My comm law professor called me a polymath. I’ll admit I had to look it up. Feel free to click that link and come back to me.
I’m completely flattered. Until now, I’ve seen my jack-of-all-trades-ness as a curse. Sure, I can manage my way through lots of situations, but there hasn’t been anything I could say I’m an expert in. That’s changing — fast! I finally have a real grasp on the fact that knowing content management systems isn’t something everyone can do. It’s not rocket science, but I am officially familiar with around 10 CMS systems. Not bad. I can also say I know more than the rainbows and unicorns side of social media. I understand it and know there’s more to Twitter than just knowing how to make a profile and post updates. For most people who read this, you may think you are in that category too, and you probably are. Turns out we’re in the minority. Fine, I’ll take it. I’m also better than I’ve ever been with programming languages and graphic design.
Something I suppose I haven’t mentioned is that I’m, for the most part, self-taught in all of these things. Obviously I love the school I’m in, and got my undergrad degree from, but honestly — I didn’t really learn any hard skills the first go-round in school. Doesn’t really matter now.
I am also perfecting the art of writing across several media platforms, editing video and audio, and understanding that my intuition surrounding communicating with people, inter-personally and mass, is pretty darn good. I’m learning things that I’ve always known in terms of what looks good, sounds good, and makes people feel motivated and moved.
So I no longer have to put my intuition and my knowledge in the ring to duke it out. I can let them free in the yard, fenced of course, to interact and play as they wish. Intuition and skill are now playing for the same team instead of fighting each other. Fact can back up intuition and together they’re a pretty mean pair!
As for what I learned in class today, comm law is not my favorite subject, but I look forward to being able to use the info I gained about libel and the First Amendment to strengthen the polymath in me!
