Just Plodding Along

My advisor has informed me that the next thing he wants to
read from me is my submission-ready thesis. For the past four
weeks I have been working hard on it. For about ten days I have
been struggling with my first chapter. It was the first one I
wrote and it is the most important because it is the founda-
tion for my argument. I expected I would be spending more
time with it than any other chapter, but I thought I would
have moved on to other parts by now. There are times when
I sense a portion of the thesis is ready but that hasn't come
to me yet regarding chapter one.

But what I treasure most from last week were the chats I had
with people. Last Monday I was walking somewhere when an
old man greeted me as I passed by. I stopped, returned the
greetings, he started talking to me, and I listened with great
enjoyment. His name is Tom, he's ninety, worked as an animal
keeper for the university his whole working life, been retired
for 25 years, and now gardens, keeps bees, and cares for his
ailing wife. He told me he is much better off economically
than ever , but that life was much better in the old days.

Yesterday, Sunday, I enjoyed lunch and conversation with two
of my favorite people here, a young couple from Canada. Ryan,
on staff of the management school and working on a doctoral
thesis, is savvy politically and we can spend all our time discus-
sing the latest news. Colleen is an early primary grade teacher.
Yesterday she shared about education, discipline, and behavior
issues that she faces in the classroom. She's an excellent teach-
er and she gives me hope regarding education.

Those were the two bookends of a week of delightful chats with
people. During the week I talked with students from the Basque
region, Norway, Rwanda, Spain, the Ukraine, Mexico, New Zea-
land, and Slovakia. I meet many of these people in conversation
at the place where I take my evening meals. I usually leave the
dining room feeling well-fed and enriched by good conversation.
Then I go back to plodding away on my thesis.

All the best, Jeff T.