Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. 'Nothing in particular,' she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.

How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter's sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me.

-Helen Keller, Three Days to See (1933)
NB: Helen Keller was deaf-blind.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Stories from Sackville, Part III: Lunch with Mr. President

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Last spring, when the announcement went around campus that I had been awarded a Killam Fellowship, my friend the university President emailed me a message of congratulations – addressed to “Nico” – inviting me to lunch. We tried to work things out, but I was simply too busy touring with the university's bilingual theatre troupe, Tintamarre.

So, when I decided to go to Sackville for the last week of my winter break (the first week of classes at Mount Allison) I wrote Dr. Campbell to see if he wanted to go for a run together – yes, he is an avid runner, even in the winter. He replied that he was busy with all sorts of conferences and things that week but that I should call him at his home when I arrived on Sunday to arrange a coffee date that evening.

I called a couple of times but couldn't catch him in. The third time, I left a message. I didn't get a call back so I assumed he was just too busy and that we missed our only chance.

Thursday night, I bumped into him and his wife on the street and he asked why I hadn't called. He hadn't received my message. We arranged to have lunch the next day. We went to Joey's, a nice Italian restaurant, had beer, the lunch special and coffee, and chatted for well over an hour about my experience, travelling and living abroad, Mount Allison politics, Canada-US relations, etc. all the while bringing peers and professors whom both of us always knew.

His treat.

Gepostet von Nicholas Dubé unter Sunday, January 13, 2008

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