evidence of (academic) conversion

This week I start the last required class of my MPA program. It feels crazy that it's ending and even crazier that it ever began. I sort of stumbled on political science and public administration as a field of study - and it has turned out to be a delightful surprise. Studying literature as an undergrad fed my soul and increased my capacity to think critically about the world around me and my ability to articulate it all. (What more could anyone want from her college experience?!) At first, I didn't feel that way about my MPA classes; I felt a little . . . empty. Okay, maybe empty is too strong a word, but it certainly didn't fill me up like studying literature and language. Until, that is, I realized that it is literature and language with all the same compelling drama and import, it's just a specialized branch with more practical applications (at least according to the economic powers that be). I often wondered - at night, when I was huddled under the covers reading literature instead of, say, doing research for a paper - if I had made the wisest choice. But now I know.

Since spring semester finished in May I've been doing a bit of fun reading - both fiction and non-fiction of various stripes and colors. I even bought a policy analysis book for summer reading. F-U-N, right? A little beach reading, perhaps? Well, I started reading and loving it. When I went to class on yesterday, I found out that sections of my new book are required reading. And I loved my life.