{"id":277,"date":"2018-03-28T10:35:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/?p=277"},"modified":"2018-03-28T10:35:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:35:22","slug":"no-one-is-too-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/2018\/03\/28\/no-one-is-too-old\/","title":{"rendered":"No One is Too Old"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grad Blog By Angela Repke, MA in English Language & Literature Graduate Student<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Making the decision to spring into another grad degree as a stay-at-home-mother in my mid-thirties was a bit daunting. I resigned from teaching high school English to tackle the kids for a couple years, but I needed more. So, before entering the program, I wondered\u2026<\/p>\n

Is it too late? <\/em><\/p>\n

Are these new gray hairs a sign that I need to find a job I\u2019m already qualified for? <\/em><\/p>\n

Will I be able to find a composition job after I\u2019m done with the degree? <\/em><\/p>\n

These questions hovered over me until I finally chose to click \u201cenroll.\u201d<\/p>\n

I signed up for Scott Atkinson\u2019s Writing and Publishing class. Our task? Begin a novel. Not intimidating at all. I chose to start a memoir. I began writing. I let the words spill onto the pages. Scott\u2019s feedback was both careful and challenging\u2014just what I needed. I haven\u2019t stopped writing since.<\/p>\n

Since enrolling into the Graduate Program in English here at UM-Flint, I\u2019ve been published in various publications. And with thanks to Scott and Dr. Blumner, I continue to work on that memoir one year later.<\/p>\n

This grad program, yes, has helped my writing. But it\u2019s also given me much more. I\u2019m motivated to get back into the classroom as an English instructor, too. Both Dr. Roach and Dr. Blumner have given me tools to better excel in the teaching arena than I did before. I look forward to transferring what I\u2019ve learned into action.<\/p>\n

Anyone can learn to write. I believe that. And I\u2019m eager to help student\u2019s feel the same energy I feel when I type that first \u201cs#!%%& draft\u201d as American novelist, Anne Lamott calls it. Perfection is not what they should seek. Sometimes just seeking is good enough. Their words matter. They always will\u2014regardless of how \u201cs#!%%&\u201d they think they are.<\/p>\n

Enrolling into the English program here at UM-Flint has proven to be a decision that no one is too old to make\u2014regardless of the number of gray hairs on their head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grad Blog By Angela Repke, MA in English Language & Literature Graduate Student   Making the decision to spring into another grad degree as a stay-at-home-mother in my mid-thirties was a bit daunting. I resigned from teaching high school English to tackle the kids for a couple years, but I needed more. So, before entering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-graduate-school-general","category-literacy-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}