perspective from the perpetual student

I finally did it! I finished the paper for my independent study project. My paper was on the Influence of Place on the Poets and Poetry of New England. It started out that way anyhow; because I believe the climate and culture of our area definitely finds its way into the work of New England authors. After I began the paper, in fact, when I was almost finished with it, I realized something else: the paper was also about poets who lived very close to the Claremont area. In fact, one of the poets, Wes Mcnair was a graduate of Stevens High School.

Claremont often gets a bad rap when it comes to education, but I like to hope that things are changing, for the better.  We now have Granite State College located right on Pleasant Street, we have an active theater group not only at the Opera house, but also in the Middle School and High School. We are also in the process of setting up a branch of OLLI (The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) in Claremont - if you aren't familiar with the program, check it out. OLLI is a program of enrichment classes for people over 50. There are many great classes on a variety of topics at little or no cost, all over the state.

Here I go again getting off topic - I finished my paper! Consequently, I should be done with my adult college classes, ready to walk down the final path in June with my brand new B.A. in Literature and Creative Writing, but somehow I'm still not ready. So for now I am going to continue to take classes; some history, some social studies, and maybe a couple of OLLI offerings. Just because I finished my first goal it doesn't mean I'm done learning. Education is a lifetime process and I intend to enjoy every minute of it!