Graduate School

Hi! I'm Becky Myers and I live in Lexington Park, MD and attend the NDM classes at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center (SMHEC). I am currently working on an MA in Contemporary Communication and am about half way there I think...I hope. This semester I have two classes: Gender Communication and Human Communication Research. Both are proving to be incredibly intriguing! One of the major advantages of my masters program right now is that it is actually related to my current job. (I work in the recruiting branch of a human resources department).

I am able to adapt my learning in "real-time" which was impossible to do as an undergraduate.....FINALLY! It feels so empowering to put this good knowledge to use! (Sure makes me pay more attention too)

My Gender Communication class in particular is opening up new avenues of thinking for me. Dr. Peterson is teaching us via VTC from Baltimore. I chose this class because I have always had a bit of angst about getting along with other women at work...I have a hard time understanding them...especially when they are not 100% feminine. From what it looks like, Dr. Peterson is going to solve all of my problems within the first couple of Monday nights!

Right now we are focusing on definitions of feminists. When I first heard this phrase mumbled about in class I couldn't help but think, "oh boy, here we go....here comes to the silly chitter chatter about whatever men can do, women can do better."....Surprisingly we didn't hit on this though! The class ran into some interesting conversation on famous figures who didn't fit their "feminine" or "masculine" molds. As humans, we always enjoy analyzing other humans...but I have never had the pleasure to do just this in such a degree or fashion. I felt like I was listening in on some juicy gossip. I even kind of tilted my head and little bit and scooted up in my chair to get comfortable. If only I had some popcorn! We probed around in personal behaviors of people such as Hilary Clinton, President Obama and Hurricane Katrina victims. Eye-opening to say the least!

I went to work the next day and just started paying attention like never before. I stared at people, tried to figure out their motives instead of just "assuming" them.....I started to feel like it was my first day on the job and I was seeing and hearing everything for the first time.. Or as Plato would say,

"Everyone of us is like a man who sees things in a dream and thinks that he knows them perfectly and then wakes up to find that he knows nothing."--Plato

This gender class is going to be an exciting adventure....we've already paired up and started working on our debate teams...not sure how I'm going to peacefully agree with all the alternative perspectives of my classmates...but I'll give it a whirl! See, feminist studies aren't so bad!!