Hello! As of 11/08: I'm a non-traditional student who wanted to teach art, until No Child Left Behind dashed that dream.
My educational goals are still malleable; as I encounter new fields of study, I am tailoring much of it to my ultimate goal: a mobile art program that utilizes digital technology to bring the development of creative intelligence and critical thinking to schools which have lost the funding/freedom for this vital aspect of student development. Rather than going the route of getting a degree in secondary education, I have decided to pursue Publishing as a major, as grant writing will be a key skill for attaining backing. After getting a degree in Publishing (with a focus on New Media) I will apply to grad school, and if I am still sane enough, I will head in the direction of a Phd. The plan: gain the skills needed to teach at the collegiate level. It's complicated. Questions? Ask!
This will clear up some misconceptions about Epicurean philosophy which still persist today. He was *not* proposing rampant hedonism as a way to happiness.
Little did I know...I more or less began trying to live this philosophy in my teens in the early to mid 1980's; I grew up in a middle to upper middle class community, where the pursuit and ownership of things was a ridiculous focus and mark of status. In the 80's (at least in my perception) the American culture became further mired in a hollow pursuit of shallow, consumerist ideals. I shirked the lifestyle I could easily have fallen prey to, in favor of what I called "anti-materialism" (goods-ownership materialism, that is)measuring quality of life instead by the same simple values purposed by Epicurus.
Dec 20, 2007 10:52am