The Time is Now

The only reason I moved here was to reach this point. I had no way of knowing that I would have gotten so much more than a master's degree.

There is a part of me that wants the next few hours to drag on. The friendships I've made mean very much to me, and the things I have learned from them and through them equal and even surpass in some ways the significance of the things I learned in the classroom.

We will keep in touch for sure, but the symbolic dismantling of the New School shelter will alter the relationships. There will be no papers for us to suffer through together, no classes to attend together. And no more smoke breaks.

When I got here, I was excited for what was to come. And I wasn't let down. Even the hard stuff was wonderful in a way.

So to those of you who have read this blog o' mine to keep tabs on my progress from back home, I thank you. I thank you for your support and kind words when you could tell I needed them. You know who you are. There are so many.

I have been comforted by the thought of you all rooting for me from the West Coast, knowing that I could call you for words of wisdom and encouragement. It's meant so much. And almost two years later, I am still the same person, but with so much more inside for having gone through this experience.

I don't know what else to say right now on this night before I graduate. Except to say I can't believe it. And then again, I can. I made it. Before I sign off on my last entry before the big day, I'm just going to remember for a minute the time I've been here.

This list is not so much for you all as it for me. So bear with me as I look back on what New School University has meant to me: writing, hegel, psychoanalysis, ralph waldo emerson, djarums, writing, buffalo wings, race, judith butler, sociology, writing, dance, gender, literature, jean amery, writing, modernity, bass ale, rejection, subways, sexuality, writing, depression, happiness, candlelight, friends, writing, the tea lounge, passion, therapy, butch, heartbreak, gayle rubin, confusion, political science, music, latin america, writing, deli sandwiches, loss, germany, tears, joy, pride, writing.

Thanks. This is it.