Oy gevalt

A vein in my right eye burst late last night, and that eye is red and swollen today. It doesn't help matters much that the air in dorm is incredibly dry, or that I've been fairly stressed of late and not sleeping as well or as often as I'd like.

School's responsible for this, but only to a small degree. I'm fairly comfortable with my courses and my workload, and I'm not expecting any problems comparable to last November and December. I like my classmates and get along well with them, the same with my dormmates. I do not doubt that I'll be able to get my MA, and I'm not concerned by what looks increasingly like my turning away from academia, towards, say, law (my LSAT's on the 7th), or something else. (I'm happy I brought my copy of Great Jobs for English Majors with me to Kingston.)

I'm concerned about what I'll be doing later. In April, I'll have to move as the West Campus dorms get converted into housing for conferences, whether to another dorm on campus or to an apartment or something elsewhere in Kingston (subletting?). Some adjustments will have to come then. Moving will be interesting.

Events later still, though, in June and following, are more worrisome. I'm moving to Toronto, that's for certain. PEI is a nice place to visit, but from the perspective of employment (to say nothing of entertainment possibilities, ethnic and cultural diversity, dating prospects, et cetera). Moving is a good idea. But with what money? to what apartment? with what job? Reading week is going to be interesting. If any Torontonians reading this have any suggestions, I'd be interested in hearing them.

Ah well. I'll get some Visine in the morning. In the meantime, I'll try to get some work done.

Letter to The Guardian

Thansk to london_calling for the idea! Now, let's see if they publish it.

***

To whom it may concern:

Prince Edward Island is my home, and it has been the home of four generations of my ancestors. On the whole, I'm rather fond of PEI, not least because it was a nice place to grow up.

I graduated, in May of 2003, with a B.A. Honours. Right now, though, I'm pursuing my education on the mainland, in Ontario, where I intend to get a MA degree this coming June. Based on my academic record and my work experience to date, I believe that I'd be a good worker. However, I do not intend to return to my native province in the search of work, simply because almost all of my university-educated friends have found it impossible to find rewarding careers here. Despite making significant investments of time, effort, and money in their education, the only jobs that they can find are either economically unrewarding or personally deadening, or both.

Over the 1990s, Prince Edward Island was the only province in Atlantic Canada with a growing population. The 1990s as a whole was an era of highly positive change for Prince Edward Island, and for Islanders. Even so, not enough has changed, particularly in the realm of employment. Call centres--where most of my (employed) friends work--might provide useful short-term employment, but you simply can't build a life based on that, while the situations for jobs in retail and manufacturing are much the same. It still isn't very easy for an Islander with post-secondary education to find a career here, not unless they want to take positions for which they're overqualified.

And so, I won't be coming back here to live. I'd like to be able to seriously consider returning, but the Island's persistent failure since Confederation to develop a high-wage, high-skills economy--an economy that appropriately rewards people with education--makes this impossible. It's my loss, I fear; I'd also like to think it's the Island's loss.

When will Islanders take the need to upgrade our province's economy seriously?

Randy McDonald
Kingston, Ontario