Scruff

Scruff. I love scruffy people and things. Tousled hair, faded clothes, rust on a car, scuffed shoes. To some, this makes people and things look unkept and dirty. To me, this makes things come alive. Every scar, every tear, every stain has a story to tell, a story about lived experience: enduring tough times maybe, or living it up and having a good time. Survival, resilience and the strength to keep laughing. So much focus on living life that there is little time for anything beyond basic grooming and maintenance. Maybe it’s because I’m a plumber’s child and one of my favourite places to be as a child was in my dad’s car, with the buckets of tools in the back, the smell of sawdust, my dad driving with the stubble on his face and a gleam in his eye from enjoying both the physical labour and the brain power needed to conceptualise his work. Maybe that’s why I find so much peace among hunters of the north. No one really seems to care what they look like – it’s the warm and resilient spirits that matter.

(I originally left this as a comment on another blog in response to a post on people’s favourite things. It’s the first time that I managed to clearly articulate why I’m so attracted to scruffiness in me, in others and in things so I transferred it here for safe-keeping. Now to stop procrastinating and get back to work!!)

Teensy weensy update

I have a good excuse for not blogging lately! I’m in the middle of working on my comprehensive exams. So there. This fall is pretty crazy for this doctoral student. I have to get my comps done before mid-December because my thesis supervisor is off on sabattical for the winter semester. Since I’m planning to start my field research in Northern Québec in July, this means I have to get it comps and proposal done before she takes off.

On top of all that, the fall is typically funding application madness so I had a bunch of letters to write to various agencies to convince them of why they should fund my PhD studies and research.

And because that’s not enough, my name change FINALLY came through at the end of September. I sent all my stuff in January and most of the trans people I know around here get their change of name certificate about 2-3 months later. But because I was changing my last name, it took longer. I had hoped to get it in the summer when I would have time to do all the running around to get my name changed on all my documents but NO, they had to send it right in my crazy busy period. *sigh*

It’s all done now though, pretty much. Still waiting for a couple of credit cards with my new name but since they are all maxed out, it’s no big deal. haha. But my driver’s licence, health insurance card, student ID, etc is all in my new name. At last.

Anyway, ta ta till mid-December or so.

In hairiness;

Jacky