Archive for April 3rd, 2011
As Clear as Mud
Well, with a new contract signed for another year of teaching at the university, there is a moment for relaxation and catching one’s breath. Strange, there isn’t anything to suggest stress as returning to Canada to a nice home and no economic barriers to a decent life, or remaining in ChangZhou as a university instructor are both good choices. The stress is simply that of making a decision. Once the contract was signed, a trip to the university garden nursery and greenhouse was in order so that I could choose a plant to put into the apartment so that the place could feel even more like a home. One plant soon became three plants, one for each year of service to the university. This photo is a part of the wall that separates the nursery from the main campus grounds.
I had a lot of choices when it came to taking a photo of an opening (window) through the wall where I could get crisp, clear shots and where the opening was undamaged. Yet somehow, this one drew me. A broken window cluttered with leaves and a red ribbon that was meant to hold up a weakened plant and a lack of focus, a lack of clarity – this is what I caught. Interesting as with the signing of the contract, clarity is what I thought was where I was at after weeks of indecision.
It was only with choosing this photo for the blog post today that I came to realise some part of the why for this photo. Making a choice isn’t about moving toward clarity, it is about moving further along a path where the final destination is only a hazy image, so hazy that there is even doubt that it is a destination. And somehow, this gives me a good feeling.
