D’you know?

This is one of those years in which the end of the academic teaching term coincides with Easter weekend, as indeed was the case in my first year as a professional academic, back in 1979-80.  That was a very long time ago – and no, it most certainly does not feel like yesterday!

The coincidence of these two events always seems very appropriate.  Easter is all about spring and fecundity, the return of life to a dead world – think rabbits and eggs, and of course the etymology of the name in English.  None of these has anything remotely to do with Christianity, although 1600 years of domination of the “Western” world by a single religion has certainly exerted a profound effect, not to mention a determined attempt to appropriate earlier practices.  But many cultures have a spring festival, frequently linked to their New Year, and often this has more ancient roots than their formal religious practice.  In Iran, for example, the dominant faith is similarly eclipsed by the much older cultural festival of Nowruz.

As an assistant professor working on Vancouver Island, Easter was less about the turn of the seasons – as there was no real winter to speak of in Victoria – and more about the change of mental gears, from the long grind of class preparation and grading to a renewed focus on research.  And usually this also was linked to a long plane journey to Italy.  But as an undergraduate student in Ontario, the end of winter had been very important indeed.  At Carleton, spring had also brought a sense of completion – courses finished, exams written, credits banked – and a transition to something new, invariably a summer job and a complete change of pace.  It also brought a surge of mental and physical energy, associated in my mind with the torrid pace of the Rideau River as it ran through the campus, carrying the spring run-off of melting snow.

I have a similar sense of closure and new beginning in this Easter week of 2012.  The last few months have been a time of considerable uncertainty, waiting for the provincial and federal budget statements that would signal our destiny for the next 12 months.  It has been difficult – impossible really – to develop plans without having any meaningful idea of the financial situation; but now, finally, the pieces are starting to fall into place.  There will be no major change to provincial government funding, and our student numbers appear to be holding up.  It seems likely that there will be a small budget cut, but probably closer to 1% than 3% — still significant, but surely manageable. 

What does all that mean?  In a nutshell, it means that in the coming month we should be able to finalize our plans for the 2012-13 academic year, and barring some unforeseen disaster we should be relatively OK through at least one more annual cycle.  The sky may eventually fall, but it is unlikely to do so in the coming year.  And for that we should all be very grateful.

And coupled with this sense of closure is an explosion of good news that I take as an omen of both things happening and things to come.  It has been an amazingly good week for the “arts” at Carleton.  Last Thursday witnessed both the ceremony to bestow an honorary doctorate on José Antonio Abreu, and also one at Rideau Hall to bestow a Governor-General’s award in visual and media arts on Diana Nemiroff, Director of our Carleton University Art Gallery.  And on the weekend came the exciting announcement that Jesse Stewart, faculty member in Music, and his Stretch Orchestra, were winners of the Juno award for best instrumental album of 2011.  All I can say is “Wow”!

Dilegua, o notte … All’alba vincerò!