So I mentioned in last week’s “re-entry post” that I’m undertaking some “life renovations” during this latter half of 2024.* Some of that is referent to topics I’ve discussed here previously: self-care, healthful movement, mental health, decluttering.

And some of that is working on some things I haven’t mentioned in the past. For example, I’m trying to figure out what kind of paid work I want to do during the final act of my career and I’ve started learning about my (most-likely, though officially-undiagnosed) ADHD brain.

AND.

I’ve gone back to school to earn my doctorate.

Full disclosure: this isn’t a brand-new project in my life–it’s not even 100% brand-new on the blog, since I was posting in late 2020 about some mild aspirations in that direction. (November and December.)

Still, there’s a lot of movement on that front that has gone unreported, since I’ve taken fully 41 freaking months between posts!**

In all candidness, you can even point to grad school as a strongly contributing factor to the long hiatus here on JALC. It was late spring of 2021 when I really committed to going back and earn my doctorate, so I was spending time the rest of the year researching programs and pulling application materials together. Then I started classes in January 2022 and my schedule has been consistently over-stuffed since then.

So, two-and-a-half years into this project, do you have any words of wisdom, Ms. Mezzo?

If only! Thinking charitably, I’m going to pretend that I’m just a bit too midstream in this experience to have a coherent, synthesized view of things. So here’s a few scattered mosaic tiles.

1. Background knowledge matters. I am profoundly grateful for all the ways my non-profit career helped prepare me for this journey. So many elements of my work captaining grant proposals (and, occasionally, being project director) for federally-funded research has aided me in the class reading and academic writing this programs requires. I know I had an easier time transitioning into this new world than my peers coming to the program for different jobs had.
2. Purpose matters. I’ve never lied about the ways my first attempt at grad school was more of a drift than a purposeful choice. Looking back at the different experiences I had as compared to my Ivy League peers who had a clear sense of their intellectual and academic purpose, the import of that was always clear to me.*** And, 30 months into this new doctoral journey, the import of this is only more evident. The demand of my non-profit job have created a number of barriers and risks to my studies along the way,**** and yet I have persisted and progressed throughout. Because I know what I’m doing in this program.
3. Design matters. When all was said and done, I only applied to a single program–the one in which I am currently enrolled. After researching some dozen-or-so-programs, it was clear to me that my university’s program was the one for me. Its practical action orientation. Its commitment to educational justice. The soundness of its curricular and program design. So I applied, they accepted me, and I enrolled: no muss, no fuss. And I am very grateful to know that my coursework has allowed me to take steps towards my own research and my dissertation since my very first day in the program.

Now, since I’ve been on the slow (working-professionals) path, I still have myself a way to go before I’m done. Still, if I stay focused and work this life renovation properly, I should be able to defend my dissertation in December 2025. And then I’ll take my fancy robe and beanie for a ceremonial walk in May 2026.

Tally-ho!

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* So exactly how many air quotes can I mage to stuff into 500 words? Let’s find out, shall we?

** YIKES.

*** They finished: I didn’t. They found roles they wanted and that suited them in academia: I built my career in other directions.

**** Which is an oblique beginning at contextualizing this “life renovation” project I got going on in the latter half of 2024. (Another story for another day.)

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Image credit: Graduation Mall. I don’t know if they’re NEU’s official vendor, but I’m certainly bookmarkign this site for 2026!