So Far Away

I know I said I'd update the blog with my UBC experience, but it's been a week and I'm still having trouble quantifying what all happened. I speak not only of the actual learning, but the overall intensity of the whole experience. Vicky Bell (UBC alumna and member of my email writing group) sent me an email yesterday, all caps. "I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW!" Ah, thank goodness, someone gets it. And how fitting that Vicky sent it, considering she is one of the reasons I applied to UBC at all.Right off the bat I was lucky to have found a kindred spirit in my roommate. In truth we shared the bathroom only, but it was nice to have a buddy to shop with and go to breakfast with. (Only one egg and one baked good allowed! There are many rules in res.) Plus she had this amazing chocolate tea. I found a teabag in my laptop bag yesterday and the smell of it takes me right back there.The campus was as beautiful as Université Laval was, but I was more prepared for it. I wasn't a petrified 19 -year-old kid. Life experience, I guess. I was kind of hit with this sense of belonging one morning coming out of the student union building with my Starbucks. I have a student card! And a mug!Now for the learning part...My workshop group, led by Joseph Boyden, was filled with some of the most talented writers I've ever worked with. It didn't take long before we had our own special fight club, our own special language, even our own rapper names.#1 - The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.#2 - The second rule of Fight Club is, you DO NOT talk about Fight Club.AKA No snitching. So, no exposé from me. But I think I can say this much.It reminded me of my first year with Peter Oliva in Fernie and the way he was able to bring out the best in our writing, find our obsessions. He pushed us to write the worst, which really was the best. It got ugly. It's a harsh light that shines, but it does expose the cracks. Now get to work!It was the same in Vancouver. Things got rough a few times.  I think everyone heard things that they probably didn't want to hear. (Peter would call me on that probably-we definitely heard things we didn't want to hear.) But every single person came back to the table with rewrites that showed they'd been lifted to a higher level. Such talent. I was humbled.Joseph was a great leader. He had a group of such diverse students. I felt that he really honoured my story, and my story-who I am, where I come from and how I came to write what I did. I know how hard teaching can be. The cool thing was that in a way, we were all teachers in that hot classroom. I learned as much from my fellow workshoppers as I did from Joseph, but his manner definitely encouraged and supported that.It's hard to explain without giving details (see no snitching rule above) but I know that for me, I've come home feeling as deconstructed as our stories were. Broken right down, examined, superfluousness (and adverbs!) tossed to the side. Stripped to fundamentals.Cracks exposed.I can only hope that my personal revision brings me to a higher level...I'm working on that.Song of the Week-English Bay - Blue Rodeo (what else?)Book of the Week-Um. Who has time to read? Read Fearsome Particles by Trevor Cole if only for the description of the wife's toenail issues. Awesome.