Who? Me? Take a standardized test? Thirty years ago when I gleefully left academe, I said, "Never again." Luckily, during those years, I learned never to say never. However, the prospect of revealing that I could be certifiably stupid if I didn't do well on the Graduate Record Exam set the stage for deep self examination.
Contrary to my fears, the GRE turned out amazingly soothing. "This is great," I said to myself, wide-eyed before the computer screen, mouse clicking away, "There are right answers, and there are wrong answers."
We mature types know that questions of the unanswerable kind are the only interesting ones. I had a few concerning the master's program for which I was about ready to plunk down 20 grand: For someone of my vintage, would the money going into this master's degree be better spent on a facelift? Or should I save a degree of face and get a mental lift? You'd think someone whose career has spanned flatbed presses to cyberspace by now would have a philosophical approach to the unanswerable.
Mine is to restate the question. Why NOT do it? There's always the possibility I may encounter useful information, I reasoned. You see, bouncing off glass ceilings after tasteless exhibitions of brilliance has never been my style. Weaseling my way into increased responsibility is.
I'll find new ways to do this, I promised myself, looking at the way I always indulge in communications subspecialties—it might as well be open house at Fauchon's. Journalism is strong stuff, like well-marbled roquefort. Special events is Sachertorte. Public relations is taffy. Writing is bread and butter. Marketing is insatiable. HTML formatting—now there's something you can get your teeth into! The internet? A moveable feast. I've developed a taste for all of them. Professionally I'm a blender. I study recipes (analyze). I shop (conceptualize), I assemble the ingredients (write). I mix (format). I serve (oversee production). Working on a master's might just be the leavening that will make me rise to new heights, I convinced myself.
At serious risk of overworking a metaphor, the decision to go for a master's degree is characterized as an appetite for knowledge. I'm always hungry.
Master's degree in Communications Management from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications was conveyed in 1997.
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