Whew!

If you’re my Facebook friend you’ve already heard the news.

I promised I had an announcement to make, and here it is:

I can now sign my name a:s

Michelle Matthews-Calloway, Ph.D.

Or, Dr. Michelle Matthews-Calloway

Or, Dr. Michelle

Or, Dr. Matthews-Calloway

Or – whelp, you get the picture.

I’m FINISHED!!!!!!

Woot to the Woot, Woot, WOOT!!!!

Thanks to everyone for all the emails, text messages, Facebook posts/in boxes, and phone calls.

Special thanks to my parents and my brothers, Mr. Art, Barbara G., Michelle M. (a.k.a. “Elle Veg“), Mitzie and everyone at Acadiana LifeStyle for the well wishes and encouragement when it was time to leave for my oral defense.

I have Dedication and Acknowledgment pages in the dissertation, and when it’s all filed and published, I’ll be sure to post the pages so you can see the  names of the people who were the “wind beneath my wings.”

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an entire state to help someone who’s journeying to a Ph.D! (in my case, several states)

Whatever your role, large or small, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So, What’s Next?

I’m now contemplating and praying about the next steps. Needless to say, after being in graduate school for the past seven years – since 2006; can you believe it??? – not having textbooks to read, research to conduct or papers to write feels STRANGE.

I need to make some decisions about this blog. I was listening to a vlog entitled “The Guilt of the Black Housewife” from my good cyber buddy, Eugenia Berg of Married Girl in a Weird World. She expressed the sentiment that she was planning to eventually retire her MGIAWW blog and focus on her new blog, Married Girl Takes on the Pacific Northwest, a regional travel blog.

I totally get that, and applaud her for following her interests and passions.

I’m not planning to retire the blog per se, yet I do plan to expand the focus somewhat. Shucks, when I look back on past posts I see that the focus has been expanding for probably the past 6 – 8 months; indicative of my evolving interests.

One thing I’ve decided that I’m not going to fight it; I’m just going to roll with it and see where I land.

The Swirl World on Facebook heavily covers concepts of diversity, interracial dating and interracial marriage (shout out to Adrienne L.L., the best fellow Admin. a Facebook page manager could ask for)! We have an awesome community that is growing by leaps and bounds, so a part of me is wondering if the Facebook page should primarily suffice as the “interracial” outlet.

(Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts. Yes, I know ultimately it’s my decision, yet a little well-intentioned feedback or input never hurt anyone. IJS).

My thoughts also turn to the For Church Girls blog. I’m really passionate about the concept behind FCG and want to make it work – can I build that blog and do the other things I want to do??? The A Swirl Girl blog is in a really good place – should I simply now focus on building the For Church Girls blog?

Not only that: I have two book ideas; one fiction, one non-fiction: Which one to pursue???

And,

Two of my professors want me to publish my dissertation in academic journals, and they want to publish with me (so stoked about that!) They also say that my research and academic publishing journey is just beginning, and I need to conduct more research on my chosen demographic (interracially married women of color).

Decisions, decisions.

~Le sigh.

I must say that Rosetta Thurman of the Happy Black Woman is putting out some stellar posts on decision-making and pursuing your dreams. I plan to review her blog posts and just meditate on them, in addition to engaging in some old-fashioned prayer.

Stay tuned . . . . .

Join in the Fray: What decisions/next steps are you contemplating right now? Any advice?

Copyright © 2013 Michelle Matthews Calloway, ASwirlGirl™, The Swirl World™, All rights reserved.