* * *

I’m enrolled in English 229 now, but upon hearing that my friends were in your class, I wanted to join them too. Maybe I’m not quite done with you yet.

I’m reading your syllabus and already a migraine is forming. How can people still be flocking to your classes? You’re probably the only one I know that writes a heavy syllabus like this. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but I do want in though, I guess, if you can really squeeze me in.

Elaine Leung, inescapably drawn towards a third bout of suffering. September 2004.

* * *

“People have dried to death because of the serious lack of stories in their life.”

Tuula Litmanen, dodging the puddles in Helsinki, February 2003.

* * *

thanks for the course, regardless of the compressed summer format (and regardless of the fact that you were one of the most ruthless markers i’ve ever encountered -- a positive thing) it was a refreshing change of pace from the norm.

i was beginning to think of UBC as somewhat of a degree-mill; you and a precious few others prove that it really does depend on the instructor . . . and how burnt out the student is in years 3 and 4 of his or her degree.

cheers, sean

Sean O’leary, capitalizing his opportunities in English 470 B, August 2003.

* * *

Dr. Martineau has asked us to keep a journal for this course. I have never encountered an idea like this, but I am quite put at ease by it. It puts the teacher and his students in quite an intimate sphere in which discussion takes a more personal and informal form. Of course, a lot of teachers are ill at ease to be in close proximity with their students’ personal opinions, at least “too” personal. But this idea of keeping a journal brings writing back to a form of enjoyment, reflection, and self-discovery rather than a tyrannical and ulcerous exercise in milking words. Ever since Arts One, I’ve been writing less and less for my own enjoyment, simply because the machinations of churning out essays after essays like so many unwanted babies has blinded me to the true meaning of writing. Perhaps this will give it new meaning.

Zhen Huang, conceiving a path through English 470 B, July 2002.

* * *

“Writing and rewriting are modes of thinking. You have to get your idea down. And once you do, you might be able to get something better down.”

Laurie Ricou, conjuring everyday magic in The Arbutus/Madrone Files, published in 2002.

* * *

That paddling story reminds me of a character from Japan that my wife and I met last summer in Prince Rupert. You must know that campsite/RV park on the right, two minutes before the ferry? Well, we met a young man there who was recuperating from paddling all the way from False Creek. He was on his way to Anchorage. He built a canvas and wood kayak that was a cultural tribute to the Aleuts, complete with one of those hook/horn bows. Anyway, there wasn’t much left of this guy. I expect he was an appreciative “Guest” at one of those complimentary cabins you describe in your story.

I would especially like to attend 470 D. I can’t get enough of BC material. I powered-off Robinson’s Monkey Beach last summer.

Dave Vanwerkhoven, a student in 1999, feeling a tad isolated teaching way up north, June 2002.

* * *

“You looked so different then -- all that hair and that thick beard. We should have a photo session. We could try some black and white shots.”

Barbara Surgeon, incisive image fixer, May 2002.

* * *

“Exterminate the brutes.”

Dr. Diane Stiles, who has no immediate plans to visit Disneyland or the west coast of Haida Gwaii, March 2000.