Back To Schooldays

Tomorrow I do something that every middle-aged man probably has nightmares about. I am going to go somewhere I haven't been for twenty-seven years. I'll be surrounded by folks I have no idea about, whose norms and customs will be utterly alien to me. Their idols and music will likely not even overlap my many years of public information gathering. In fact, when they see me, they will probably wonder what the frak I am doing in their territory, who the hell I am and will gaze on me with suspicion, and more than likely, some form of derision. I am terrified by the prospect.

I am going back to school.

After being employabley adrift since the turn of the century, I am entering the "New Choices" program at Delaware County Community College, two evenings a week, in an effort to come up to speed with current technology and employment options. Despite having written for and edited three Internationally distributed magazines, been a published author, an actor in two movies...being near 50 and having a BA in Communications and Theater Arts has left me with a modest selection of job opportunities. I have been working as a customer service phone operator at a mail order company for almost eight years, only to see cute 20 somethings with little or no other qualifications get promoted over me for not much reason other than they spark a certain employee's bedside fantasies, and they pose no risk to his position as lead tiara wearer. Obviously, this job is a dead end and a spirit killer.

So Monday night I will cart a three-ring binder with loose leaf lined paper and subject dividers, a packet of pens, a portable USB drive, and copies of my current resume to school. At this point, I have kept my 'extra-curricular' writing activities to myself, but have included editing the old Radio Trade Papers and travel/sales brochures on the resume, as well as the many years of broadcasting. The hope is that these classes (which are sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor) will be a gateway to better opportunities. The description of the course as given by the professor who interviewed me is that, once completed, they'll help you with placement, or if you'd like, applying for student grants/loans for further courses. It's something I've needed to do for a long while, and this is finally the time.