The Final Stretch
I just past the eight month mark of my residency here at the University of Calgary. I can’t believe that I only have two months left before I have to abandon this office, this view and the monthly paycheque. I warned the higher ups here that come June they might have to call security, because I am not leaving without being physically removed.
I am starting to feel the same sense of unease I normally feel at the end of my research trips. I always wonder if I’ve done enough. Or if I wasted too much time. I have been very productive here at the University. I’ve completed a clean draft of the first five chapters of my Walls project – which is the most I can do before traveling again. I’ve held nearly forty manuscript consultations. Visited a dozen classrooms both here on campus and elsewhere. I’ve done presentations on travel writing, on writing ‘the Other,’ and on ‘Place writing.’ I’ve given talks on walls, Persian poetry, and on Iranian wrestling. I did a bunch of readings, wrote a bunch of magazine stories, and sent a pile of pitches off to editors.
Still, there is that same nagging feeling that I could have, should have, done more. I am not sure what that might have been, but I have two months left to figure it out. And get it done.
Elsewhere 