On Saturday, I will be graduating UNLV with a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting; it's a big accomplishment, not to be taken lightly. I'm actually really proud of myself. There were days that I thought I would never get through it and nights were I would write myself to sleep.
Anyone who's gone through grad school can tell you it's no walk in the park. It's hard ass hell; it's been some of the toughest three years of my life. I remember in my first year one of the third year playwrights telling me that my first year would be the hardest and it actually wasn't. The hardest year has been this past one, but it's also been really rewarding.
When I receive my 'fake' diploma this Saturday (because most of us know that I won't receive the real diploma until June or July) I will look back on these last three years with found memory knowing that it was worth every tear, laughter, and sacrifice. I remember thinking the night before I moved to Vegas, "Am I doing the right thing?" Now I know that it was, I did do the right thing and I would do it all over again.
I was having lunch with my friend Sarah last Thursday and we were talking about how being in grad school has been like living in a sheltered bubble for the past three years. We knew exactly how each year was going to be laid out for us. We taught, for the most part, the same classes, and the classes that we took as students were always at the same time, nothing ever changed. I knew that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I would teach Gay Plays from 11:45 am to 12:30 pm, that has been my schedule for the past two years. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I love to have a set routine, I actually live for a set routine. But now that security blanket will be gone and it's a little frightening.
One of the main reasons that I went to grad school was because I didn't like the real world. I was unhappy with the job that I had when I graduated undergrad. I applied to grad school so I could go back to that sheltered life I call school. Am I ready for the real world now? Who knows? But every day millions of people go out there and they seem to be fine; I think I'll be all right. I have to grow up sometime; I can't hide in Neverland forever.
Mike and Oscar at UNLV Graduation (May 2008)
