Ruth Walker

Whitby, Ontario
English Literature, Trent University in Oshawa
A mature student, Ruth Walker is completing her degree after taking courses part-time for over a decade. She is married and a mother of four. With the encouragement of her Trent professors, she has become a budding new writer.

Why did you choose Trent?

Essentially, my husband, our 4 children, and I moved to Whitby from London in 1991. I wanted to ready myself for a return to the workforce and wanted to get my degree in sociology. I’d quit school in Grade 11, and while I managed to carve a good career in the human resource profession, I’d always felt “not quite as good as” my colleagues. I did take two credits at the University of Western Ontario in 79 & 81, but children started to arrive, and academics were put on hold.

Trent’s Oshawa campus seemed a good logistical choice, so I applied for admission as a mature student and was accepted. Professors Beth Popham and Joan Milhovec were two welcoming voices, so I felt at ease even before I had started (as “at ease” as any insecure mature student might feel.)

Besides, I’d visited the ‘new university’, Trent many, many years previously on a school trip. I clearly remember walking across the bridge and thinking how really nice it all looked, the water, the forests, the modern buildings and how maybe one day…ironic that I am so rarely on the Peterborough Campus, and yet, am still so connected to this place.

How would you describe yourself? How would others describe you? What are your passions in life?  

I am a socially conscious and intensely curious poet, writer, playwright, and editor, and I love my family—my husband Cameron and our four fabulous children and their partners—above all else.

As a writer, I want to know about others – about their interests and passions. I want to understand history – real and imagined – to understand the hearts of societies, both good and bad. And I think that we better understand global issues when we pay attention to stories. Through stories, it is possible to walk in new shoes, to see the world through different eyes—even if those eyes are fictional, when the writer is true to the heart of the story then readers have access to a window that can give them new insights. From first-person true-life narratives, to ancient myths, to densely packed poetry, to surreal science fiction, there is so much to learn from story.

My other passions include the natural world, especially the quiet Haliburton woods where we have a family cabin. Others say I have a wicked sense of humour (and I’ll admit it’s a bit on the twisted side); I certainly love to laugh and enjoy the power of irony. And I am passionate about the important place of creative artists in our world. I’m one of four artists in residence at an alternative secondary school through the Durham District School Board and the Ontario Arts Council, and it is wonderful to be valued by students and teachers for my gifts as a writer. It is a fantastic message for the students: the arts can open doors and eyes.

Have you been involved in any clubs, groups, and/or sports at Trent? If so, which ones?

Oh, I am so low-profile in Trent activities as to be invisible. But I’ve been a thoroughly active volunteer and participant in a wide range of organizations, from serving on a variety of not-for-profit community boards to organizing writing and arts-related events and activities in Durham Region. Frankly, I don’t know how I could have juggled one more thing without having my family disown me.

What has your time at Trent meant to you? What are some of your favourite memories? What will you take with you from Trent?

It was in the dreaded Engl 205 (now Engl 2000) that I learned humility as a student and excellence as a writer. I so resented having to take this imposition of a course; after all, I’d already completed three English courses by this point—with honours! What did I need to learn about critical theory?

That course was the best thing I ever studied (until Greek Mythology this term). I learned about how to read—how to read as a writer—how to lift the layers and find Roland Barthes’ “tissue of quotation”—how to find the deeper nuances and richness between the lines.

But even more importantly, it was in that class taught by Rachelle Lerner, that I first discovered my voice as a writer. We were given the option to submit our own creative work and apply methods of literary analysis as part of the practical application component. After my second submission, Rachel asked me: “I don’t normally comment on students’ creative work, but you have a strong narrative voice. Do you write?”

It was all I needed. To that point, I never dared imagine myself as a writer. It felt so nervy even submitting my scratchings as part of the course. But after that response from “my professor”, no one could stop me. And Rachelle was not the only encouraging professor at Trent. Adrian Kelly, Rita Bode and Martin Boyne have all three encouraged my writing. Rachelle was an eager and early mentor and Adrian a true champion with well-directed pushes just when I needed them.

Other memories include:

…Joan Milhovec in the Trent Oshawa office was an absolute gem to work with. She also encouraged me, and way back when, was the person who asked “why are you taking sociology when you clearly do so well in English?” What a wise woman. J

…holding a plaster cast of a tiny finger bone from the skeleton of Australopithecus farensis, the famous three million-year-old “Lucy”, in Anthropology 100 was awesome, inspiring a poem that has been published no less than three times.

…sitting outside on a summer lawn at the Oshawa campus in 1998, sharing oral narratives in my Cultural Studies class.

…driving up in a snowstorm in March 08 to meet with John Metcalf at Champlain College and receive his comments on my manuscript and his encouragement. Awesome.

There are many more ‘indelible memories’ – after all, Trent and I have been together for a long time.

What are your future plans and aspirations? What do you hope to accomplish?     

I will write until I can no longer form the words in my head; with luck, that’s at least a couple of decades away.

As a later-in-life arrival to the writing profession, I am like the proverbial kid in a candy store. I have tried on so many different literary forms and it has been my joy to find my words in anthologies, journals, newspapers, and magazines in Canada, the US, and the UK. I have listened to my words come from the mouths of actors on stage, and I have read my poems and stories aloud to audiences in southern Ontario. Of course I hope that one day I will see at least one novel published.

But all of it would mean nothing without the enriching love and support of my family and my dear friends and writing colleagues. While the act of writing is solitary, the writing life need not be.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Trent University is now part of my “tissue of quotation”. Every word on my page has some thread that can be traced back to the hours of lectures, the stacks of books, and the vigorous and rich discussions with classmates and instructors. I cannot look at the world without seeing through some part of the Trent ‘patina’. And I cannot read a word that others have written without looking for the meaning beneath.

Read. Read every day. And if you get the chance, hug a writer. Or at least, buy their books.