Hi there! Welcome to the email I never thought I'd get around to writing. I'm sitting in my shoebox here at Green College at UBC. No, my shoebox does not have those little "do not eat" packets strewn about; rather, the kind folks around Green College have come up with this affectionate term to refer to the narrow, rectangular dorm rooms with which a few of us have been blessed this year. I am very happy here in my little corner of the world, seated on a soft cushion on my solid wooden chair in front of my cooperative macbook which is resting on my big desk that is stuffed with articles and outlines of fascinating (and some not-so-fascinating) treatises on anthropology and all other manner of topics. All this is tucked into the corner of my room nearest the floor-to-ceiling windows at the back of my room facing a slowly yellowing forest that extends down to the sea just a short distance from where I sit, tired but content with the world. My experience in BC has been busy but soothing, infuriating and somehow enlightening, brief yet eternal. I know I can't explain the intricacies even half as well as I'd like, but if you sit back, relax and read the following musings, you might just catch a flicker of my contentment out of the corner of your discerning eye.
I'm never bored. In fact, following a long day of literature reviews, reading and dabbling in writing, I decided to give myself a break and play on my favorite boredom-killing sites; five minutes later I was bored and returned to reading Darwin. For those of you wondering, I'm working on my MA in anthropology specializing in museum studies. If you are interested in the nitty gritty, give me a ring and I'll be happy to go on about my ideas. For now, though, I think it is sufficient to note that the readings are more time and mind consuming than I suppose I had imagined. Chats with professors, senior students and members of my own cohort generally agree that grad school is simply an exercise in perpetually feeling like an idiot. Fear not, though. I've come to grips with this by occasionally dabbling in deliciously childish diversions to replenish my enthusiasm for life and knowledge. Why, just today I volunteered at my friend's Earth and Ocean Sciences Department's Open House. I set up and interpreted a mini fossil bed a la Tyrrell Museum for two hours before I had to pry myself away to work on my research proposal. Not a childish diversion you say? I dug plastic dinosaurs and special rocks out of plaster-filled tubs, played in a sandbox, and played with food colouring. It was marvelous. I also head down to the beach as often as I can, which is not nearly so often as I should, and listen to the waves roll in, digging my cold toes into the sand. Autumn in Vancouver is slow and gentle, if a little cool, so I have been drinking in the orange, red, yellow and green for many weeks now.
That said, it was nice to visit home last week and see the last glimmer of gold bouncing off the poplar and birch in Edmonton's incomparable river valley. Visits with friends and family were long overdue, but welcome after such a trying year. If you missed me, I'll be back in December for Christmas. Thanks for the hugs, lunches, dinners and cocktails! I haven't had a turkey at home for a loooong time and it was just perfect. Thanks!
Food here at the College has not left me wanting...well, occasionally I find myself wanting the regular weekend fast to arrive sooner. You see, they feed us sooo much food that my dear tummy is a little strained at times. I'm lucky to have the food, though, and I rarely have to buy lunch with all the leftovers. Fortunately the people have been even more satisfying than the food; no so much in the delicious and filling way, but in the fascinating and engaging way. After my long Thursdays, I find that a chat over supper is usually enough to bring me back to the real world where knowledge, silliness, creativity and joy can mingle as they like. Despite being a little overwhelmed by the reading, though, classes are interesting and my small cohort is diverse and graced with talent.
I'm very lucky, I think, to run into such amazing people wherever I go. I'd say I miss you all, but I think of you so often that it feels like you are next to me. May I wish you all the best from now until I write again! Let me know where you are in your life, and I'll try to keep in touch.
Love, always,
Joanne
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