Cafe Hitch-hike

2004-05-07

Rites of Passage

I am now inducted in the librarian honor society, Betta Nu! I thought no big thing of it (while Narami congratulated me, thanks! It made me think: "oh yeah, this IS a good thing! Like, duhhh!"). We had our ceremony yesterday, and it unexpectedly made me just as nervous and excited as my graduations of previous, my-oh-my! I had butterflies in my legs and tummy!

I knew that I would see all my favorite peeps from my graduate program, including classmates and the professors. However, when I walked into the auditorium, and saw individuals, not just the collective mass of new librarians.

"Oh, hey! There's Tony! There's Angie! Ellen! Cheryline! We had reference-business resources-cataloging together! Ah-hahah, and I used to hide behind that guy in the business class, and that prof. made us do 1 1/2 hour long presentations, and that's the professor with the smooth-jazz radio announcer voice,and, and--"

I was so glad to see everybody! All the professors and the deans were on the auditorium stage and I was going through similiar thoughts of them, too. Johnny was with me and I wanted to share my experiences with these folks, I wanted him to see the kind of people I got so see a lot of.

The ceremony felt long because they spent the first 40 minutes announcing a bunch of scholarships and their winners before they got to the inductees. Finally, the list of names were ceremoniously announced, and inductees were to leave their seats and go to the front of the auditorium.

"Hitch-hike," my (screen) name was called. I promptly rose and quickly, yet calmly, walked to the front.

The deans and some professors told us that as new inductees, we were chosen for our potential to not only contribute to the profession, but to also protect and defend access to information. Yes, we are to defend libraries and their role as free, unhindered sources of information to the public. As Thomas Jefferson said, it is an informed public that is able to effectively participate in a democracy, and while an uninformed one is key to dictatorship (or something like that).

We were recognized and the audience applauded. It felt so invigorating to be with my favorite classmates and my professors, and to be awarded this. It filled me up, and I thought to myself, "this is the type of graduation I was hoping to have."

I did not attend the university's graduation ceremony. My god, what a mess! It's a bunch of people crammed in the Cobo Hall; ALL of the university's schools and colleges have one ceremony smacked together and graduates aren't even individually recognized. Forget that!

Afterwards, John and I went to Andiamo's of Dearborn, a classy Italian restaurant. The food was sooooo good, and to top it off, I enjoyed my favorite dessert of all time, creme brulle.

I'm SOOO glad to have been able to have this ceremony instead. It was very moving. I truly felt like I had my rite of passage and that people I love and cared for were there. I am now done with my graduate education and am now stepping into the professional realm. Whether or not I stay a librarian, the principles behind librarianship can easily be with me no matter what I do.

Whatever the case may be, and whether I stay in the profession, graduate was a very redeeming experience. I was able to move to a place, and get exactly what I came for. I liked my classmates and my professors were very supportive.

I have been so lucky, and yet my advisor said to me at the reception:

"You-- you made it happen. You-- you were able to bring this out."

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