Titles and Monikers
Today I successfully defended my dissertation. That means I now have the “privilege” of a title and a moniker. Sexy. The question looming in front of me now is, “Which do I use”? Titles precede a name and monikers go after it. So, do I use “Dr. Allen” or “Dr. Case” or “Dr. A” (that sort of sounds kewl), or should it be “Casey Allen, PhD” or “C.D. Allen, PhD”? Or should I even exercise the privilege? For me, it means little either way…Titles often seem arrogant to me, even if they can denote valuable accomplishments. But just because someone has a title, does that make them “special” or better than people without one? Does it endow them with privilege? Well, perhaps in a way it does, since society tends to place value on such things. Most diplomas from the Powers That Be (PTB) have a little phrase like, “…with all rights, powers, and privilege as set forth by those in authority…” But what does that actually mean? Just because I’ve achieved a certain level of education—jumped through a ...