A plea for help

[Rommel John Miller]

Dear Friends in the Field of Library Science,

	My name is Rommel John Miller and I am a 38 year old 
psychologically disabled (severely depressed coupled with 
obsessive-compulsive disorder) as a direct result of service in the U.S. 
Navy aboard a nuclear arms carrying submarine tender in Holy Loch, 
Scotland (1978-79).  The idea of what those polaris subs with their 
arsenal of deadly ordinance developed into an obsession the likes of 
which shook me to the very core of my being.  Subsequently, and after 
years of thinking that my problems would just go away, I was awarded a 
service-connected disability rating from the Veteran's Administration, 
and persuant to that I was placed in the VA's Vocational Rehabilitation 
services under which I earned a B.A. in Philosophy in December 1995.  My 
G.P.A. reflects the ways in which OCD and depression have influenced my 
daily life and what is a 3.09 might well have been 3.4 had not my 
university been short-sighted in their reluctance to accept the power of 
a psychological disability to affect the ways in which one behaves/reacts 
to certain stimuli.  My downfall was the radical opposition to the 
teaching of, and high regard for, the Nazi philosopher Martin Heidegger, 
a story which bears the investigation of anyone concerned with ethics and 
the idea that sophistry reaches into modern philosophy when even the 
author of a superb theory cannot himself live up to it; what would we say 
had Socrates not lived up to his teachings, I mean afterall, wasn't it 
for his beliefs that Socrates died?  No less then should be expected of 
any philosopher held-up as the pre-emminent philosophical theorist of the 
20th Century.  But I urge anyone interested to investigate this rant of 
mine for themselves, I am afterall considered by one former professor not 
to be competent to persue a master's degree in Philosophy.  But to be 
honest I simply wanted a degree in Philosophy to prepare me 
intellectually to persue a Master's Degree in Library Science.

Sadly two graduate programs have rejected me thus far and I am beginning 
to wonder if I have what it takes to be a librarian, and hence I am 
sending out an appeal to anyone who might be able to assist me in 
preparing a "winning" application package or of just plain helping over 
the rough spots of fearing the GRE (I am a high school drop-out [with 
GED] who NEVER took the SAT and was told that he should NEVER think about 
going to College), of applying to schools on the basis of my 
interest/merit and desire to dedicate myself and my life's work to 
libraries &c.  And more.  To be honest I would gladly relocate if I were 
offered a menial job in a library (as a Library Tech or whatnot) with the 
promise of being accepted into the Graduate School on a provisional 
basis.  In other words, I would accept any offer to work in a library, 
University, private or public library anywhere within a reasonable 
commuting distance to an ALA accredited Graduate Program in Library 
Science.  And I am serious about my willingness to relocate, for I do so 
want to begin my studies before the millenium, and to hopefully graduate 
in either June or December of 2000, although the completion might take a 
little longer especially if persuing it on a part-time enhancement to a 
para-professional career engagement.

I sincerely seek to be guided by anyone who would be willing to work with 
me, and I would be more than willing to submit letters of recommendation 
to any who would be interested in the possibility of being of some 
assistance, but I implore you to understand that in order to relocate I 
do need some assurances, such as the promise that I would be entering 
into a job with the provision to earn a MLS.  Please help me, I am asking 
from the bottom of my heart, and I thank you for reading this.

Finally does anyone know if any ALA accredited coursework in Library 
Science is available through distance learning or on the net?  Taking 
courses thus might be one way in which to begin my graduate career and to 
show potential schools that I really do have the brains and tenacity to 
work hard so that I might earn the MLS I haved longed most of my life to 
hold.  Thank you, and may God bless each and everyone of you.

-- 
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    Rommel John Miller                      RJMiller1095 at Juno.com
    12544 Selsey Road                       rjmiller at shore.intercom.net
    Ocean City, MD  21842-9128              (410) 213-0082

   "If life had a Second Edition, how I would correct the proofs!"
	-- John Clare (1793 - 1864)
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