Last night was Matt’s graduation ceremony from Red River College. I went with his Mom, step-Dad, and Grandma. We watched as Matt, along with a few hundred (thousand? It seemed like it) other students went up to the podium to accept their parchment (how old fashioned! I wonder if they were inscribed with a quill and pot of ink?!). The speeches were short and sweet, and the atmosphere was cheerful – it was funny to hear the concentrated cheers from different areas of the gym as family members “whoo”ed for their graduates (even though we were supposed to hold our applause until the end). So now Matt has moved from a RRC student, to a RRC alumnus. Hooray for Matt!
The past two years have been crazy, and I honestly think it was for the best that we were in different cities for the first year of both of our programs. Given the incredible amount of time Matt had to devote to school over the past two years (on top of working TWO jobs), I likely wouldn’t have seen him anyway. He told me that a number of relationships ended because of the workload of the CreComm program. I’d like to say my first year was just as difficult, but in comparison to Matt’s, it wasn’t. I mean, the work I produced was some of the best I’ve produced in my academic career, and the concepts, theories, and projects I dealt with were definitely the most challenging I’ve ever faced, however I wasn’t bombarded with assignment after assignment like Matt was – some due only hours after they were assigned. I like the long, slow decline into heavy workload hell, rather than the shotgun blast of assignments that Matt had to deal with. I’m not sure I would have come out of that program as relatively unscathed as Matt – I actually applied to CreComm after doing a few years at the U of Winnipeg, but didn’t make it past the entrance test. Moral of the story: I’m incredibly proud of him for making it through the past two years and staying in such high spirits the whole time, as I appreciate how difficult that program was and how much work he had to do to make it through. I certainly would have blown all kinds of gaskets: Matt’s “stressed” or “angry” is my “relatively content.” He’s a trooper, indeed.
It’s interesting, too, how we both ended up in the same line of post-secondary studies: communications. That said, we have taken very different approaches, Matt learning hands-on, practical aspects of media, communications, and advertising, and myself leaning more towards the ‘think-y’ realm of media studies. Matt can navigate Photoshop like a pro, create marketing campaigns, and write press releases, and I can…use Bourdieu to analyze the tattooing practices of young women? Both useful, I suppose, although I’m often envious of Matt’s wide range of knowledge concerning all things practical.
Now, Matt, go and get a high-paying advertising job so you can support me as I write my thesis, okay? All this theorizing isn’t really making me much money.
