Well, my ten-year journey in higher education is over. I graduated from Purdue University Northwest, formerly Purdue North Central, with a Bachelor of Arts. I majored in history and minored in English, specifically, Creative and Professional Writing. My final GPA was 3.91, pretty decent I’m told, enough so that had I participated in commencement I’d have worn the “gold cord of distinction.” Big deal. I was also inducted into a history honor society, in abstention I might add.

If you get the impression I’m not totally enthralled with what I just finished, you’re on the mark. To be sure, there were benefits. The ten stories I’ve published in Rider Magazine would not have been possible without the care and instruction of some dedicated professors in the Modern Language Department. Had a writing major been offered at the extensions as with the Mother Ship in West Lafayette, I’d have gone with it. As it stood, I picked history because it offers ample opportunity to hone writing and research skills. As an aside, the editor occasionally admonishes me “more on the road, less on the history.” Now we know where the tendency stems from.

Which brings up another point. When he sent an email the day before finals requesting me to rush captions back for my upcoming Flint Hills feature, he was unaware I was even in school. He graciously gave me a day to cram for the tests. But the fact is, in the motorcycle adventure genre a degree isn’t necessary. The main thrust is the stories must be interesting and well-written. Bottom line: they need to help sell magazines.

I enrolled at PNC on a lark. I’d just returned from my first Alaska ride in 2008 and found that people liked hearing my road tales. I wondered if I could write about my experiences. Problem was, the sterling 1.67 GPA I graduated from Valparaiso High School with carries all the competence one would expect. I knew I needed training if I were to aspire to a writing career. My idea was to take a couple of English classes at the local Ivy Tech extension and be done with it. My wife pointed out since the mill I work at has a generous tuition  payment program, why not give Purdue a shot “. . .you know, in case you decide to go for a four-year degree.” Famous last words.

So here I am at Steak and Shake penning what I hope to be the first of many post-university blog posts. I just coughed up thirty-nine bucks for a spam filter on this already expensive page. The junk replies are a large part of why I’ve posted infrequently over the last few years. That and school. Well, those excuses are gone. The subject of the heroin recovery book I started as my English capstone recently contacted me. She wants to get it done. So, do I. It’s a story that needs to be told. Time to hit the keyboard.