I feel like I'm in a holding pattern lately, but it's not a bad one. There is music I like playing in the background as I go about my business, which is, for the most part...
...tending to my gardens,
...checking email and facebook and astrology on the computer every day or two,
...organizing another pile of papers or old toys or rocks or matchbox cars, and setting the box or bin down next to the other ones,
...doing a bit of writing and pondering my future,
...and watching the movie channels, the travel channel, the food network, and the weather channel. Lately I've added college football and some hockey to the mix.
I need more sleep and less screen time; I need to "work" on relaxing, breathe more and think less. But things are going okay, overall...though, just to be honest and cover all the bases, I still don't trust my ability to know when things are actually going truly and 100 percent okay versus when things are going okay but I'm not really thinking about what's going on or talking about it because most people don't like hearing about intractable problems when they ask, "How are things going?"
But, like I said, at least the music in the background isn't bad and the foreground looks like its settled down to a familiar pattern that's not too hard to change.
I thought I'd share the letter I wrote for my geography program's newsletter at UNL. I was a graduate student there for ten years and have been pretty sensitive about reconnecting with folks there after my experience with teaching in Michigan. But I thought I'd give it a fair shake, and after I wrote two full pages for the 150-200 word summary that was requested, I dug in and came up with a 150-200 word summary of what I had just finished writing. ("I really can get along with authority and institutions and still assert my independence. I really can get along with authority and institutions and still assert my independence.") I sent them both, but since people won't get to see the full, two page summary of what I've been up to, I thought I'd add it to a blog and share it with my graduate school friends via facebook, since almost all of them are my friends on there. So, here it is. What I've been up to, polished for professional presentation and attempting to be respectful of both my ego and my soul, as well as the geography program's newsletter:
Although I graduated with a PhD in 2005, UNL already seems like something from a past life. I taught for a year at a university in Michigan, where there were extensive, well-staffed geography programs throughout the state school system. It was an emotionally wrenching experience, and I hugely missed the support and camaraderie of the Geography Graduate Student Organization at UNL.
When the position in Michigan was cut in favor of a tenure track, I took a year to slow down and begin “figuring things out.” I also explored the state which I hardly knew. Sadly and ironically, I had neither time nor encouragement to do so while teaching geography classes. I created my first photo essay that year, and I continue to meld my passion for geography and photography in a photo blog: http://pakman6.smugmug.com.
In 2007 I returned to my suburban Philadelphia hometown and the house I grew up in. One of my major tasks since then, which I’ve actually contracted with my family to do, has been to organize my life’s stuff and clean up what my parents left behind when they moved into a retirement community. I’ve participated in two yard sale events this year and have enough things for two more. The process has been enlightening, useful for the development of practical organizing skills, and deeply satisfying when I journal about what I’ve discovered – in the closets and attic for sure, but also within my memories and emotions.
I am not a person who stays intellectually inactive for long, and so, when I arrived “back east,” I searched Amazon.com for books about Pennsylvania and created my own regional geography class to teach to adult community members at my old high school. This is a physiographically and biologically diverse state with more densely populated landscapes than Nebraska - though there are areas that resemble the Sand Hills with bigger forests and different soils. It seems even rural villages have a bit of a suburban edge around here, and there are some very urban settings far away from the two largest cities.
My course and travels focused on southeastern Pennsylvania at first, but I am slowly expanding my appreciation and knowledge of various locales in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province and in the Pocono Plateau and Endless Mountains. My degree, or rather the experiences I gained in and out of the classroom while earning it, are a resource I used time and again to see the place I grew up in from a new perspective, and that was very helpful in dealing with the weirdness of it all and the emotional sensitivities that inevitably arise.
I’ve developed other intellectual endeavors since my experience in Michigan. I’ve created several native plant gardens around my home, including a native prairie, a bank of buffalo grass that I purchased from a nursery in Lincoln, and a north-woods garden with birch trees from the Arbor Day Foundation in Nebraska City. I also became active in a volunteer naturalist training program at one of the Northeast’s finest native plant sanctuaries: www.bhwp.org.
Currently, my major focus is on astrology. I’ve learned the basics on my own, taught classes in the community, written a short text, and I participate in regional astrology conferences much like those of the AAG.
The diversity of backgrounds and interests among astrologers is truly astounding, but I’ve yet to meet another person with a geography degree. There are subfields of astro-cartography and relocation astrology that have obvious geographic themes, but right now my interest lies in teaching astrology to dedicated beginners and using it to better live our lives.
I joke that I’m in the two disciplines that everyone thinks are something else - geology and astronomy. The real connection for me is that both disciplines use symbolic representation and analyze spatial relationships. Furthermore, both encourage a person to organize an understanding of life, either by interpreting the evolution of landscapes in one’s environment or by interpreting the evolution of a soul and its inner circuitry.
My plan is to continue to build my network of astrology friends and professional connections and to pursue a more engaged and structured educational program, perhaps culminating in professional certification. I write essays about my activities in the home and my continuing quest to master the basics of astrology in a blog: http://domesticastrologer.blogspot.com.
This past winter I applied to work on the upcoming census. In March, I received my first assignment, which was for group quarters. I became acquainted with several other highly educated and underemployed individuals from the area, which was an unexpected benefit of working for the census, where you never know what to expect from one day to the next.
Later, I did follow-up interviews and address verification for quality control. The former was the most frustrating project of any, because we were interviewing people who didn’t send in their forms but had already been interviewed once at their door. It was basically a game of salesmanship – you had you pitch your product to them in the few seconds they gave you before walking away. Interestingly enough, there was a clear generation gap among the respondents. Those under thirty-five seemed willing to help without a question or complaint, but those older, wasted more time fighting and complaining than it took to do the full survey.
Address verification was a lot less stressful, and the most geographically interesting, since I got to plan the most efficient route linking all of the addresses in my binder. It was a good way to end the experience in August, having driven about 1100 miles on the job and earned almost $3600.
And here, in case you can't wait for the newsletter to come out, or aren't a geographer, is my short summary:
When I returned to my suburban Philadelphia hometown in 2007, I set about creating a regional geography course to teach to adult community members at my old high school. I have been gradually expanding my travels and knowledge of Pennsylvania and have a photo-essay blog to showcase my twin passions of geography and photography: http://pakman6.smugmug.com. I’m an active volunteer naturalist and native plant gardener, having gone through the training program at one of the Northeast’s finest native plant sanctuaries (www.bwhp.org) as well as the Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s Tree Tender training. My current intellectual passion is astrology. Yes, astrology. I learned the basics on my own, have taught classes to community members, written a short text, and I participate in regional conferences much like those of the AAG and other professional organizations. My plan is to pursue a more engaged, structured educational program, perhaps culminating in professional certification. This year, I worked for the U.S. Census on three consecutive projects over the spring and summer months, which added almost 1100 miles to my vehicle and netted me around $3600, some intense frustration, and a sense of accomplishment. Also this year, I began writing essays about the job I have taking care of the house in which I live and my quest to master the basics of astrology. It can be found at http://domesticastrologer.blogspot.com. My email address is pakman6@verizon.net.
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