I spent the first part of today in our annual Campus Convocation Day. Translation: The day the entire Staff and Faculty are mandated to attend professional development. Usually there’s an irrelevant speaker, bad food, and awards of service giving out. This year, I’ll admit the food wasn’t bad, I enjoyed seeing my coworkers public ousted for their years of service, and ultimately, the guest speaker was actually not too bad. Although, those who make part of their living from public speaking engagements should really rely on outlines. Once again I let the communication major want to be in me pick apart the speaker. To defend myself, the information was great and relevant but not organized great. He tended to jump back and forth. Still, I got the information and found it engaging.


If you’ve ever had to sit through a day like this, I’m sure you’ve found yourself trying to solve the problems of the universe or at least taught yourself how to write with the opposite hand. This I did quite successfully one year. I felt so accomplished afterwards.


This year I shared my table with my new supervisor, who I actually love to work for, and one of my nerd girl buddies. (This is a nickname several of us have for one another who share the same love for homesteadish living, technology, learning, and general weirdness). As we discussed this and that throughout the morning everything from babies to education prolonging life to the need for support in the local school systems, community college, and the local area in general, my mind latched on to something I had once thought of doing but filed away under “not qualified” to do.


What’s my profound thought? I want to work with people who need communication skills. Not just public speaking which is a requirement for graduation at the community college level in this state but overall communication skills. I’ve watched work studies come in to interview for the office I work in. They are not prepared to interview. Even if they had a class at some point in high school to interview, it didn’t take. Maybe it’s the culture or maybe it’s the times.


I remember my first interview involved pantyhose and heels. This might give away my age but I don’t think so. It wasn’t that long ago...only a couple of decades ago. ha! ha! Regardless, society has relaxed its standards when it comes to how we carry ourselves in public. I’m not just talking about dress codes. I’m talking about how we speak to one another. Rarely do we hear the words yes ma’am or no sir. It’s ya or naw. We’ve relaxed ourselves to the point that we either don’t notice that our workers aren’t presenting themselves professionally or we care.


But I think that people view a business by the presentation of its workers. In turn, I’m sure businesses view its potential employee by the way they present themselves as they walk through the door. Would you hire someone to assist with PR if they walked in slumped over, shuffling their feet, and “um”ing their way to their point? If so, good luck with it.


Now that I’ve pointed out what I see is wrong, let me tell you what I want to do. Teach people how to not only do an interview but how to use body language, verbal language, and eye contact to show their abilities. We live in a virtual communication world but at some point we need to reinforce the face to face, verbal communication process as well. With advances in technology, we will continue to use nontraditional methods for meetings and communication. However, we need to have the confidence to conduct ourselves just as we would face to face. At some point, the employee who relies on virtual communication will have to have that face to face conversation.


I have a son who’s been out of high school for a year, starting college in a few weeks and has zero communication skills. He’s intelligent, quick, and has a great sense of humor. None of these would come out in a first time interview. All anyone would ever see is a nervous kid who couldn’t possibly be competent enough to do any job. This makes me worry for him but I also wonder how many potentially great people are over looked because they don’t have the communication skills?


I have a great plan in my head. I won’t go into great deal especially since I’ve already made you read all this for no real point. My plan is set in my head. Now I have the long road ahead of me to get myself qualified to do what I want to do. After all, I will basically have to create this on my own. There’s nothing in this area that does anything like this. I have a list of to do’s and a lot of time a head of me to either come to my sense or hone my plan. Who knows though. Maybe someone else will come up with a better plan and maybe just maybe a supernova will pass over the planet, causing everyone to speak properly and carry ourselves like we have some sense.

This blog was intended to be a platform for my ramblings about writing and even display some of my archaic works. The title, however, leads me to believe that perhaps this blog is much more than another want to be writer pushing herself out there to the world. It's the words that compose Cat. Composing Cat is my platform for me. So what's the big deal? I have a self discovery. I've discovered something I truly love. First, the boring background. I am a middle aged woman who is pursuing a degree. I do not put faith in sheep skin to make me all knowing and all wise. Unfortunately, because I like to eat and do not wish to do the same job forever nor do I wish to trade it for an equally minimal position, I feel the need and desire to get that all powerful parchment that will say to the world I am persistent enough to get a degree. I used to joke and say it didn't matter if I had a PhD in Pottery Making as long as I had documentation that I was college educated I could rule the world.

I am now drawing close to finishing my Associates in Arts. It's only be a 20 year journey. Oh sure, there's been obstacles i.e. having a family, working, not taking classes. The little things, you know. Luckily, I'm afforded a wonderful opportunity to now work at a Community College that allows us to take 6 credit hours free. Ya! This December, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, as they say around here, I will be not only the first high school graduate in my family but also the first to attend and graduate from College. But wait! There's more!

I'm not stopping. Not that it'll get me anywhere in life but I am continuing on transferring to one of our states larger Universities through a distance learning program, you know, online, weekend, etc. I have not chosen an English Major. While this is what most want to be writers would pursue I march to my own drum. Well, actually, not even a drum. Mine  is more like a MP3 player in need of Ritalin. As I said earlier in the post, I've fallen in love with....wait for it...wait for it...Communications. The study of how we communicate is fascinating to me. After all, we all do it...daily, hourly, with each blink, with each clearing of the throat, and even with the things we do not do. We communicate...there is just no way around it.

Tonight, while studying I had an epiphany. I have not only a desire to write (which learning to communicate couldn't hurt) but also to teach others how to effectively communicate. I live in a rural area. I'm not originally from here so I can look at this as an outsider but I've also been here close to two decades so I can also see it from an insider's view point as well. People do not treat others very well if they do not communicate "properly". What a shame too. There are so many people in this area who are so wise but discounted because they don't know how to effectively get their point across or even just present themselves in an understandable way. I'm not just talking about people sound "hick". I'm talking about people being able to stand up for themselves and being able to present themselves in a positive light so that they don't have to settle for the bare minimum.

I have so many ideas pumping around my brain tonight. While I'm a million years away from having a piece of paper that qualifies me for officially helping someone by teaching, I'm one step closer to the very thing that has been driving me for so long but I was unable to see it. I've always felt a pull to help people. It's in my nature. I come from helper people. No better than anyone else. No worse either. It's a great feeling though to know that I have a direction. A goal. Now perhaps even the words that I desire to fill the pages of my make believe worlds will flow a bit better...now that I've cleared one small hurdle. I've found a direction and a map to lead there. I'm sure there will be detours, road blocks, and even roads that will close altogether. Yet I feel a sense of accomplishment by just know that I have a passion for something that is dear to my hear and can possibly help so many others.

Good night all.
Cat