In!

I received a wonderful phone call this morning from a higher up in my department letting me know that I was accepted to the PhD program! She said she knew I was nervous about it and she wanted me to know the decision. I was so happy she called and so happy that the news was good news!

So thanks for all of your thoughts and well-wishes! I haven't gotten the official letter yet, but I'm assuming the call from the higher up is official enough.

Now, my circle of Kernel friends often send out fake news stories when something cool happens to one of us. I was lucky to get my own story today. From my friend Derek, my fake news story is as follows (note: I took out my last name b/c I'm worried about googlers):

INDIANA --- The artist formerly known as Stacie M. is about to become way smarter than you.

M., 26, referred to in some circles as Stacie J., was accepted this week into Indiana University's doctorate of mass communication program, said spokeswoman Emily Hagedorn.

"This means she will be in school for four more years, I think," said Hagedorn, who isn't too fond of specifics. M., a University of Kentucky graduate and veteran reporter/editor at the Kentucky Kernel, will use her newfound education to teach journalism at a university.

Friends of M. rejoiced.

"If I ever was crazy enough to go and get my doctorate I'd have her as my professor," said UK classmate and Kernelite Sara Cunningham. "She was probably better than any of my master's degree teachers." Except Mike Farrell, she later added.

M. phoned Hagedorn and another Kernelite, Andrea Uhde, to share the news. M. will only be friends with you if you worked at the Kernel.

There was a time when M. was hellbent on becoming a lawyer. She even spent a year at Chase Law School at Northern Kentucky University. Now she's hellbent on becoming a doctor of journalism, just like Hunter S. Thompson. (Although his was honorary.)

"I remember her studying and going crazy about the LSAT --- I think that was her," said Kernelite Derek Poore. "She was stressed something fierce. But she was never much for laws and rules and stuff."

M. lives in Bloomington with husband Hal and dog Layla. She attended St. Henry High School "somewhere in Northern Kentucky," the concise Hagedorn said.

John F. Kennedy, president of the United States in the 1960s, said M.'s path was an honorable one. In a written statement, Kennedy began: " 'There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university,' wrote John Masefield in his tribute to English universities. And his words are equally true today. He did not refer to towers or to campuses. He admired the splendid beauty of a university, because it was, he said, 'a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see.' "