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| The University of Calgary Campus From the tenth floor of the library tower I could walk around the permimeter of the building and see the Rockies to the west, Nose Hill to the north, the plains of Alberta to the east and the valley of the Bow River to the south, the valley complete with the towers and buildings of the petroleum industry, |
That job only lasted 2 week.
Then I saw a job for people opportunity for people who had been out of the workforce for a long time, to go back to work.
The university paid $1 an hour and the government subsidized that with $4.
What I did was look at card catalogue entries and type them into a data base.
The entries were about old books: from 1400 to 1650. Those work days of typing data into a computer are memorable for their monotony.
When that job ended, Then I found another job at the university library, typing for librarians, which job I did for 20 years. Those were the days when in-house training at the library was open ended. Anytime I found a lecture, or a mini-conference, I was encouraged to go to it. As well I could take 4 credit courses a year and 4 courses with the Continuing Education department. My staff card let me go to concerts for free, and I could take a guest with me to athletic events.
If I had any spare time before I started working, it was gone when I entered the workforce. I was able to build the cottage at the Shuswap with the money I made. I filled my life up reading interesting books, I was also busy delving into subject matter that I wouldn’t have known about before taking this job. If in a class I was taking, a professor said here are 5 articles or texts that you might want to look at, in addition to your assigned reading, I read them all. The combined effect of these years is not commensurate with the amount of time I spent learning or reviewing this knowledge. I am getting pay-back that far exceeds any effort I put into enjoying those years.
Arta
thanks for all that modelling of life long learning. I feel like i got the advantage of all those classes you took... it all slipped into conversations.
ReplyDeleteIt was very hard for me not to feel that whatever I was studying was the most important topic of conversation. I am lucky that I had so many kids. That meant that I could spread out my thrill over what was new to me over 8 people and not overburden any one of them. I am going to continue writing about my 80 memories for 80 years, for in that list is a thank you for the advantage of your classes that you have let me sit in.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I got to take classes in University with you. How lucky was I? And not just one. I know that we took our Canadian Lit class together and I am sure we took a women's' studies class together. Can you think of any other?
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