Grad School?
October 15, 2005 9:45 a.m.

And today I got really thinking I should go back. I mean, seriously thinking. get a masters in something that I can actually use. I love making art, but I love talking about it, and thinking about it, and writing about it. I love every aspect of art, from fine arts like painting and sculpture and print making, but I love film! and I love talking about art and film and all those things. I need to do something with my life where I can do all that!

And then I started thinking about going to IU. I had reasons for not wanting to go there for my undergrad, but those were primarily studio reasons. I don't think I want another studio degree.

what got me really thinking about it was seeing this guy I used to go to high school come into work. He went to IU got some kind of National Geographic degree (his words, not mine) from IU. He was planning to go to grad school in chicago but just took a job as an editor for a music magazine in San Deigo. Why can't that happen for me? I'm hard working and articulate. I have a good friend of mine living and working and doing well for himself in new york, why not me?

So I went over to the IU website and I started reading about some of the programs. here are 2 that jumped out at me.

ARTS ADMINISTRATION

For more than 30 years, the Indiana University Arts Administration Program has trained students to assume leadership positions in the nation's most prestigious arts institutions. The program has been committed to the development of leaders who are realists as well as idealists, forward-looking yet mindful of the past, and respectful of the needs of both art and business.

Broad-based in outlook and curriculum, the program strives to achieve a balance of artistic and management concerns, of theory and hands-on experience. Individual attention by full-time faculty who are arts professionals, linkages to the business world, access to top-ranked departments campuswide, and an excellent placement record are all hallmarks of the program, as are the rich cultural resources on campus and in the community.

COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

Students in the Department of Communication and Culture explore the cultural dimensions and implications of communication practices from oral and written language, to film, television, and digital media. With faculty clustered in three interconnected areas - rhetoric and public culture, performance and ethnographic studies, and media studies - the Department provides students with an innovative, interdisciplinary program that combines history and theory with critical practice. We offer students a wide variety of courses and a flexible and challenging curriculum designed to encourage students to engage the complex relations between communication and culture.

(More on this subject)

When your major is Communication and Culture, you learn the critical thinking skills central to a liberal arts education. This learning experience will open doors to a wide variety of careers, from business to government to the private sector and beyond. Students elect to complete a major or minor, or take courses in our department as electives, for some of the following reasons.

The CMCL curriculum offers insight into contemporary and historical American culture as well as the complex world outside the United States.

It is more important than ever to become an active, effective, and critical participant in contemporary democratic culture, and CMCL courses show you how and why.

Our courses emphasize clear, persuaseive writing; how to "read" and analyze the texts around us (everything from Viagra ads to "The Matrix"); and how to see the ties between larger social units - such as corporations and governments - and the workings of our everyday lives.

Within the diverse CMCL curriculum you can study fascinating issues and ideas, while gaining the strong, flexible thinking and learning skills valuable in any career.

(And FUCK I just read this)

Also, keep in mind the following when applying: The Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University is a professional humanities program. As such, we train students for academic work. If your ambitions lead you to careers outside of academia, our program is likely not the best one for you.

(I'm assuming that means teaching. Goddamnit! I also just remembered I have to do that goddamn GRE thing. mother fucker. I hate tests. I did horrible on the SAT, but I didn't really study)

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The second is the one that really jumps out a me. I'm fasinated by all those things!

Also, I started looking for days when I could do an honest to goodness campus visit and guess what I found on the Schedule.

Lilly Library: Comics as Cultural Mythology: The Michael E. Uslan Collection of Comic Books and Graphic Novels

And

The Kinsey Institute Gallery

Animals have inspired artists since the first cave painters set to work, and animal imagery is common in the erotic art of many cultures. Numerous examples are found in the paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and artifacts in The Kinsey Institute's renowned research collection. Real and mythological creatures are represented in this exhibition of objects and artwork spanning more than two thousand years of cultural history.

And

Mathers Museum of World Cultures: "The Allure of Clothing: Function, Fantasy, Fetish, Fashion"
A current exhibit at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures explores a variety of themes associated with clothing, modesty, sexuality, and fashion across time and cultures. "The Allure of Clothing: Function, Fantasy, Fetish, Fashion" was developed in collaboration with The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, and the Elizabeth Sage Historic Costume Collection. Some of the highlights of the exhibit include a display of shoes that examines fetishes--from animal prints, to sparkles, to seven-inch heels. Visitors also learn that underwear was developed in the Middle Ages, but women did not wear it until the 19th century, when they began to don drawers, a corset, and two petticoats under their dresses. Bathing suits through different eras, and "gender-bending" clothing are also featured in the exhibit.

Anyway, tis alot to think about.