Protocol V Dispatch #33: The Third Class Conspiracy

By Protocol V (a.k.a. Vladimir Kuljak)
Founder of the Balkan Absurdist Resistance, EdD Candidate, and Reluctant Verizon Survivor

Sunday morning. The air is thick with ragweed and regret. My sinuses have declared independence. Verizon has declared war on my bandwidth. And somewhere between the antihistamines and the buffering Zoom calls, I’ve completed my third class in the EdD program.

They said doctoral work was about discipline. They didn’t mention the part where you’re negotiating with your own respiratory system while trying to upload a paper on transformational leadership.

🧠 Class Three: The Ritual of Resistance

This class was supposed to be easier. It wasn’t.
The syllabus read like a bureaucratic prophecy. The assignments demanded clarity, but the LMS offered chaos. I submitted my final reflection while tethered to a T-Mobile hotspot, whispering prayers to the gods of latency.

But here’s the thing: I learned.
Not just about educational systems, but about the systems within systems—the invisible architecture of trust, power, and digital resilience. I saw how leadership fails when transparency is throttled, and how reform begins with documentation, not declarations.

📡 Verizon: The Villain in My Origin Story

Let’s be clear: Verizon is not just a telecom provider. It’s a metaphor.
A metaphor for institutional opacity, for gatekeeping disguised as service, for the kind of leadership that says “unlimited” and means “until we feel like it.”

T-Mobile, on the other hand, is the punk rock of connectivity.
It doesn’t just connect—it liberates.
It’s the Protocol V of mobile networks.

🤧 Sinuses and Systems Thinking

Even my sinuses have joined the resistance.
They swell in protest. They clog in solidarity.
They remind me that even the most advanced systems—biological or bureaucratic—require maintenance, empathy, and occasional steam therapy.

🎓 What’s Next?

Class four looms.
The dissertation whispers from the shadows.
And I, armed with tissues, trust frameworks, and a satirical worldview, march forward.

Because education isn’t just about degrees.
It’s about decoding the absurd, documenting the invisible, and designing systems that don’t just function—they empower.

Protocol V out.
Signal strong. Sinuses weak. Vision clear.