Lucky Number 10

I've needed a bit of time to let the 'new reality' sink in.

I found a supervisor, or in the least someone who is interested in my work and is willing to 'sign off' on it. The unfortunate winner of a supervisorial relationship with me is none other than Thomas Homer-Dixon (www.homerdixon.com). Unfortunate because I think I'm a hard cracker to crunch and don't do particularly well with other people's agendas.

As always, you need to hear the story before you can understand the significance of what has or may happen vis-a-vis this relationship.

Let's take it back to last summer. Laura (my lady) and I were on a bicycle trip from Hamilton, ON to Scotsburn, NS. Three weeks on the road and the culmination of much hill-climb training and risk-taking (the relationship). We arrived in Halifax and all I wanted to do was think and read. You would think that after a year of ramming my head full on into complexity science in McMaster's 'Cube Farm' that I would need a break. Yes folks, I was feeling bored and cranky and not exactly understanding why. My attempt at a solution was to buy a book. I went down to Barrington Street to 'Canada's oldest bookstore' and perchanced on a copy of 'The Ingenuity Gap' by Thomas Homer-Dixon.

'Can we solve the problems of the future'?, he asks.

In between beers with Laura's brother Luke, strolls down Agricola, and dips in a lake near Antigonish, I read through the book in large chunks. I was impressed with the flow between ideas and the desire to understand how humans and our own humanity is able to handle complexity. He weaved narrative, cognitive anthropology, history, interviews, complexity science, technology, and ecology (among other things) to try and capture how the human mind is constrained and enabled in a complex world. The complexity of the human mind and spirit is situated within a tangled web of relationships that shape the global crisis. Our planet is dying and can we do anything to heal it?

I remember reading it and also having some criticisms of the book, particulary around issues that related to education and complexity sciences. As a maturing thinker on these two issues, I feel that he could have spoke to more important issues about the learning conditions under which 'ingenuity' emerges.

All this aside, I was quite impressed with his work, and upon finding that he was a professor at UofT I sent him an email with my narrative map asking to set up a meeting for a possible supervisorialship. I was off to OISE in September 2005 and ready to get my learn on. He replied saying that he was off on sabbatical and I would be best to contact him sometime in the New Year.

At this point I figured that I would probably find someone by that time and be well on my way to getting my thesis started. But, as reality played out, I contacted nine people before I would come to meet TAD (his nickname), who in some way or another could not or would not supervise me. In trying to establish relationships with these nine people, I learned a lot about the culture at OISE and about myself, my ideas. For some professors, they did not have status to supervise although they were interested. One professor, Gary Knowles, said that my stuff "didn't turn his crank". Another, Linda Muzzin, commented that my complexity science perspectives were too colonial and positivist for her sensibilities. I think she misunderstood the nature of my work but I could now see that I wasn't speaking the social equity language that characterizes the 'discourse' at OISE.

I was starting to get quite depressed and the hope that dwells at the top of my spiritual iceberg was melting under the sun of southern seas. I was mildly satisfied in spending my days at home buggering around on the computer and drinking stovetop espressos.

A few weeks ago I decided to see if TAD was around and interested in my work. I wasn't going to give up. A meeting was booked and I had 30 mins to plug myself. This isn't much time, and so under the advice of mentor Margaret Secord, I sent him a short note outlining what I was about and what I needed. He replied back thanking me for the concise note setting up the meeting and was looking forward to the get together.

The morning of, I put on my good clothes and left the door not trying to care too much about what would happen. The outcome could have been the same old, and I wonder how I would be feeling right now if that was the case. I showed up at his office and he came around the corner not entirely sure who I was.

"Sean, right?"

"Yup"

We entered his office, which is quite swank and comfortable and sat down on comfortable chairs facing each other. Wine and hard liquor sat on a table behind me. Photographs I remembered from his book lined the walls.

"I think the work you're doing is so important" he launched into discussion.

"There are very few people in this country doing this right now".

Geez, what do you say to this? Smile and nod.

A student came in the room needing TADs help. I watched the two negotiate a tangled issue about ethics boards, travel scholarships, and the Congo. TAD was intense, asking lots of questions, making many comments challening the student.

We returned to the discussion, which boiled down to him agreeing in principle to supervise me. I have sent him a short proposal, which if he likes, will mark the official start.

This man is a busy man. He's an advisor to the White House. He's writing another book and planning to travel the globe. He has a one year old. The way to deal with this, he supposes, is to work on my thesis in chunks - a few pages and paragraphs at a time. By March 2007 this should all be wrapped up.

So that was it. I left the place feeling pretty tripped out and quite pleased. The emotional release later on that day with Laura was quite intense and things are now settling down. In many ways, nothing is different. He's a busy guy and I won't have much contact with him. But I have an ally, a powerful one at that.

An interesting note here. I mentioned the whole situation to a friend on the weekend. She said that she knew of students who were not pleased with TAD as an instructor, regarding him as arrogant and conceited. I looked him up on www.ratemyprofessors.ca and a few students had indeed commented on this. One student said that they learned a lot from him because he expects a great deal, made them work hard.

I learn by experience, and I hope to see the proof in the pudding that this fellow will be able to engage me in the ways that I seek.

let's see what happens.

sp