WriterMom

Two, a tuxedo named Leonardo DaVinci and a pretty calico named Jamilla Isabella, adopted rescue cats from local shelter who may have survived the Midwest floods of 2008. Oddly, we're dog people but had a cat we rescued 9 years ago as a 4-week-old abandoned kitten, and who showed us that cats can be loveable, too. Then he fell mysteriously and gravely ill last June, slowly deteriorating in spite of multiple vet visits, blood tests, xrays, changes of food (paid for with my Web work with a professor at the University), but all to no avail. Desperate to save his life, we authorized exploratory surgery in December and only then found out he had cancer--why the two vets we relied on for those six months did not figure this out, I'll never know or understand. He died 12/12/08. Two weeks later our sons asked us if we could rescue another cat, and we ended up with two through PetFinder.com. It's definitely helped with the loss of our first tuxedo cat who was most amazing. During all this, I was finishing my first semester in grad classes while taking my GRE and applying for the PhD program at the University of Iowa. I just found out this week that I didn't get into the PhD program, but the department accepted me for the MA program--which, unfortunately, offers zero funding or teaching opportunities. SIGH. Glad I found this forum! Fun question, too. ---------------- Applied: University of Iowa, English PhD Program (1/15/09) Notified: Rejected for PhD program, Accepted for MA program via email (3/9/09)--anyone else have this happen??? Completing 12 grad-level semester hour credits (May '09). Since money is an issue, I'll continue working on professor's literature website (freelance), while applying for English teaching jobs near my home, while hoping to continue classes in MA program this fall, and perhaps reapply for PhD program (which offers funding and teaching ops) next year.