The Certificates

You know you want to see them. Yalla–

A specialized certificate in Copyediting from the University of California San Diego Division of Extended Studies.

You might be interested in some of the others, too?

A doctoral diploma from the University of Chicago.
A Master's diploma from the University of Chicago.

Yep, I earned ’em consecutively after applying once, but yep, it took me a long time and several years abroad to finish.

A Bachelor's diploma from the College of William and Mary. It is written entirely in Latin.

This one’s for the nerds. There’s a translation in the back, but you don’t need that. Sic hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionem habes?

An award recognizing membership in Omicron Delta Kappa.

I am grateful to my friends and professors who nominated me for this unexpected recognition in my senior year.

I’m delighted to be a part of other honor societies earned during my collegiate years, as well.

A certificate honoring 9 years of membership in the National Piano-Playing Auditions.
There’s a funny story that goes with this: I graduated from lessons entirely in 2000, and for my final year, I was in charge of choosing my repertoire. I made selections out of love, not from the list of approved pieces included for the auditions. So I don’t have a tenth-year certificate for my final year, but I did master George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which I performed with my teacher and which she got to perform again with another student after I graduated. Piano may be a “lifetime hobby” that you can train, but music is a passion that you learn.
A certificate honoring participation at the regional level of competition that leads to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
To this day, ACES still hosts a spelling bee for editors, modeled on the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I felt fortunate to make it this far: Things got intense when I got a study packet of words before this round. So many bird names… The regional round was televised, and my elementary school janitor saw and remembered me! And the word I lost on? Pityriasis. Commence the dad jokes…
A certificate honoring a winning essay entry in a contest hosted by the National Postal Museum during Black History Month in 1996.
There were multiple winners from this essay contest hosted by the National Postal Museum. While I was disappointed that Lorraine Hansberry was not put on a stamp that year, I learned to read drama scripts in a whole new light and to think about poetic lines differently. Her sexual orientation was not widely discussed with children when I chose her as my subject, and looking back, I am incredibly fortunate to have chosen someone not only “young, gifted, and Black” but also lesbian.1 Hansberry’s life story is dramatically different from mine, but her sexual identity is one I share.
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTGiKYqk0gY Nina Simone penned this for Lorraine Hansberry. I am not Black. My father grew up in Cuba speaking Spanish as his first language, and my family was accustomed to hearing, but not speaking, Spanish at home. While I have a lot of critiques about the notion of strict categories around gender, race, sexuality, and other identity markers, I wholly support activism to increase equity for marginalized groups. The simple fact is that we have a long way to go. ↩︎