After 16 years of the same old sights and sounds at 10 Wellington with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (ok, it's only been called that for the past 4 years, but no one says INAC anymore, right...) and as previously mentioned, I've uprooted myself and moved History Grinch into a new space in Paterson Hall at Carleton University.
I must admit that I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity here in the History Department. Having been outside of the academic world and only occasionally looking into it, it's all a bit intimidating. Public Servants aren't renowned for taking risks or accepting change (remember, this is the guy who's had the exact same job for 16 years and who's resisted every outside attempt at getting me to change). To date, all my interactions with the folks here at Carleton have been excellent and incredibly welcoming (someone even wrote a great article about my upcoming residence... Thanks Nick!)
As this is just the beginning (literally! This is day 1 of 365), I'm still a bit nervous about all of this and what I'm doing here. I've created some pretty high expectations for myself (namely bridging the academic-public servant divide, and redefine how public policy is made...no pressure!), and some of my plan is still at the "back of a napkin" stage. We'll see where this all leads me.
All the same, I will be using these pages to recount my experience of "heading back to school" (I so should have gotten that Iron Man lunch box...) and trying to keep one foot here on campus and the other off in the Public Service.
