This past weekend, I once again took a mini trip to DC, this time in academic pursuit: the annual AWP Conference. ...Ok, ok, so the draw of the Assoc. of Writers and Writing Programs was greatly aided by the fact that it was held in one of my favorite cities, meaning a visit with good friends, homemade Indian food, surely one of the best crêperies on the East Coast, and the entertaining and peculiar encounters that can happen only in places like the Metro (or in the aforementioned crêperie, if you're an older, somewhat short Colombian fellow who finds it necessary to remark on the beauty of my eyes and persistently ask me out for coffee or tea).
...but I digress. Inspiration for my attending the conference: keynote speaker Jhumpa Lahiri. Beyond that, though, was a day full of picking and choosing panel discussions and readings, all excellent and thought-provoking, though some notably more so than others. Panel 1 for me: women and travel writing, or "wanderlust." While I extend major props to all four panelists, the most thought provoking of them for me, unfortunately, did so in a "that is exactly what I don't want to do" kind of way. Her commentary? Feeling sad upon return, finding the trip to have been "meaningless" - because the trip is over and she knows what happened, she is left with no questions and no curiosity, and thus has trouble writing about it or feeling good about it. What's more, according to her, travel writing ["outside of war zones"] can potentially lack plot, as people go to "happy places."
A panel I attended later that afternoon offers up a fitting quote in response to such an outlook, I think: "It's not even like you're seeing the tip of an iceberg - it's like you're on a beach somewhere sipping a margarita and someone somewhere mentioned something about an iceberg." (Credit to Ru Freeman for that one). In short, if one finds their travel to have been "meaningless," something has gone terribly awry, and/or the situation requires some rethinking and consideration - really, nothing should be totally devoid of meaning (right?), let alone spending a fair chunk of change to traverse the globe and encounter new people, cultures, (mis)adventures.
A.The phrase "happy places," admittedly, makes me cringe: I don't need to have read The Geography of Bliss to note with some confidence that defining and finding such purported places is not all that simple, and if you think you've found Eden, I'd guess you're either having an out-of-body experience (hopefully not drug induced) or you're sipping that margarita and wondering what the hell an iceberg is.
B. Lack of plot or interest upon conclusion of the trip, as she "already knows how it ended": where's your sense of curiosity, woman? Someone truly (or even vaguely) observant ought to be coming up with more questions than answers...
C. "Meaninglessness" in travel: gah. 1.Curiosity, or at least some level of interest, should solve that. 2.I'm no missionary or grand democratizer or anything of the sort, but I do feel the need to take something with me, do some bit of good if I can, beyond supporting to the national tourist industry.
I suppose that ("C") is what drew me to the backup summer internship goal of working with USAID - I want to travel, but not just for the margarita sipping. Sure, legitimate French crêpes or Spanish paella and art-laden visits in Italy very much strike my fancy, but I don't think I could guiltlessly cafe-sit 24/7. Right next to the hunt for authentic baklava or Renaissance frescoes is that little sense of accomplishment that says I tried to do something of worth for someone somewhere - that I noted the damn iceberg and helped get people into a few lifeboats, if nothing else. Perhaps it was the summer in Ghana that really instilled that as a travel necessity in my mind, or the research on education development in India and literacy in developing countries, the musings for a possible Fulbright proposal.
That means, of course, that I'm wanting to make it to developing countries as well, beyond those typical "happy places" - as evidenced by the first passport usage for a trip to Ghana (back in the day, Canada didn't count). I can proudly add an understanding of West African Pidgin to my list of languages, though my ability to speak it is a bit rough (favorite phrase: "make you no worry"). I wonder if that'd be a valid résumé addition?
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