New house

I'm sitting here in our new (to us) living room and after 8 years of hoping to move sometimes it's still a bit hard to believe that we are in a house that suits us. Ashlin said shortly after we moved, "Mommy, I like our new house better than our old house." Amen, Ash, so do I. It is wonderful to have space to move and play and be after tripping over each other and furniture and toys for so long. The kids have play space. They run! It is awesome.

With this change in space I am doing an experiment. I have been reading up on sleep disorder to help a particular client and find that positive sleep associations is often emphasized as a strategy. I.e. people are advised to make their bedroom a place to sleep, not a place that they work or play, so that just by going into the bedroom, the body is signalled to sleep.

In the old place, every room was dual purpose. Our bedroom served as sleep place as well as play room, and a place to do all kinds of work. In the new place, I can work and the kids can play in other areas and I've made a conscious effort to make the bedroom a place to relax, unwind and sleep. So far the results are good. Outside of the angst I felt around the appeal, I think it is helping to preserve that space for relaxation.

We are planning to set up our Christmas tree tomorrow. The first year ever that we can have a tree and still be somewhat comfortable in our own house.

Friends and family are always welcome to call and stop by. And hey, we're within walking distance of great toboganning hills.

Appeal results

Without further delay, allow me to inform you that I lost my appeal to the U of M. I was not given an explanation as to why.

The lead up time to the actual appeal was quite nerve-wracking, with a lot of insomnia and bad feelings in the pit of my stomach. Win or lose, I am glad that it is over.

A few days before the appeal I had a realization (revelation?) that what I said at the appeal would probably not matter. All over Canada there is a changing landscape in post-secondary education where more and more smaller institutions are offering bachelor's degrees. Some (like mine) are from very academically strong schools, some are more applied degrees that may not prepare someone for graduate studies. The bigger universities, by and large, have just chosen to stick their heads in the sand and rely on tired formulas (such as membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) to decide who gets in and who doesn't. These tired formulas, however, leave out many deserving schools and deserving students (such as myself).

What is needed is structural change, a change in how universities look at degrees so that the academic qualifications of the candidate are judged accurately and fairly. My realization was that if the U of M is ready for structural change, I would win. If it is not ready, I would lose. The rightness or wrongness of my appeal really was never the issue. The issue is whether or not the university is ready to make necessary adjustments. It is not.

The most interesting thing about the appeal is even the person opposing me, the dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, admitted that I was a highly qualified candidate.

I am walking away from this with a sense of peace and satisfaction - really. Peace because I did everything I could do, and I am right, and I faced this whole situation with dignity. Satisfaction because I got a lot of people talking about this issue, and I sense that both of my alma maters are now pursuing the issue of degree recognition with a tad more effort than has been true previous to my raising a stink. Government ministers have had this issue in front of them, and one of them visited one of my former colleges and discussed degree recognition shortly after my letter to her. The new U of M president may be a person willing to seriously consider the issue as he had theological training at one point in one of those non-AUCC schools. So what great timing to have this issue being discussed.

It could be that within a year or two I'll be able to apply again and not have my acceptance questioned.