“Over the past week I’ve twice heard twenty-somethings wonder whether kids growing up today, kids who were practically born with iPhones in hand, will still have the capacity for wonder. Yesterday as a present for his first day of second grade I brought home an erasable gel pen for my iPhone savvy six year old. After a brief demonstration, he spontaneously hugged me, “I’ve been waiting for this pen my entire life!” I think the kids are alright.”
I am sitting in the U of S (University of Saskatchewan) Arts Library, which has a stellar lounge-y study area complete with a Starbucks, comfortable and roomy chairs and tables and walls of windows displaying the fall foliage. I first heard of this solid study roost when Tim mentioned, disgruntled, that he was unable to find a place in the engineering library last Wednesday to do his math homework and had to go to the arts library instead. However, this morning, the Dean of Engineering sat in the chair across from me and said he comes here to "reflect and see people he hasn't seen in a while". If it's good enough for the Dean of Engineering, Tim, then it's good enough for you. I bet the engineering library is boring anyway.
We, the Dean and I, had a nice chat and although he didn't know Tim, (what!? the Dean doesn't know every student in his faculty? I can't believe it) he said as he left that I should "help keep Mr. Roth's nose to the grindstone" so either they are secretly mentor and mentee or engineering is just a long haul. I prefer the former.
The bit of the University I saw walking here from under my umbrella was really beautiful - old stone buildings, lots of trees and I'm reminded of those university and college campuses you dream of attending (think Rory Gilmore smelling books in the Yale library), full of history and with massive libraries and even bigger traditions. When I was younger I thought all institutes of higher learning looked like that and of course assumed I would go to one. Speaking of younger selves and youth, I loved this quotation I read on Swiss Miss this morning. (Illustration below by Luke Best and stay tuned for a Regina Dispatch in the next couple days!)
















































































