Unfreshers week

Sitting in the atrium of the University of Derby's Kedleston Road campus, waiting in a 'breakout' area until it was time to e-enrol, it struck me that it was  40 years almost to the day since I had done exactly the same thing back in 1973.  Then at Manchester University, this involved filling out reams of self carbonated forms in triplicate, then shuffling room to room clutching six black and white passport sized snaps until you could get your library card, grant cheque, student union card, hall of residence pass card, student health centre registration card... the whole process, I seem to recall, took about three days. Oh, the wonders of technology! Today, having pre-enrolled on-line I simply presented myself at a computer where a very friendly member of staff snapped me on a webcam, checked my identity, ok'ed my fee waiver form and sent me along to the library desk, about 30 feet away, where my credit card sized, multi-function student card had already been printed and was ready to collect. The whole process took less than ten minutes.

Astonishingly, by pure chance, my 1973 student union card photo still exists, I found an unused, dog-eared copy of it about ten years ago at the bottom of a box-file full of old papers.

compare....

In so many ways I am very different to the shy, awkward working class kid that stumbled into the maelstrom of student life in the early Seventies. When asked, however, this week to talk a little about my particular interests  I found myself  speaking about my love of poetry, art and ideas in general. Not so different, perhaps than Pete, circa 1973. Maybe back then I might have talked about my taste in music, whereas as now I would cite travel as an abiding interest. So, despite a challenging working life and the great family life that separates the two 'me's', perhaps it's not such a surprise that  having been gifted unexpectedly, through redundancy and early retirement, an almost unimaginable amount of spare time that I opted not take up golf, but enrolled on an MA in the Humanities.

That was two weeks ago. Since then I've attended two introductory sessions covering the initial Skills and the Methodologies  modules that form the early part of the course; I've met some of the tutors and most of my fellow students. I think it's going to be challenging, and I think its going to be fun. Paul and Jo, the module leaders are quite different in their areas of interest and, on first impressions, their approach.

Paul is an historian whose interests are interdisciplinary and have in the past involved close collaboration with geographers. Some aspects of his research interests appear to be quite 'object based' exploring cultural ideas expressed in landscape with a particular emphasis on the development of 'The British Arboretum'. As a poet and a lapsed art historian then I think I have a natural affinity with this approach.

Jo, by contrast, presents herself, at least initially as very much positioned at the post-structuralist end of the spectrum so far as literary theory goes, springing a quick resume of 'Queer Theory' on a partly bemused group of rookie post-graduates and fessing up that Foucault might be the deceased person that she would most like to have a half hour conversation with. Now this will take me out of my comfort zone, which is a good thing. Just because you don't agree with a theoretical position does not mean that it is uninteresting, in fact it can make it more interesting. I might mainly write poetry using received form, but that does not stop me having a signed first edition of John Ashbery's  Hotel Lautremont on my shelves. I just need to ensure I develop  the same pragmatic, open minded attitude to 'scholarly activity' as I do to reading as a writer. Jo is also the University adviser on standards in academic writing. Here she can really help me.  When Mike Burch. editor of The Hypertexts lambasted the manuscript I had submitted for the amount of errors in punctuation it contained, it was just plain embarrassing. The post graduate work I have done, in education mainly, never required the standard of writing required for publication. Over recent years I've got better at preparing verse for publication, but even a cursory glance at the link to the MHRA 'style guide' reveals just how much I have to learn in terms of raising the standard of my prose to a professional standard. I think this is going to be a challenge.

Finally, my fellow students - a very eclectic bunch in terms of age, subject background and cultural roots, which is good. Perhaps the only disappointment is how gender imbalanced the group is, at least so far. It would appear that Lea is the only female student. I was pleased not to be the only person interested in creative writing, although quite how much I will pursue a 'creative project'  in terms of research, I have yet to decide.

It's good, I'm looking forward to it - I'm excited!