ENL 178: “Dream Statement”

Jolene P. Brown
Prof. S. Magagnini
ENL 178: Crossing Thresholds
6 August 2009
Dream Statement
    Sometimes I cannot believe where I am today.   It was only six years ago that I decided to go back to school, five years ago that I decided I want to get an AA, four years ago that I decided that I should transfer to a four-year university, and three years ago that I finally set my hopes on UC Davis.  I come from a retail background, a typical high school C student who was too cool for college, who wanted nothing more than to move out of her parent’s house and live life on her “own” terms.  Given my history, it has been hard for me to see past my current goal.  It seems as though my A.B. has been on the edge of a perpetual horizon for a decade, and though each day it gets closer and closer, it is hard for me to see beyond it.
    Only recently have I discovered something that may be my calling.  I am applying for UCLA’s MLIS (Master’s Library/Information Science) program this year.  It has always been a dream of mine to live in a small beach town in southern California.  That dream became even more persistent when my best friend moved to Long Beach two years ago, and I’ve made twice yearly trips to see her.
    In five years I want to have finished my Master’s in Library Science. I want to be working at a two year community college library, assisting students with their research, giving library tours, and answering “silly” library questions from incoming high school students who feel they are “too cool” for school.  I want to change the minds of young people about the library: it’s more than just a place for old, musty books and librarians who “shush” you when you drop a pencil.  I would love to teach classes at a community college  on how to do research for paper-writing, maybe an intro course for incoming freshmen, who only see the blank boxes and thousands of listings when they log on to the library website.
    I want to live in a small coastal town, maybe not in California, but perhaps Oregon or Washington.  I’ve never wanted kids, but I’d love to be married by then (if my boyfriend ever gets around to proposing).  I would still read every day, since reading is my favorite thing to do.  I would make trips more often to see friends and relatives that I cannot see now because of my school schedule, and I’d finally go on vacations to places that are further than what one can drive in a car in less than 8 hours.