Weekend Update: Americana Thanksgiving.doc

It has been a jam packed few days. Peanut butter and jam packed. There are so many worthy items of news that I need to order them into a news broadcast. Picture me sitting in front of a desk letting you in on the latest happenings. Weather advice not included. Without further ado, the weekend update...

Dissertation Colloquium

On Friday, the inaugural group of MAIPR students presented the fruits of their research at the University of Warwick. The assembled guests included the first and second year students, as well as some of the faculty from our course. Each student was given 15 minutes to describe their research and walk through what they have been working on for the past five months. It's hard to whittle 130 pages into 15 minutes, but it's part of the challenge of being able to present your ideas. All in all the presentations went really well - the professors were extremely complimentary, question period was harmless, and the free lunch was much appreciated. I was really proud of the speech I prepared as a reflection of my larger paper. Yet one more hurdle that I've vaulted over on the road to being finished the MA. Slowly but surely closure is coming. I could feel it hovering in the room.

American Thanksgiving

I attended my first ever American Thanksgiving. It proved to be one of the highlights of my fall in Leamington. It was on the same day as the colloquium so we were all deserving of some good food and good company. My two previous thanksgivings had been great: Turkey sushi with Andrea last year and two nice dinners with Hinckster at Canadian thanksgiving this year. But I really hadn't feasted on a true turkey dinner with all the trimmings in over two years. Cue Courtney! My American friend volunteered to cook a proper turkey with some of thanksgiving's most signature dishes. I arrived to see the 15 pound bird had been expertly cooked alongside a table full of wonderful things: biscuits, green bean casserole, and stuffing. I brought ale infused mushrooms to add to the table. Since I was a fellow thanksgiving enthusiast I was given the honour of carving the bird. Me, in charge of cutting up the turkey with a knife and fork for 15 hungry guests. I think I did a pretty decent job stripping just about every slice of white and dark meat off the thing. The meal was absolutely delicious. I had three helpings of turkey and a big slice of incredible pumpkin pie.

Thankfulness

It might have been the combination of tryptophan and three glasses of wine, but there was a really touching moment at the end of the meal. After playing a few games with the group I suggested we go around the room and say what we were thankful for. This is a game that some friends like to play back home. It will always illicit an eye-roll from someone in the room, but once it starts it's an instant sentimental hit. I told the group that I was incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to share one of my cultural events with them. It seems straight-forward but it's true. 80% of the people at the party (from Europe, Australia, Russia, Asia, and India) had NEVER celebrated thanksgiving, one of my absolute favourite holidays, and I was able to help Courtney in showing them what the day means to us. It was incredibly humbling. We forget how special and unique thanksgiving is. The rest of the circle was also touching. The great meal plus the colloquium earlier in the day made people pretty nostalgic. It joins some of the other parties as one of the most memorable of the last sixteen months.

The Mercy Seat

On Saturday night Courtney and I went to see a production of Neil LaBute'sThe Mercy Seat on Warwick campus. The show was put on for free by the Capital Centre, a production company that shares the theatre space with us. The real draw in seeing the production was that I directed the last thirty minutes of the play for my 422 directing class at Queen's. I had a fantastic time working with friends Megan and Graham on that one. The production was alright. I was reminded of the mastery of the dialogue that originally drew me to the play - it's Mamet like in it's sharp, slick style. Unfortunately, as a full length show it really isn't appropriate for the university setting as the actors just don't have the life experience. The stakes just don't seem as high as they should be. The American accents were well done (I had to remind myself these were British actors) but the staging and acting fell a bit flat. Still it was nice to sit in a theatre after a lengthy absence in service of the dissertation.

Dissertation Submission

Woopdie freaking do! I've submitted the first draft of my dissertation to my two supervisors. Originally we were asked to prepare a draft for December 6, but my primary informed me that my two readers would like it as soon as possible in an effort to avoid the backlog that's going to come next week. So yes, I've ended my silence about where I'm at with it, people are just going to have to deal. I've worked hard and won't apologize about my progress. It feels incredibly great to see it all as a document (complete with acknowledgments, table of contents, and an eight page bibliography). Granted this doesn't mean I'm done. I've still got a lot of revisions to make before copying and binding later next month, but it feels good to send it off.

So yes, it has been an incredibly busy but fruitful weekend. Tomorrow I head back to work in anticipation of some fun, fun, fun in London on Friday and Saturday. It's what's getting me through the retail life. Although it's not all bad, did I mention I get to wear a headset at work?!

Doc's Prescription of the Day: Games where you offer what you're thankful for may not be as crowd pleasing as flip cup, but they provide memorable moments of honesty and reflection.