In which I redeem myself….

As some of you may already know, based on my frantichappy email of last week, I was selected to receive the BGSU Graduate College’s Distinguished Dissertation Award for 2005.* I got the check and plaque today and was further informed that my dissertation will be entered in the Council of Graduate Schools Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation competition as BGSU’s nominee.**

Wow. I haven’t represented an entire school since the spring of 1981, when I was Yerington High School’s entrant in the Lions Club speech contest. In that instance, I performed creditably until the regionals when, 3 prior wins behind me, I stood speechless**** (not a good thing at a speech contest) during the impromptu speaking event, thus losing the contest, the $300 scholarship,***** and a nifty clock radio. I can still picture my English teacher sobbing in the third row.

In short, I hope BGSU isn’t betting the payroll on my next win.

*they wrote they found my dissertation to be "an outstanding and sophisticated example of scholarly research." I bet they say that to all the winners…..

**and my chance of winning that is, I’m sure, in the negatives….kelvin.***

***and if you know anything about the kelvin scale, that’s my point.

****And for years afterward, my father would occasionally look at me and say, "For 18 years we couldn’t shut you up, and then when it really counted….."

*****back when undergraduate credits were $25 each, $300 would pay for most of one semester.