a former life part one: undergrad
I sometimes joke that I was a primatologist in a former life. It wasn't really a former life per say (no reincarnation was involved in this life). Instead, it was a journey I took that ended 7 years ago. A journey that brought me to Austin. It's a life I think about sometimes. A life I sometimes miss, but also a life filled with frustrations and a feeling of being an outsider.
I don't really talk much about it and in fact, some people are often surprised. "You have a master's degree?!?" they'll often ask incredulously. "In anthrpology?" They seem almost more surprised by the field of study.
As an undergraduate at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the fall of 1994, I started out thinking I wanted to study biology. The only problem was calculus - a required course I was barely eeking by in. The horrible instructor (he was truly seriously awful) and the 8 AM recitations Tuesday mornings did not help. (Monday night was the goth night at the local club.) It was a mess so I dropped the class and decided I would have to find another major.
I chose theatre. I was already taking a lot of theatre classes. Besides, I did loads of theatre in high school and loved it. In my second year, I snagged an awesome job as a technical assistant in the costume shop. By my third year, I was designing costumes for a main stage production!
But I needed to fulfill my science requirement so I took Intro to Physical Anthropology. I was immediately hooked. I signed up for more anthro courses and loved them. As my third year in college came to a close, a major shakeup happened in the theatre department and two professors that were my mentors were not given tenure (it was all pretty political).
I changed my major to anthropology and left the costume shop for a new job in the IT department doing admin type stuff (creating people's email accounts, fixing issues with email accounts and helping faculty and staff with their internet connections which consisted of dial-up at the time). It was a job that would give me a lot of the skills I needed for my later work at Apple (at the time it was just a part-time way to earn some cash).
The summer between my third year I took several summer school classes to catch up on all the classes I would need to graduate with an anthropology major. In my fourth year of college I was immersed in the anthropology department, even going so far as to pursue graduating with honors. I worked on an honors thesis with my favorite anthropology professor, Bert Covert. I really looked up to Bert and we got along really well. I started looking into grad school for anthropology. Unfortunately, I had some admissions issues. Nobody could figure out why someone with a mostly theatre background suddenly wanted to get a graduate degree in anthropology. My application was rejected from every school I applied for.
After the news that I didn't make it into any of the programs I applied for, I was utterly devastated. Which was really silly because many of the programs I applied for took maybe one or two students. It was very competative. But there was nothing I wanted more than to prove myself in a graduate program. Unbeknownst to me, Bert and one of the other advisors on my honors thesis, Michelle Sauther went to Deborah Overdorff at the University of Texas and pleaded my case. Dr. Overdorff was impressed that two faculty felt that strongly about an undergraduate student and went ahead and found a place for me in the graduate program at UT. They weren't going to have any funding for me (unlike the other students). I'd have to go it alone in terms of my finances.
I graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder Magna Cum Laude in Anthropology in 1998. That summer Roger and I packed up and moved from Boulder, the only home I'd ever known, and headed to Austin, TX.
To be continued...
I don't really talk much about it and in fact, some people are often surprised. "You have a master's degree?!?" they'll often ask incredulously. "In anthrpology?" They seem almost more surprised by the field of study.
As an undergraduate at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the fall of 1994, I started out thinking I wanted to study biology. The only problem was calculus - a required course I was barely eeking by in. The horrible instructor (he was truly seriously awful) and the 8 AM recitations Tuesday mornings did not help. (Monday night was the goth night at the local club.) It was a mess so I dropped the class and decided I would have to find another major.
I chose theatre. I was already taking a lot of theatre classes. Besides, I did loads of theatre in high school and loved it. In my second year, I snagged an awesome job as a technical assistant in the costume shop. By my third year, I was designing costumes for a main stage production!
But I needed to fulfill my science requirement so I took Intro to Physical Anthropology. I was immediately hooked. I signed up for more anthro courses and loved them. As my third year in college came to a close, a major shakeup happened in the theatre department and two professors that were my mentors were not given tenure (it was all pretty political).
I changed my major to anthropology and left the costume shop for a new job in the IT department doing admin type stuff (creating people's email accounts, fixing issues with email accounts and helping faculty and staff with their internet connections which consisted of dial-up at the time). It was a job that would give me a lot of the skills I needed for my later work at Apple (at the time it was just a part-time way to earn some cash).
The summer between my third year I took several summer school classes to catch up on all the classes I would need to graduate with an anthropology major. In my fourth year of college I was immersed in the anthropology department, even going so far as to pursue graduating with honors. I worked on an honors thesis with my favorite anthropology professor, Bert Covert. I really looked up to Bert and we got along really well. I started looking into grad school for anthropology. Unfortunately, I had some admissions issues. Nobody could figure out why someone with a mostly theatre background suddenly wanted to get a graduate degree in anthropology. My application was rejected from every school I applied for.
After the news that I didn't make it into any of the programs I applied for, I was utterly devastated. Which was really silly because many of the programs I applied for took maybe one or two students. It was very competative. But there was nothing I wanted more than to prove myself in a graduate program. Unbeknownst to me, Bert and one of the other advisors on my honors thesis, Michelle Sauther went to Deborah Overdorff at the University of Texas and pleaded my case. Dr. Overdorff was impressed that two faculty felt that strongly about an undergraduate student and went ahead and found a place for me in the graduate program at UT. They weren't going to have any funding for me (unlike the other students). I'd have to go it alone in terms of my finances.
I graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder Magna Cum Laude in Anthropology in 1998. That summer Roger and I packed up and moved from Boulder, the only home I'd ever known, and headed to Austin, TX.
To be continued...