organism I mingle with, besides a iguana that runs around in the halls, is my wife –“What are you going to do with that degree?” Then they’d smirk and drum their fingers on the table, thinking Checkmate! I always cringed at this question, because I didn’t know—I still don’t know—but I always had an answer: non-traditional teaching licensure…graduate school…newspaper…blah, blah, blah. (Secretly, and only inside—like typing this sentence in parentheses and hoping everyone will skip over it—I told myself: Write. Write for a living. Shakespeare. Hemingway. Heck, Mike McKinney.

Maybe I finished my B.A. in English because I subscribed to people like my parents, cousins, and friends, who always told me, “Well, just get a degree. That’s all that matters. Most people don’t even care what your degree is just as long as you’ve got one.” (I’m not nearly as bitter as that reads, family.)

Sounded good to me then; makes me want to throw things now. That’s like telling a kid who wants to play professional basketball, “Just go to college and play sports. That’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter if it’s intramural football, golf, croquet, hockey—just play.” Obviously, it’s worked before, just look at Antonio Gates (except it’s easy to do nothing and randomly pick up football than basketball when you’re 6’7’’ and can run), but it’s not the ideal plan.
If the rest of the blog doesn’t flow now, it’s because I stopped to read a few pieces on ESPN.com…trying not to write anything too irrational. Not that anyone reads this cra—wait. I just figured out why I got a B.A. in English.

(These are actual comments, from actual people, I should stress.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfceast/0-3-72/What-s-in-Mosley-s-Mailbag-.html)

“strause27” said:
i am not an eagles or a cowboys fan but i can say that cowboys choke every year...and well eagles look like they can keep up with dallas...now i think dallas will win they always have a good regular season...dallas will just go into the playoffs like every year being and nfc favorite and then screw up. Romo's mistakes have made me laugh every year and i am excited to see another

“got five rings” replied:
strause your an idiot a 5 year old is smarter than you and all you haters out there. im going to have to slow it down and rewind it for you so you can understand.this goes to all the haters to by the way. ROMO HAS STARTED TWO PLAYOFF GAMES ONLY OK, ONLY HAS ONE FULL YEAR AS QB. BE PAIENT ELWAY DIDNT WIN A SB UNTIL HE WAS OLDER THAN MY GRANDPA. TOOK P MANNING OVER HALF HIS CAREER TO WIN ONE. ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BE PATIENT ROMO WILL SHOW THE WORLD WITH HIS ONE FULL SEASON AT QB. NOW MCNABB HES NOT CUTTING IT SURE HES GOTTEN TO THE SB , NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. HES THE TRUE MR. CHOKER AND GAG ARTIST.HIS CAREER IS ALMOST OVER AND HASNT WON THE BIG GAME. JUST ANOTHER MARINO HOLD UP WAIT A MINUTE I CANNOT BELIEVE IM COMPARING THE TWO.LOL

I may not have a job, but I feel a lot better now.
Thanks, ESPN.com Comments.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I inclination not concur on it. I regard as precise post. Expressly the designation attracted me to study the unscathed story.
Anonymous said…
Genial brief and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you as your information.
Anonymous said…
Good post and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Gratefulness you for your information.
Anonymous said…
You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view
Anonymous said…
You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view
Anonymous said…
Understandably your article helped me truly much in my college assignment. Hats incorrect to you enter, wish look ahead for the duration of more cognate articles soon as its anecdote of my choice topic to read.

Popular posts from this blog

Guess Who's Back?

Not to get sentimental, but I was recently reminded of the joys of writing a blog. So, I logged into Dribbling Ink to see my past failed attempt at a blog. A number of things immediately struck me. My last post was dated Monday, December 1, 2008 , which was just a short video of the immediate celebration after the Miracle on Markham II. Seriously? I went an entire year without writing a single blog entry. Naturally, I asked myself what happened. The answer is simple. Life happened. I started blogging because I didn’t have anything better to do. I had just gotten married and moved to Arkadelphia, where I failed to find a job for a few months. Tell me a better way to waste your time than to write blogs that nobody reads? After Christmas I started graduate school at Henderson State University . During the fall, I began working as a graduate assistant in the HSU Writing Center . (I also spent a few torturous months as a substitute teacher.) Essentially, I didn’t have a reason to w...

Home, 257 Miles Away

Go ahead, ask: Where are these pictures from and why are they important? Easy. My parents' new house and...because they are of my parents' new house. OK, easy enough for me, but you're still wondering why they are important to you or, at least, why you should bother wasting your time looking at them. The only answer I have is because we are all products of environment, whether it's our house or our hometown. There are three things that have undoubtedly shaped me: family, Arkansas, and "home." The first is easy enough to understand. When I say Arkansas, I am specifically referring to Paragould, Arkansas, and more generally to the South. However, in this blog I'd like to talk about "home," in which case I am referring both to a physical dwelling and the environment I grew up in. The pictures featured below are taken from my parents' sixth new house, the first since I moved out a few years ago (of course, I only lived in the fifth house a few mo...

Conversations: An Optimistic Razorback Fan

Caption: Your optimistic dad cheering for the Razorbacks. No offense to baby Chase, but the magic is gone. Yep, it’s time for another classic Arkansas drought. As an avid sports fan, I understand that there will always be ups and downs no matter how good the team is you are rooting for. As much as my wife would hate to admit it, even the Kansas Jayhawks have lost a game this season—the funny thing about that loss is it’s the only Kansas game we made a point to watch all year. Luckily, Arkansas ’ losing streak is exactly what An Optimistic Razorback Fan wanted to talk about in this week’s installment of the Dribbling Ink Conversation Series. An Optimistic Razorback Fan: OK, since losing is a part of sports, I should be able to cope with the Razorbacks’ newest losing streak. Right? You win some, you lose some? Plus, we still have a chance of finishing .500 and going to the NIT. Jacob Cooper: Wrong. Let’s look at Kansas ’ loss to Tennessee earlier in the year. Since the Jayha...