The Origin of Marching 7/4

Greetings and salutations and all that jazz. My name is Lori Marie Ferguson and I am a graduate student in the English Master’s Generalist program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, in Indiana, PA. (I know, where is that, anyway? We’re about an hour east of Pittsburgh, an hour from Altoona, about an hour and a half-two hours from Penn State.) I had graduated from IUP in May with my Bachelor’s of Arts in English, but after some unsuccessful job searches online and other assorted experiences I decided that returning to school to continue my education was the way to go. I will later post my goal statement submitted with my application that will explain my motivations for post-graduate study, and a couple more entries that will illuminate the reader on why I am so possessed to stay in school, even though I was so happy to graduate–finally at 36, almost fifteen years after I was supposed to originally graduate, entering IUP as a freshman at age 17 back in 1988.

But for now, my focus is on introducing myself and the origin of my blog name. As you probably have gathered, I am a non-traditional student who is happy to find herself in school with other 36 year olds (and older–hooray!) instead of being as old or older than the professor, and having fellow classmates say to me–”You’re the same age as my mom!” or telling me that they were born a month after I graduated high school. Oh, the agony! Graduate school is so sweet, with serious fellow students, wonderful professors and a stimulating education that will prepare me to write the novels and screenplays that are busting out of my head, find creative and responsible people to make independent films with, and become a teacher at a community-college as my ubiquitous and necessary “day-job” to support me as I try my hand at supporting myself through the creative arts.

What is amazing is that within my classes this semester, I am realizing that I really do want to teach and that I may actually have an aptitude for it–surprising me beyond belief! The professor I first approached about my plans to apply to IUP’s graduate English program was ecstatic about the idea of me being a professor like him, especially in a community college setting where I can shape and mold young students and help them along to continue their path to success at a four-year school or whatever will help them live the best life possible. My professor was especially happy that I had attended Montgomery Community College in Blue Bell, PA during the interim between “tours” at IUP, and that I had a superb professor there as a role model–Dr. Patricia Nestler, who taught my Creative Writing Class and headed the Writer’s Group. I would like to be able to influence others as she did me! As much as I dream of being known for my writing, to have a former student write that about me a decade from now–as I am writing about her–I will be blissfully happy!

Of course, I am not just a student, and as this blog progresses it will become apparent that I am a loving mommy and wife and happy adoptive mother of two special cats. This is a major part of me, but first I wish to focus on the origin of the blog title “Marching 7/4.”

“Marching 7/4″ was an opinion column that I wrote for a year in the school’s paper, The Penn. The column originated as a letter to the editor about my dismay at someone looking at me with ire about my parking in a handicapped parking spot because I look too young and healthy to be disabled. When writing to her about myself and my experiences, she declared me to be “an interesting individual” and that she loved the idea of a weekly column and gave me a deadline, and the rest was history.

Here is some of that original email to better explain the genesis and inspiration behind the column:

The reason why I was inspired, however, to attend the [writer's] meeting Wednesday was because of that famous quote, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Earlier that day I had been backing out of a handicapped parking space, much to the chagrin of another handicapped person, a senior citizen who stared at me with such hate I felt like I was a Nazi! I yelled out my window, “It is my tag!” but I’m sure he didn’t hear me. And, I don’t think he really cared. All he saw was that I was young and that I was able to walk to my car without the use of a cane (I only need it for long distances and certain surfaces.) Seeing how my assertion that I was truly handicapped had gone unheeded, I realized that I would have to take action to fight this from happening again. In fact, I’m surprised that this is the first time that I have experienced such open hostility, for I’ve foreseen that look on the man’s face since the day I received my tag. As I drove away to continue going about my business, I began to compose “An Open Letter to the Man Who Scorned Me,” a different twist on the cliche’, you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Most people easily think of racism and sexism, but they probably don’t often think of discrimination against the handicapped. There are often stigmas against people with disabilities, causing those of us with them to either hide them or feel like we have to apologize for them. Someone who met me last September didn’t find out that I was disabled until April because I had always hidden my collapsible cane I use on campus in my back pack before he saw me. It wasn’t until I saw the astonished look on his face, “Oh my! Are you okay? What happened?” that I realized that I had hid it so well that this wasn’t an injury I had just sustained, like a twisted ankle.

My original intent for my planned letter, or essay, if you will, was submitting it as a letter to an editor for the Penn or the Indiana Gazette. Now I’m wondering if it is possible that I could do a weekly editorial, covering topics ranging from racism, sexism, disabilities, etc.–whatever you think is important enough for me to share my views on, if you think them valid enough to share with the public. I am a thirty-three year old non-traditional student, who is married, has a child, and has various mental (depression) and physical disabilities, and I have just been diagnosed with a learning disorder as well. I have a voice coming from experience, and it is a varied experience at that. I am a resource that I offer to you to draw upon to help reach a wider audience for your newspaper.

While my purest intention is the will to write and serve the community, because it is who I am, and that without writing I am nothing, my just having started Career Planning for my Communications Media major (English, Film Studies minor) [ed. note--I soon reversed the major/minor combination because of stress and physical disabilities hindering me in doing required tasks for my communications tasks and duties] changes my vantage point a little. It occurred to me that this would be a good place to gain some experience and clips for my portfolio, and would help me find out where I would like to intern next summer. I am already involved with WIUP-TV and FM and as someone who is primarily a writer–I’m back in school because I want to be a scriptwriter and I believe that the only way to maintain control of my vision is if I direct and produce–it is a natural progression for me to become involved with the Penn. Why I believe that writing editorials instead of focusing on news stories is easily explained through a quote you included in your front-page story of Friday’s Penn, if you’ll forgive me for this. You have quoted Tawni O’Dell as saying “I’ve always wanted to be a writer. But I had a mistaken notion that journalism was purely writing. I wanted to make up my own stories, not stick to the facts.” I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I’ll let her words, through you, speak for me. I’d be a much happier writer if I am not wearing the straight-jacket of “who, what, when, where, why and how?” While I believe that is important and should actually be included in other kinds of writings, it’s the strict adherence to the formula that could stifle the creative process and leave me resenting my weekly writing like it was a term paper to be gotten over with instead of something I enjoyed writing. I still believe that the general news story is not my forte.

I will transfer all of the remaining articles from my column (some are missing from the archive) off of the Penn website (by the way, I am at liberty to reprint and reuse my column as I see fit–I checked with my editors long ago). This will give you a view into who I am, what I have written in the past and what I care about, and from there I will expand on past columns and move on to new topics that life throws my way.

~ by maralorelei on October 7, 2007.