Tuesday, 21 January 1987: The Winning Photo in Local Contest

A letter to my ex- in San Diego, California

Genie Dear,

I received the latest cassette tapes you recorded for me.  I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet but one you sent several months ago has become my favorite:  “GPR Live” (with Dave Grusin’s big band) on one side and Lee Ritenour’s “Earth Run” on the other.  I’ve listened to that tape so much during my December trip to South Africa that it’s become a permanent memory of that bittersweet experience.  When I hear it now (especially when going for early morning runs), I’m back in the white VW Golf that I rented in Cape Town cruising along South Africa’s southern coast looking for photo ops…or passing herds of sheep and vineyards with the Langeberge Mountains in the background…or walking along deserted sandy beaches at sunrise…or watching Indian Ocean waves crashing against cliffs…or remembering the ever-present loneliness…or reliving the horror of my two old cameras slipping off my shoulders and into salt water near Arniston.  Fortunately, my new cameras are working fine, by the way.

And speaking of photography, enclosed is a clipping from the Botswana Gazette.  In addition to getting to keep the revolving trophy until I leave Botswana in June, I received a 100 pula gift certificate to be used at a the local camera shop owned by our camera club president.  My winning shot was a time exposure of a moving train taken at dusk in Kimberley, South Africa last May.

Above:  Clipping from 21 January 1987 issue of The Botswana Gazette.  Sorry about the checkerboard effect – I guess this is what happens when you scan a half-tone photo from a newspaper.  Unfortunately, I no longer have the original.  Below:  A better photo of me with the trophy in front of my campus apartment.

The winning photo:  Train at dusk taken from a bridge over the main rail line in Kimberley, South Africa, 20 May 1986.   One minute time exposure using Kodachrome ASA 25 film and a tripod. 

 

I really do like university teaching (especially the quantitative methods class for first year students) and, get this, sometimes I feel I could be happy doing this for the rest of my life.  Bet you never thought you’d hear me say that about anything.  But look, it’s a great life.  No bullshit from a boss (John Cooke, the chairman, may occasionally ask me to do things, but there are certainly no hassles).  I work my own hours except for the few classes I have to meet.  I teach what I want to, the way I want to (within the limits of common sense).  I’m always learning new stuff.  I practically live next door to my office and to a fairly decent university library.  I can pretty much dress the way I want to.  My lifestyle is cheap and unpretentious.  The students are a pain in the ass sometimes, but they are funny and reasonably hard-working.  On the balance, I like them.  My colleagues in the Environmental Science Department are very pleasant and generally interesting people, especially the three Africans.  The vacation time is absolutely unparalleled.  I can’t think of a nicer environment to work in than a college campus.  The pay isn’t all that great, but I don’t have to sell my soul to collect a paycheck.  I feel that my job means something – I’d like to think that I may actually be making a small contribution to my students’ lives and the future of this country.  

So now I face some dilemmas.  I doubt that conditions at other African universities are as good as they are here.  Of course, I don’t have to limit myself to Africa but it’s hard to find college teaching jobs with only a Masters.  And in the U.S. and Europe, it’s hard to find jobs even with a Ph.D.  Then there is the question of what’s more important:  my personal life or my professional life.  It’s great working in Africa but my personal life sucks.  But if my professional life sucks, as it did much of the time in Denver, that puts a damper on my personal life. 

Love,

William