This violates my rule of keeping intimately personal matters out of here, but I trust that you'll be able to deal with it.

I hate academia. I hate higher education with a passion. I am not talking about the experience and classes and that stuff; I would not trade my experience at Northwestern for anything... college is amazing and wonderful. I hate the higher education system -- the politics behind the education. I will not go into detail here, but suffice it to say that I have had more than enough of university administration and politics for one lifetime.

But then why do I hear the whispering? The tiny little voice too quiet to identify but loud enough to understand. Why is the little voice calling out to me and telling me to stick around? To jump back into the lions den, to go to the other side of the classroom?? Why???

Perhaps it is family--- both my grandfathers, my grandmother, my mother, my great uncle -- they all at one point in their lives were teachers, and I know I am leaving people out. Now that I think about it, most of my family have been either lawyers or teachers-- and a lot of them were both!

Maybe it is my frustration with the system itself. Perhaps I have gotten so frustrated with things that I want to change them to give others what I should have gotten. There is (in my opinion), across the educational world, a lack of education about one of the most powerful forms of media and one of the largest businesses in the world. No, contrary to what the fucks here believe, television is not going anywhere anytime soon. At the very worst it is changing somewhat, but it will still exist in as close to its current form as possible. And because it is not going anywhere, people need to know about it.

In higher education, teaching television is met with great reluctance. Why spend a lot of money on it if it is not going to be around in a few years? If you're going to have that attitude, stop teaching latin, it has been dead for years. But then why do they teach latin then? In my experience, Latin provides an excellent base for understanding many languages, including English. Similarly however, in my experience, television provides an excellent base for understanding the world, and there is little that can compare to its role as a source of information and education.

Maybe this is all just an affirmation of my loyalties to the television industry, but it all begins with education. I want to make sure people have the appropriate education and background in the theory and production of television, so that the industry can thrive and continue and improve upon its important role in society.

I had long been concerned about the lack difference I would make in this world if I went into television. I mean, what am I doing for my fellow man if I am working on a soap opera or something? One can only go so far with an explanation of the good that entertainment does for mankind... I think that the happiness that I would put into the little old lady that tunes in religiously every day to watch is admirable, but it is not enough and I know that I can do more. Teaching people what I learn on the set of that soap opera so that they may go on to make little old ladies happy, or go on to make documentaries that educate and inspire for PBS (the last bastian of truly well done and high quality television documentaries), or go on to different things where they would build upon what they learned about television --- that is where there is a difference to be made in this world, and I feel the need to bring television back to higher education for study and practice.

But there is much still I need to learn myself.