In April of 2023, I applied to graduate school. I had been looking for a while to continue my education, but I was having difficulty finding a program that best fit my research and art. I applied to master's of fine arts programs and was turned away because I was looking for more than being taught about how to be an artist. I was turned away from many master's of arts programs because I didn't want to teach. So, I found myself looking into more liberal degrees, which is how I found the degree I'm pursuing now. I was accepted into an MA in Liberal Studies degree program. See what I did there?
Most of the time, people ask me what I am using this degree for. It was pretty apparent with my bachelor's degree that I wanted to be a photographer. Since liberal studies is so much more broad in the areas of study it covers, I wanted to tell you about what I'm doing with this degree.
What my desk usually looks like when I'm doing schoolwork. It's an organized mess.
I am combining photography and writing with studying grief as a culture in young adults. Another way of saying that is I'm studying documentary photography and humanities. My dad died in August of 2019. About a year and a half later, I wrote my Capstone for my bachelor's thesis about grief in young adults and the societal expectations placed upon them about how grief "looks", and displayed the images of people I had interviewed and documented in my senior thesis exhibition. I knew then that I wanted to continue my research and education with grief and photography, but I didn't know how to go about it. Just before I graduated with my bachelor's degree, my mom brought up the idea of making a photography book about it. Alongside my love for photography is my love for reading and writing. So, I set out to make that my plan.
Unfortunately, I hit a wall soon after graduating. I was burnt out to a crisp from college and I was working hard on opening an artisan shop with my mom (which we still have, we're doing some re-configuring). Almost immediately after we opened, I got COVID and it sent my already existing health issues into a spiral. I spent most of 2023 not working on photography, being sick, and doing a plethora of medical tests which led to my diagnosis of PCOS. After being backtracked by two years from everything I had experienced, I needed some help getting back on the horse. So, I applied to the graduate program I'm in in May of 2023. And thank the universe I did.
May 11th, 2022: Well, this sucks.
I not only knew that being in grad school would help me get back on my feet with my work, but it's also helping with many other aspects of my life. I love learning, so it's feeding that part of me. My creativity is thriving and my motivation is so much better. I'm working toward my dream career that I get to build myself. I'm working with a lot of great professors and classmates. I'm much more confident in my abilities and skills. I'm overall happier. We'll talk about student loans later, let's just be happy right now.
So, why am I in grad school? Because I knew that it was what I needed. Is it hard? Yes. Is it time-consuming? Yes, but you can get better at time management as you go. Is it expensive? I said we didn't need to talk about that right now. Is it something I recommend for everyone? No way. Just because I'm enjoying doesn't mean everyone else will.
Do I love it? I know it's still early, but yeah, I really do. Now I'm going to go read Kubler-Ross for one of my classes until my head spins.
Warm and fuzzy regards,
Kes