Why?
It was one of those days. One of my fellow court-reporting students was having a bad day, feeling discouraged; I was talking about it with another student, as we worried about our mutual friend, and, I think, worried about each other.
And I thought about it going home on the metro. I thought about how alone it can feel, being a court reporting student. I don't mean this as a pity-me statement. I love studying machine stenography; I find it ever fascinating. But it is a brutal course of study. You spend tremendous amounts of time and effort and life force in learning the theory and in ever-working to increase your speed. You will always, always be never as good as you want to be -- which can often translate internally to "never good enough". You confront failure on a daily basis. This is something you need to get used to as a court reporter, I understand -- it is the drive for the impossible goal of perfection that lends the daily challenge and excitement to the job. But as a student, you worry. Maybe it's not just on a perfectionist-level that you are "never good enough". Maybe you'll plateau. Maybe you've spent a year, or two, or three, or four, only to find out that it's not right for you. Or you're not right for it.
There is a tremendous dropout rate for court reporting students. Some of it is from people deciding to do something else. Some of it is from students who can't cut it. Some of it is from students who just became exhausted.
But if it were only difficult, that would not explain the isolation that I feel. To learn machine stenography is to learn an arcane system of communication. It is difficult to even describe to those who are unfamiliar with it -- as it is difficult to describe any language to the nonspeaker. It is difficult to explain why it is so hard, why no answer can be given to the ever-present question of when a student will graduate, and it is difficult to explain the beauty and elegance, as well. I learned a new way to write the prefix "extra-" a week ago. It was delicious, elegant, delightful. But once I'd spoken about it with my classmates -- that was it.
So I thought these thoughts, and thought, "Why not an on-line support group for court reporting students?"
Actually, it wasn't that quick. First, I thought, "Why not an on-line diary of my own progress?" Just updated every two or three weeks. Just so that if other court reporting students are out there, they can see what I'm doing. How I'm feeling. Just to provide a point of comparison. Something I'd love to see if I found someone else doing it. But, in the final analysis, I wussed out. {grin}
And then I thought about posting my speed levels. For informational purposes. For context.
And then I thought about providing an area where other students could post their scores, so that we could see how they were doing and celebrate as they passed speed levels, maybe even send congratulations.
And then it all came together.
What I needed was a way for interactivity. Given the limitations of my internet access, I thought a guestbook would work best. Please sign in, let me -- let us -- know how you're doing, how your day went, what you're working on. How you got started and why you go on. If you'd like me to post your speeds, just e-mail me. If you have any suggestions for the site, ditto.
But is a guestbook enough interactivity? So I signed up with a free messaging service, to allow for threaded discussion.
It still needs tweaking. It'll probably always need tweaking. But right now, what it needs most is YOU.
Good luck, everyone!
E-mail me at
allegria@his.com
