My World

Hi, my name is Melissa and I have trouble making decisions! I currently work in the Student Housing and Meal Plan Office at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Prior to my current gig I briefly worked at your local Fairfield Township Wal*Mart. Prior to that I was "occupationally challenged" for about 3 months.

I recently started and dropped out of the Master's program in the Women's Studies Department at The Ohio State University.  I was breifly a TA for two recitation sections of WS210.  I was concurrently enrolled in the Information Technology program at DeVry University (formerly DeVry Institute of Technology), which I really DID complete in June 2002.  I love my laptop!

I am also a recent graduate of Miami University where I majored in Music Education and minored in Women's Studies.  One of my major hurdles I had to cross before graduating was student teaching.  I spent an entire semester at Madison High School, which is just outside of Middletown, Ohio. Madison is quitesimilar to my own high school so I think I fit in rather well there. Unfortunately though, I don't think I'm reallycut out to be a teacher and I'm glad thats all behind me. It was an okay semester and I reallyenjoyed hanging out with the kids, but I'd really rather not try to teach them anything. I had a GREAT time "chaperoning" a recent trip to Chicago they took, but only because I didn'thave to do anything really teachery.

Back at Miami, I was a member of many musical ensembles including the Marching Band, Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, and the Choraliers (Miami's women's chorus). I was also a member of Tau Beta Sigma, a National, Honorary service sorority for members of college bands. In TBS I held the offices of Alumni/Historian and Guard. We don't liketo talk about that last one though. I ended up resigning because I SUCKED at it. Email me if you want details. Its kinda funny really. At different points I was also the Ritual Committee Chair and Communications chair. Besides all that I also held down a couple jobs although I'm not sure where all the money went... Oh yeah, the parking services... Anyway, I worked for the university catering company one semester and I also worked at Bob Evans for nearly a year and a half.

You may also have heard about the little thesis I wrote over the summer of 2000. To make a looooooooooooong story short, I wanted to apply some feminist principles to my role in the music department and so I decided to write a thesis as an independent study with Dr. Tammy Kernodle. I surveyed nearly 100 female college musicians and wrote my paper based on a combination of feminist theory and socio-musical ideas (I just made that word up- socio-musical, but you get the idea). Now, you can even read my whole paper online! Hooray! 

I graduated with honors from Westfall High School, in Williamsport, Ohio in 1997 . There I pretty much did the same things I do here: Sing a little, play a lot. I was also a member of the All Star Brass Bands for five years, back in the day. That was ions ago. The All Stars really had a big impact on my life and I hope to get involved with them again someday. Besides band and choir, in high school I also volunteered at Children's Hospital and was involved with Teen Institute (although if you'd seen me last saturday night, you'd never know it!). Yeah, high school! 

And another ordeal I had to overcome before graduating from Miami was my Senior trumpet recital. It was held March 25th at 1:00 in Souers Recital Hall.  I bought a little dry erase board to keep in my living room with a running countdown of the days until the hearing and the big day. It kept me motivated. Okay, no really, fear is what kept me motivated.  I played some really interesting stuff, none of the usual trumpet standards.  This was a good thing because that way no one really knew when I screwed up.  I did screw up though.  And people knew it, but I have ceased caring.  It was all good.  Note to self:  Beta-Blockers are BAD! 

So you see, despite my varied (and excellent) educational experiences, I still don't make nearly as much as I'm worth, but I survive. Maybe John Mayer's right about college... No, nevermind. I still think he's wrong but I suppose money isn't everything.

Besides all that, I am also a self proclaimed expert on many things including the Beatles. I swear that at one point I knew every word to every Beatles song ever recorded, but those days are long past. My sister (and actually most of my family) has this theory that the more education you have, the dumber you get. So in going to college (and now grad school) and collecting all sorts of smarts I seem to have run out of room for things like Beatles lyrics. So at one point I may have known a little too much about the Beatles but its really Simon and Garfunkle that speak to my soul. While the later Beatles lyrics may have been interesting, they usually didn't make a whole lot of sense.  Paul Simon writes stuff that is really interesting and makes sense!  Imagine that!  Maybe soon I'll put together a little S&G fan page... or not. But anyway, thats that and thats me. 

Thanks for stopping by!