mabfan | Certificate in Publishing Completed

As was reported in the science fiction news site SF Scope this morning, I have as of Wednesday night completed my Certificate in Publishing program at Boston University.

SFScope has some of the details on what I did in the program. What I'd like to talk about here is what happened on Wednesday night.

Boston University's Metropolitan College, which runs their Center for Professional Education, decided to hold a recognition ceremony for their graduates. Before the ceremony, Nomi and I ate dinner at the BU Hillel. The Hillel is in a different, newer building than it was in when Nomi and I were there, and the dining hall is a much nicer place. Also, the food is incredible. I have to say, this is the best kept secret of kosher dining in the Boston area. The all-you-can-eat price is a bit steep, but the food is at the same level of quality as either Milk Street or Rubin's. I highly recommend stopping by the Hillel to any of my kosher-keeping friends if you're on the campus.

The recognition ceremony went from about 7 pm to 9 pm and was held in Metcalf Hall at the George Sherman Union. The ceremony itself was bookended with a reception. The dean of Metropolitan College spoke, as well as the director of the Center for Professional Education and the directors of the five certificate-granting programs. It was a very nice ceremony; they talked about how those of us who had taken on this extra job to improve ourselves had taken Robert Frost's road less traveled by, and they thanked our families for supporting us through this time. The only odd part of it was that I didn't really know any of the other graduates, but then again, I wasn't expected to.

Afterwards, Nomi took this picture of me with one of my instructors, David Pallai.

I have to praise David here a lot. He was my instructor for three of my eight classes, and I enjoyed every minute of his teaching. He's the owner and publisher of Infinity Science Press, so it's clear that he teaches in the BU program out of a love of teaching. He stepped in to run the Book Workshop class when he was asked to do so, for which I will always be grateful.

In words, he taught me the number one rule of publishing, which is this: Publishing is a business. But from his enthusiasm for the field, it's clear that rule number two is that publishing can be a lot of fun as well.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if anyone in the Boston area is interested in learning about publishing, enroll in this program. I highly recommend it.

And Nomi? Thank you for letting me out of the house two nights a week for most of the year.