I did not set out to get a doctorate. I really
was just trying to get credentials to become a school administrator. As a
teacher, I loved the impact I had in my classroom, but slowly and steadily over
the years I found my reach growing beyond those four walls.
By the time I discovered my desire to move into
administration, I tried to find the quickest way to make it happen. Within
about a year or so, I was credentialed through an Educational Specialist degree
program (that included credits that could count toward a doctorate). I figured, ‘why not?’, and started working on
a doctorate. (Not sure what I was thinking).
Again, how did I get here?
You may have a similar story. Most of us likely
start out with a plan, but then end up somewhere else. Often, the somewhere
else is where we are supposed to be.
I was a
journalist, a teacher, and then an administrator.
As I
continue to become intimately acquainted with APA style, peer-reviewed
articles, educational leadership theories, academic writing, research design,
and the like, I still ask myself, how did I get here?
But then I realize I got here because this is
where I was always going. Somewhere along the way, I surrendered to the plan
that was already set before me. The plan I couldn’t have designed if I tried.
Only God could’ve thought this up.
No matter how you got to where you are,
recognize you are where you are supposed to be. Because this is where you were
always going.
I would love to hear how you got where you’re supposed to be. I hope you will share.
Peace and blessings.
— A former journalist currently working on her
doctorate in Social Emotional Learning, Vanessa is a dedicated and passionate
educator in the DC Public Schools system. She loves learning, innovation, team building,
collaboration, and discovering new ways to drive student gains and support
staff members.
Let me preface this by saying I don’t have time to write a blog. I am working on a doctorate degree and I have a fulltime job, so there really is no time for this kind of indulgence or distraction.
However, it occurs to me that I should capture this doctoral
experience (which I pray will be over soon), because I’m learning so much about
myself and I miss writing – non-academic writing that is. I am fully aware this
is probably a work avoidance technique, i.e. procrastination from doing the
writing I should be doing.
That said, there’s so much I can say about this doctoral
experience. But for my first post, I will share these:
EGO. One must have an ego to pursue a doctorate. There it is; I said it. Why else would I be doing this? Sure, I will make more money (possibly). But ultimately, underneath it all, there must be a raging egomaniac.
YOU WILL FEEL DUMBER BEFORE YOU FEEL SMARTER. Do you have any idea how unsmart I feel at various points when I’m reading, writing and researching? So again, you better have an ego because your ego will get bruised, stomped on and twisted.
IT’S A PROCESS. The thing about getting a doctorate is that it’s all process. Cliché I know. But there are no shortcuts or workarounds. I’ve tried to find them. They don’t exist. You just have to go through the process: research, write, submit, feedback, and repeat. The order might vary a bit and there are other steps in between, but you’re basically in that insane loop.
YOU ARE LEARNING. Only over the past few years have I accepted my nerdism. I don’t think I look like a nerd and I never identified myself as one, but I fully embrace it now. I like this kind of learning. The kind that gets into theories and concepts and why people behave the way they do. You actually are learning as you go through the doctoral research process. With each article, abstract, essay, study or book that’s read, you learn a little bit more. And for me that’s what’s exciting. Even though I want to be done, I am learning so much. And it’s weirdly fun.
Next time we can talk about how I fell into this doctoral
journey. It wasn’t planned.
Life was awesome for football as the late 1990s rolled into the early 2000s.
It remained king among America’s spectator sports, enjoying fanatical followers across the pro, college, and high school levels. Broadcast rights for the NFL and NCAA football far outpaced those of other leagues and college sports. NFL telecasts routinely represented roughly one-quarter of the 100 most-watched TV shows each year. The increase in fantasy leagues and NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers helped the sport tighten its grip on popular culture.
But 20 years ago, the turn of the century arrived with flashing lights and warning bells, too.
The news cycle brimmed with stories linking football and concussions. Researchers in 2000 began suggesting that concussions may lead to neurological problems, and Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Troy Aikman cited those concerns when he retired in 2001.
Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2002 examined the brain of deceased Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who had suffered from mental problems, and discovered the first evidence of a brain disease — Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy — that was never previously identified in football players.
Faced with an increase in negative commentary aimed at the sport, and worried about the long-term effect on the preps-to-pros pipeline, the NFL and NFL Players Association in 2002 founded USA Football, a nonprofit organization, to function as the national governing body for amateur football. But more scientific studies linking football to brain damage were published over the next decade, which also saw a class-action lawsuit filed in 2011 and several high-profile suicides by former NFL players in 2012.
When it comes to metaphors about the USA’s multi-hued swirl — with some folks living the American dream, others trying to awake from a national nightmare — the “melting pot” approach doesn’t appeal to me.
I’m partial to the “salad bowl” model.
Instead of dumping ingredients in a blender or boiling them into a homogeneous sauce — eliminating their distinguishable tastes — I like lettuce to be lettuce and onions to be onions. I like the distinct difference between croutons and cucumbers, carrots and cheese.
The bowl is what unites them, along with the red-white-and-blue dressing. They retain their individual characteristics, yet combine to form one unique taste, without hot stoves or food processors.
Here we go again. Prepare for another round of NFL players taking a knee, Donald Trump giving them the finger, owners grimacing in their suites, and commissioner Roger Goodell serving as a punching bag.
Suddenly, the 2020 season is poised to resemble the 2016 season, when Colin Kaepernick and his “Perilous Fight” landed on the cover of Time magazine and Trump later hammered the league, offering advice to owners when players kneel during the national anthem: “Say ‘get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired.”
Kaepernick and other players were peacefully protesting police brutality, but critics said it disrespected the flag and the country. The national anthem became a national obsession. Before then, it was such a big deal that networks neglected to air it; they ran commercials instead, making a point of making a profit.
“You have to stand proudly for the national anthem, or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.” — Donald Trump
“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for that reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” — James Baldwin
Some of my fellow Americans have it twisted. They think pointing out the nation’s ills and demanding better is akin to hating America. They rudely invite dissenters to depart if the good ol’ U.S. of A. isn’t good enough.
It’s an age-old attitude that resurged during the Vietnam War era and was emphasized in a 1970 song by country singer Ernest Tubb.
The international agents who collect paychecks for stoking tensions along America’s color line should be worried. The boss could soon deem them superfluous, leading to reduced salaries, furloughs or outright pink slips.
That would be my thinking from afar while contemplating events in the United States: Why am I paying comrades to stir discord when folks like Derek Chauvin, the McMichaels, and three Louisville officers are doing such exemplary work?
Chauvin, the former Minneapolis cop who killed George Floyd on a Monday, was arrested by that Friday, leading the state‘s Department of Public Safety commissioner to note, “this is by far the fastest that we’ve ever charged a police officer.” Earlier that week, the Associated Press said Chauvin had been targeted with false claims on social media that tied him to “political agendas and racist ideologies.”
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Change is afoot for the Washington Redskins, who have parted ways with president
Bruce Allen, 12 weeks after doing likewise with coach Jay Gruden. The next wave
of NFL leaders in coaches’ offices and front offices is about to spin on the carousel.
Chronicling the comings and goings is essential in my chosen profession.
But all too often lately, discussing our
own “goings” has become a thing in this business.
Today marks that time for yours truly.
While the #FireBruceAllen and #FireErnieGrunfeld advocates were louder,
larger in number, and suffered far longer, a few local sports fans openly disapproved
of my employment as a Washington Times sports columnist. They’ll be happy to
know that belt-tightening at the newspaper has ended my run, effective 2020.
(Frankly, I think Allen and Grunfeld were far more offensive in their performances
with the ‘Skins and Washington Wizards. At least I won first- and third-place
awards from the Virginia Press Association since joining the Times. Bruce &
Ernie didn’t win squat during my tenure!)
The D.C. landscape today looks a lot different compared to 2011, when
former sports editor Mike Harris offered me a column in the newly revived section.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
A picture can be worth a thousand words.
But five sentences 50 years ago have been worth billions of dollars.
About $325 million of that windfall went to pitcher Gerrit Cole this
month for signing with the New York Yankees. Another $490 million, combined, went
to pitcher Stephen Strasburg and third baseman Anthony Rendon, the former for
staying in Washington and the latter for relocating to Los Angeles.
And that’s just counting the biggest deals since the World Series ended.
Earlier this year, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado raked a combined $630 million
for signing with Philadelphia and San Diego, respectively.
Players undeniably have earned a staggering amount since 1976, when Andy
Messersmith agreed to baseball’s first free-agent contract (three years for $1
million). All of that loot sprouted from outfielder Curt Flood’s short letter to
MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn on Christmas Eve 1969.
“Dear Mr. Kuhn: After twelve years in the Major Leagues, I do not feel
that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes.
I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights
as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the
several States.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
On Thanksgiving, actress Gabrielle Union shared a family photo with a message of “praise, gratitude and thankfulness” to her 14.6 million Instagram followers. The picture featured Union and her husband, former NBA star Dwyane Wade, along with two of their children.
What should’ve been a sweet and simple post was neither for Internet
critics disturbed by Wade’s 12-year-old son, Zion, who appeared to sport long
white fingernails and wear a crop top.
“I’ve seen some post-Thanksgiving hate on social about my family photo,”
Wade tweeted to is 8.4 million followers. “Stupidity is part of this world we
live in – so I get it.”
Wade, a three-time NBA titlist, is a lock for enshrinement in the Basketball
Hall of Fame one day. But for now, he’s another kind of champion in a different
arena, proving a blueprint for athletes, leagues, fans and everyone else in responding
to LGBTQ issues.
Judging from the outside, Zion and another of Wade’s sons – Zaire – are polar
opposites. The latter plays with one of LeBron James’s sons on a nationally
ranked high school basketball team. But Zion has never exhibited what’s considered
typical male behavior.
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