Pending some depository documents for the university library that I’ve already sent, as of May 31, I just completed my second Master’s degree – this one in Humanities. (with a history concentration)

It was an external degree program through California State University/Dominguez Hills. It was profitable to me in many ways. First, it got me back into academic writing – this time about history – which helped me bone up on my research and research writing skills. It also forced me to read extensively across disciplines. I had readings on:

Art History – Warfare – Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, All Quiet on the Western Front, Illiad, Fast Food Nation, ethnomusicology in Haiti and Indonesia, Vietnam, History Writing, Stalin, The French Revolution, The Robber Barons, Socialistic economic theory, History of the Arabs, etc… (a bunch more I can’t remember right now – and this of course does not even begin to touch my culminating thesis on Roosevelt, Truman and Indochina)

I enjoyed branching out into areas in which I typically never thought about. I especially enjoyed the unique course on ethnomusicology. I’ll post some more on that later.

This program helped my writing and my knowledge. There were certain specific things I learned about the Vietnam war which ended up being included in my novel Beauty Rising. It certainly enriched my teaching, as well.

But at this point I only have one thought on my mind – I’m happy it’s over.

This is the end of my academic career.

But may it help further my budding creative writing career.

I believe it has already.