So much to learn, so little time!

Every day I learn something new. And I'm darned glad I do. Often it's a word I didn't know. Sometimes it's a fact. I learn by listening to others and talking, but more often than not, I learn by reading.

Today I've been immersed in the new book by Elaine Showalter, A Jury of Her Peers. It is a survey of the American authors of the female persuasion who, I'm sure you will not be surprised to learn, have not been given equal time in the literary spotlight among their male counterparts.

Anne Bradstreet, the Puritan poetess, was the first woman in the Americas to be a published author. And in the testimonials the various men in her life, including Increase Mather, made certain that readers knew she had not shirked her wifely or womanly duties in order to create the poems.

Yesterday I was prompted to investigate the authorship of "Vampyre". It turned out Polidori is the author and I'd never heard of him. He'd participated in the legendary Byron "write-off" that included, among others, Mary Shelley and her grotesque literary progeny, Frankenstein.

I read a friend's WWII blog and was prompted to begin my own historical WWII blog, leading me to read several bits on the Phoenix-like rise from the ashes of WWI of the Germany that evolved into the Nazi nightmare of the Third Reich.

There's no end to where I get my learning. Whether it be books or people, prompted by my own curiosity or a question posed by another - such as my friend at work who's granddaughter had a project due on King Arthur and King George, and about whom my friend knew nothing. Including the fact that there had been numerous King Georges, from the sublime to the ridiculous. So in my research on her behalf I learned a thing or three about the Georges I - VI.

It's so very simple. All one really needs is an insatiable curiousity and the time to indulge it.

And speaking of indulging ....

Knowledge is Power. Also, it's Fun

For many years I have wanted to be able to pursue a gradudate degree. My undergraduate education was "practical". I got a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Psychology. No job was forthcoming (as a baby boomer wallowing in the Kennedy demand that we "ask what we can do for our country", I was just one of millions who did just that, and there were no teaching positions to be had upon my college graduation). I pursued other educational experiences. Some on the job, some not. I became an actress who inundated herself with the "academic" side of the pursuit. Reading every play I could find, studying theatre history, biographies of performers and writing my own plays.

Then the acting gig came to an end and I found myself enamored instead of writing. Any creative port in a storm, right? But I loved books, reading, literature. I'd never studied English or creative writing and found myself at the back of the literary bus trying to play catch-up.

Theory, writing structure, theme, conflict, point of view, etc. I didn't have a clue so started studying that, too. All sorts of tomes and guides to instruct me.

And once I had a better handle on that, I started taking some classes at the New School. Fun things. Expensive fun things. Too expensive, in fact, to continue. But at one point I examined the possibility of an MFA from the New School. Color me crushed and disheartened, however, when I found that a class of 4 credits, while $500 for a non-matriculated student, charged $700 per CREDIT for a matriculated student. So that same class would be $2,800. Way, way, WAY, out of my price league.

So I discovered that there would be no MFA in this lifetime for me. No advanced degrees. No fun gowns or new diploma on the wall.

But you know what else I discovered? That I can do it all myself.