Postcard from Canuckland
by Claude Mills, The Gleaner, Jamaica, 2004/5 Fellow

As I write this, my year as the Gordon N. Fisher for the year 2004-2005 is drawing to a close. It has been a whirlwind year, a splendid opportunity to not only recharge the old Duracells, but to redefine and even expand the dimensions of the role I will play in the rest of my active professional life.

When I arrived in September, I was entranced by the 40 year-old Massey College, and I spent hours seated in the quadrangle on a bench, enjoying the swan song of a dying summer, and watching the fall colours burn in the trees. The U of T campus has some fabulous Victorian architecture, and is located in downtown Toronto. The campus is plugged in to the lecture circuit and some of the world's most innovative thinkers drop by to give guest lectures. The campus is also close to the cultural heart of the big city where you hop on the subway, and check out operatic or dramatic productions, jazz and blues concerts, and even reggae shows on the waterfront.

The Gordon Fisher fellowship winner joins the group of Canadian Journalism fellows for an eclectic two-semester run of activities they will not soon forget. On Mondays and Thursdays of each week, speakers from a wide range of backgrounds give presentations to the journalists. As well, there are usually three trips each year: one trip to a location in Canada, and two international trips, one to the United States, and another, sponsored by the Finnish government, to Finland at the end of the programme.

This year, the journalists have decided to go to bypass the United States and head off to Mexico City to soak up the culture, visit the Aztec pyramids and converse with intellectuals and academics on the issues that galvanize the Mexican community.

During our stay here at Massey College, we were feted in style. The lavish 'High Tables' - a quaint Anglo-Saxon custom which is used to celebrate the accomplishments of senior fellows, journalists and junior fellows - will shock and awe you with their 'weird' rituals. Plus, members of the community are required to wear a black academic gown, complete with rosette, to dinner each night where you will be -- get this - served dinner. No wonder so many journalists have difficulty re-entering the real world after this programme!

The journalists are invited to audit classes in subject areas that interest them. In my first semester, I started the two-semester Creative Writing course, and audited the History of Early Modern Europe 1450-1648, the Short Story, the Comparative Anti-Terrorism law seminar and Fiction 1900 - 1960. In my second semester, I did an intensive playwriting course, and a film course, Science Fiction Fantasy and Film. You are required to complete all the assignments in at least one course each semester. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is located within walking distance from Massey College and is currently undergoing a CAN$200 million transformation, but sections of it were still open to the public. I have fallen in love with the excellent facilities at Hart House which boasts several gyms, a pool, and workout equipment.

The fireplace will come in handy during the hard fast days of winter when the temperature may plummet to minus 30 degrees Celsius during a 'cold snap'. During one infamous week, it was several degrees colder in Toronto than in Antarctica!. Still, once you get over the initial shock, it is a pleasure to walk the city's icy salted sidewalks especially when the sky is a beautiful razor-sharp blue.

The best part of being as Massey College is however the interaction with the Junior Fellows, who are some of the most talented, intelligent people you could have the chance to meet. The community is an interdisciplinary one, and the fellows are graduate students reading in a variety of fields. If you get the chance, you can go with them on excursions, attend movie nights, junior fellow lectures and converse with them over dinner. You will not be disappointed.

One of the joys of the Fellowship is the unlimited access to the Robarts library, a stone's throw from the college, one of the finest libraries in Canada. It's a great place to go to get your assignments done or catch up on your reading.

Take the opportunity as well to immerse yourself in campus life, check notice boards, make sure you attend lectures at the Munk Centre for International Studies, or attend a few presentations of the Hugh Jackman lecture series which featured writers and poets such as Austin Clarke, Lorna Goodison, Erna Brodber and Linton Kwesi Johnson this year.

It has been a fantastic experience that was as rewarding as it was educational. The most difficult part of the experience is knowing that it will have to end, and then we have to return to daily grind of newspaper life. Oh well, you can't win 'em all!