Will I wake up to discover that I have been dreaming?

How could my peripatetic path through life – from childhood way north on the Pacific coast to the bridge tour to a health food enterprise to commercial fishing to “mature student” – lead to teaching at the University of British Columbia?

Suddenly, I find myself surrounded by brilliant colleagues and fine students.

I earned my BA in 1993, my MA in 1995, and my PhD in 2001, all from UBC.

While working towards my MA, I had the good fortune to meet Professor Laurie Ricou. In an unguarded moment, Laurie agreed to supervise my dissertation. For years we wondered which would arrive first: the end of the millennium, the day of my defense, or the grim reaper.

I have taught at UBC since September 2001.

In spring 2003 and again in spring 2004, friends at Masaryk University in Brno invited me to the Czech Republic to teach intensive courses in Canadian literature. Central Europeans devour Canadian culture and literature and I have been thrilled to teach there.

I also felt honored to give two invited talks in Taiwan in December 2004: “Human Rights and Contemporary Canadian Literature” at National Taipei University of Technology and “Canadian Novels as Truth Commissions” at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu.

University of British Columbia Press continues to work my manuscript, Islands at the Boundary of the World, towards publication.

Can life be this good?