February 4th, 2010
When one of your teachers looks at you and says “I would not want to be doing this course at our age,” you do wonder about yourself.
The course was brutal for someone who hadn’t been in college since before most of my classmates were born. But I made it. I was dissuaded from tackling the project that actually interested me and, after a facetious brainstorming session with a few of my classmates, I proposed the subject matter for my Major Project.
I did my project on Facebook. My existing Facebook addiction was fed as I first tried “making Facebook into a real book.” I did projects that included a visual comparison of photos of my Facebook friends and then a completely visual layering of the photos. I completed a volume of research on social networking including marketing and communications. My Major Project eventually became a visual mapping of my Facebook social network, produced in Flash. (Even though we were warned not to tackle any new software, I felt the need to try it—plus not one of the tutors knows Flash and almost all are younger than me.
Since completing the course, I have felt that I survived an ordeal, rather than achieved an advanced degree.
On our short celebratory trip to Paris the day after our marks were posted, I was stretched out in a hotel room with 2 classmates, and said “Now that I know what I want to do for my project, I’m ready to start over.”
Now I sit in my tiny cottage applying for jobs, doing a bit of freelance work, and pondering what I want to do next.
What does a woman who has been a graphic designer for eons; who has read continuously; understands marketing, PR, advertising and how it all works together; has read and kept up with news in a wide range of fields; yet, is “overqualified” for jobs in her field do? Even with a Masters in Facebook?
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