On FaceBook

Yes, I have succumbed. I am now at FaceBook.

Financial Aid

This process has been chock full of interesting bumps. Fortunately, Joyce and the TC&R Posse have been great about getting information or answers back to me super-flash-quick.

Regardless of what the Financial Aid office may say or have posted, 3 PhD credits is full-time attendance. This according to Joyce after multiple queries. Why did I confirm several times? Almost every other piece of information coming from the financial aid office indicates you must have 6 credits. Thus, in money matters, I like to confirm things. I have (hopefully not to the point of being annoying), and it is very clear that there's some confusion in the FA machine. Thus, if you are a newbie in the TC&R program and taking one three credit course, you should get full-time aid.

There is a cap on the total financial aid you will receive for the year. This means that if you take the max in Fall and Spring there will be nothing left for Summer. Apparently, there is some aid available for Summer. It can be taken out of the lump total for the year if you've not maxed your F/S aid, or you can go through another application process for additional funds at higher interest rates. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) The MO for success, as I have understood from several folks, is to save all your extra Fall/Spring Financial Aid coin and apply it to the May and Summer expenses.

Summing it up, this wisdom from Lennie:

Joyce will keep you up to date on when and how to register for May. And just a heads-up for those new to the program. The May Seminar tuition and summer tuition pretty much come due at the same time (or at least within a single month). That means you need to have a larger lump of cash ready to plunk down than you might be used to for a Fall or Spring semester, and to my knowledge there isn't a payment plan option (though I sure wish there were).

More Martial Education Leads

Richard Schmidt of the University of Nebraska

Classical Greek ideal of education

Dr. Julie Brown, professor Emeritus and a past coordinator of the program of instruction of Kendo at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Japanese tradition of bunbu-ryodo (learning the classics (bun) and the practice of martial arts (bu)) are like two wheels of a cart.

Information taken from pages 112-116
The Shambhala Guide to Kendo by Minoru Kiyota. Boston. 2002. Shambhala.

Martial Arts & Liberal Education

Levine, Donald N. "Martial Arts as a Resource for Liberal Education," in Japanese Martial Arts and American sports, 173-87.

Texts on Combat/War which Include Training

Chris Hedges: What Every Person Should Know About WarThin anti-war book with Q&A as primary format.

Jonathan Shay: Achilles in Vietnam (Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character)Subtitle says it all.
Suggested from WPA list.

Jonathan Shay: Odysseus in America (Combat Truma and the Trials of Homecoming)Subtitle says it all
Suggested from WPA list.

E. B. Sledge: With the Old Breed, at Peleliu and OkinawaMemoir/history of a Marine who served in WW2 at Peleliu. Clear writing, graphic description, basics about training/coherence in unit.
Suggested from WPA list.

Acquire Mental Lubricants in Advance

I am in the final stretch, and my brain is hurting. I am sure teaching while doing PhD work is going to be equally or more intense. Thus, I need to make sure that I have a set or three of DVDs and/or books as end-of-term mental lubricants to ease my brain during the stress.

Purchase in advance for sanity.

Comics & Graphic Novels: Primers

To get a foothold on graphic novels/comics:

Scott McCloud’s "Understanding Comics" and other books on comics
Will Eisner's "Comics and Sequential Art"