School Days

In May 2004, with a Master of Arts in American Studies under my belt, I swore I would never go to school again. No more 1000 pages/week assignments, no more 20-30 page papers, no more tuition, no more crying over cultural theory! Five years later, here I am, on my first day back to school. Let me clarify, I haven't technically decided to commit wholeheartedly to go back to school and earn another graduate degree. I'm just testing the water with a 4-week summer course, Intro to Urban Planning.

I thought it appropriate for Jesse to document this day, just like my Mom documented every single first day of school during my childhood. I'm pretty sure I was never this excited about starting up a class though. My first day went well and I think I'm going to like this urban planning stuff. There's already a lot that I already know, like process and evaluation, and making a million alternatives to study and ponder (that will likely never come to fruition). This time around, instead of just evaluating historic buildings, I can think about things like transportation and the environment, or affordable housing and historic buildings.

I knew I was in for a completely new experience when the syllabus indicated that we only have to read about 40 pages a night and our only writing assignment consists of three two-page "memos" on an urban plan of our choice -- naturally I'm going to select Portland. Apparently in the "real world" urban planners have little time to read dissertations, so our written assignments have to be clear and concise. I love it!* I've already pegged the token ass-head in class, but I think I can ignore him for the most part. I don't think you could call it school without one of those people.

*Downside? I think I might miss the footnotes a little.