jords on jords.
The election happened; now it’s all over but the shredding. Here’s three snapshots of the aftermath:
Election night was a cruel rewind on a smaller scale; watching people’s reactions, knowing what they were thinking about, feeling empathetic but oddly detached. Losing isn’t as bad if you just expect that you’ll feel like shit on election night. Also, I don’t know what winning feels like.
We went to Alaska this weekend. I should have done that after the federal election. Fly fishing is way better than making terrible life decisions because at the end of the day if you fail at fishing, you just don’t have any fish.
Driving back to Whitehorse, I turned on the radio and heard the federal campaign song. This song has become my own personal reminder of the precarious grip we sometimes have on success. It is also a terrible song. This time, I heard it and realized every moment in my life, every decision I ever made, everything I ever accomplished or failed at had led me to right now, where I was [still] unemployed and driving a pickup truck full of rocks from Haines to Whitehorse. After deciding whether to laugh, cry, or do neither (I chose neither), I continued driving. What other option was there?
Do not let the depressing post-election woes expressed in this blog post make you think I did not enjoy my time in Whitehorse. Second only to moving to Canada initially, coming here is probably the best decision I ever made. I’m deciding what to do next, and I will update you all accordingly.
Hello from Whitehorse!
Ten hours of flights later, I made it to Yukon in one piece. That last sentence was mostly for my mother, who sent me a pretty upset email about not calling her or answering my phone when I arrived. While they do have cell phones here, mine doesn’t work at all, so friends—please do email me.
Anyway, today was my first full day in the territory. I went for breakfast with some campaign folks, did a few hours of labour at the party office, went to a cabin on a lake, ate caribou and saw a fox. If you know me, you know that this is basically the best case scenario.
It is incredibly beautiful here in a way I’m not really sure yet how to describe, so please accept this photograph in lieu of 1000 words:
Politics has spoiled me. I’ve gotten to do some pretty incredible things in the past few years. I’ve seen some places I wouldn’t normally have seen, met people who I never would have met, and have gotten to stand in the wings of some interesting moments in history.
Even though I thought I would hate it, this summer of not-working has been pretty fantastic. I made it back out to British Columbia, couch surfed my way through a season, moved to Toronto, and was able to briefly pop down to New York to see my BFF before escaping the impending hurricane-caused ratpocolypse. I also spent a lot of time sleeping, thinking, reading, and looking at things around me that I didn’t normally have time to see. It’s amazing, the things you can do when you don’t have to do anything.
Here’s a paragraph about variations on a theme! Similar to when I decided to attend McGill, when I sold everything I owned on a Thursday to go work for Mr. Ignatieff on a Monday or when I said “sure, why not?” earlier this summer and moved to Toronto, it’s time for my next big adventure. On Saturday, I’m headed to Whitehorse, where I’ll be doing some work for the Yukon Liberals.
I should be back south of 60 sometime after the election, which has to be called by mid-October. Or I could decide I like it there and stay forever. Opportunities like this, you’ve just got to grab them and see where they take you. (Krista can probably tell you how obnoxiously, annoyingly, repetitively excited I am about all this.)
I’ll keep everyone updated via this blog and the occasional tweet. Please send me emails and stay in touch!
*Kinda.
