About the Project


My name is Mary Holleger Giannone. I'm a 26 year old soon-to-be mother living just outside of Philadelphia, PA. I'm a violinist, a spiritual agnostic, a procrastinator, a personal assistant to a world renowned surgeon, an opinionated but articulate loudmouth, a possible libertarian, an instigator, a loving wife, and an artistic soul. I'm also terrible at housework. This blog is about my adventure to further my education.

Over the years I've tried traditional methods to finish my bachelor's degree, but have hit many road blocks. During the time I would have traditionally finished college, my mother became sick with a rare form of breast cancer, fought hard for two years while I was her full time care taker, and then later passed away from the disease. Although it was an emotionally and even physically difficult time, I still attempted to go to school. However, financial reasons also got in the way. I was putting myself through school, and after just 2.5 semesters I had run out of money and energy.

Grants and financial aid were not an option, because my father (previously) and my husband (currently) make far too much money to qualify for anything, even though we still struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis. I competed hard for scholarships- and won- although they were hard to come by, since I was homeschooled during high school. But they provided little help anyway, and were never enough to make the education affordable. Loans seemed like the way to go, but without a co-signer I couldn't qualify for one that would cover the cost of my tuition, let alone the cost of living while going to school full time. Not to mention in this economic climate, finding a job (especially with a degree in philosophy!) after college is not guaranteed, and paying back significant loan debt can be nearly impossible to many graduates.

Despite these set backs, I continued to read, study, and debate the topics that interested me on my own time. In my opinion, education never stops, and does not need formal matriculation in order to make it meaningful. Although I greatly miss the opinions of fellow classmates and the advice from a knowledgeable professor, I have been doing my best to continue to learn on my own with the help of Google, Wikipedia, and many heated Facebook debates. :-)

Recently, I've taken inventory of my life and reviewed my goals. Although rather broad, my main goal has been consistent for quite a few years. It is simply to- when I'm ready- produce a great work of art that represents my personal philosophical views. A series of musical pieces, or paintings? Perhaps a book, or a play? It doesn't matter the form, but only the content. I always imagined that I must do this in the Autumn of my life, because at this point I have simply not experienced enough to fully shape my own view of the world. My job right now is to develop my philosophies. To study passionately and courageously, and ask the questions that many are afraid to truly follow to their end.

I have been doing this informally for the past few years. From my occasional nights at Barnes and Nobles reading philosophy or religion books over some cappucino and a pastry that I shouldn't have, to bombarding the inboxes of my philosophy-major friends and even mere aquaintances, to reading- and lets be honest, just skimming- various articles and essays via the dimly lit screen of my laptop at 3am, I have done my best to challenge my mind and increase my knowledge in any way possible.

But now the time has come to take a more structured approach to my self-education. My goal is to recreate genuine college curriculum over the next few years, mirrored after real universities, designated into "semesters," with a "syllabus" for each course. I will invest in the textbooks and the reading lists from the top universities. I will research free online courses and other free or affordable resources. Whenever possible, I will audit, or even sneak into any local classes that I can. And I will document all of this HERE, on my blog.

I will share with you the actual structure for my "BA in Philosophy from Google-Wikipedia University," as well as various lectures, homework, essays, papers, thoughts, or even debates that I have related to each class. In order to achieve a truly liberal arts education, I will also be taking some "courses" in literature, politics, economics, history, science, and math.

I look to you- my friends, my family, and the public- to help me in my adventure. You are my classmates, you are my professors. Whatever you can share with me, whether it is resources to pull from, something you learned during your own education, or simply your two cents on a topic, will be invaluable to me as I try my best to cultivate a well rounded liberal arts "degree." Thank you for your help.


My other blogs: 

The Holleger Kids Fight Breast Cancer
www.holleger-kids.blogspot.com

Kathleen M. Holleger's Fight Against Breast Cancer
www.kathyholleger.blogspot.com