02 April 2012

moving back is moving on?

so, after a year of not really doing much other than messing around and having fun i have decided to do something a little more productive.  although it does feel a little like i'm doing a two-step as my plan to move forward with my education includes moving back to jamestown and going to valley city state again (only for a year or so).  my plan is to finish up a few classes and retake others to get my grade point average up and then start applying for graduate programs.  i hope to end up with some sort of advanced degree.  (maybe in environmental communication?)  of course, i will keep you posted on the details of all of this as they unfold.

at the moment i'm still not sure when this will all happen.  as it stands, i've re-applied for the temporary position that i held at charism's camp mccormick last summer.  this year the focus is going to be on gardening and without knowing that i submitted a list of gardening project ideas with my application.  since i held the position last year, because of my interests (gardening, environmentalism, food justice), coupled with my future plans give me lots of hope that i will be hired back.  (lets hope so because how awesome will that look on my grad school apps?)  if that happens i plan to move in august.  if, for some reason, i do not get re-hired i'm not sure when i'll move, but it will probably be sooner than later.

anyone who really knows me understands what a difficult decision this has been for me...not because i've spent a lot of time talking about it, but because they know how i feel about living there.  don't get me wrong, there are many things about jamestown that i adore (mostly people that live there) but there seem to be a disproportionate amount of things about the place that i find despicable.  needless to say, i'm going in with the attitude that this is a means to an end...not my end. 

i plan to focus on school, work on lots of creative things, and really only engage with a few people (basically the list consists of people that i continued relationships with after moving).  i hope that i will be able to stay somewhat active in a few communities and continue to work on some of the projects i've started in the f/m area.  that means that i'm going to begging you to let me crash on your couch from time to time.  also, i'm probably going to want a few of you to come and visit me.  i will need some sanity. 

because i've been trying to sort all this out, i've sort of let a few things go for the past few weeks and plan to rectify that by continuing my series on women who inspire me by posting one piece each month this year.  additionally, since april contains my favorite holiday, earth day, i plan to post a lot about environmental activism and gardening.  in conjunction with earth day, f/m food not lawns will be having its first meeting (click here for more info).

so, over the next three or four months i'm going to be going back and forth a lot between fargo and jamestown.  i'm going to be packing, planting, and planning.  eventually i'll resettle there temporarily with the intention of moving far, far away to figure out how i can have more impact on the environmental health of our communities.  wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. i feel similar things each time I return to Jamestown. There is a list of things i love about it, mostly the people (as you said) and a list of things that really drain my soul here. It is good to hear of your goals and future plans and I wish you luck. Hopefully we will be around in Jamestown at the same time and help each other make it work.

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