On the Boat

I'm sitting in front of the purser's desk on board the M/V Malaspina, one of the grand old vessels in the Alaska Marine Highways fleet. Jessica and the kids are sacked out in our berth. The wind is whistling past the windows and the vessel is starting to pitch from side to side as we enter the big water of Chatham Strait.

We left Juneau at 4:45 am this morning, after another late night of preparations. I had no idea how stressful it would be to pack our house up and ready it for our move to Portland. In the end it came down to a several late nights and even a few all-nighters. With two kids out of daycare, some of the only time we had to work were when the children were asleep.

But gradually throughout the day, you could sense the stress waning in both Jessica and myself. We've done all we can to prepare our house for our guests and to make sure we've packed the right things for Portland. And now we are stuck aboard the Alaska Marine Highway for three whole days.

It's a beautiful thing to be trapped on a boat with nowhere to go. Time slows down. Reading a book, having a conversation over dinner, fiddling with a video editor while the children sleep - all these acts come easy and don't require stealing time from some other necessary chore. Granted, traveling with children isn't quite carefree (I am scared to death that one of my kids will pop out the door while I'm not looking onto the icy outer decks). But taking a three day ferry ride gives one some luxurious amounts of time.

In addition to relaxing with my family during this ride, I hope to reflect more on what I hope to learn during these next six months. Today, as I popped off the vessel for a quick run up Starrigavan valley near Sitka, I was thinking how much I would like to improve my ability to focus. I've become a little too much of a multi-tasker, I fear. I'm wondering if academia will afford me an opportunity to hone my ability to focus on one project for an extended length of time. Already since leaving the office, I have noticed my email traffic slowing to a trickle. Maybe it won't pick back up again. Maybe I will be able to spend hours reading or writing one piece at a time, without constantly being drawn back into my inbox.

I could totally be fantasizing here, but I would like to see if I can work on this during the next six months. While our world might be a lot more efficient since we've all learned to do six things at once, I wonder how much we've sacrificed in quality. How will our society continue to produce profound works if we can't spend more than 15 minutes on any one task at a time? I think I've become pretty skilled at doing a lot during a short amount of time, but what have I given up by evading long stretches of thought focused on a single subject?

I'm sure the academic world will have plenty of distractions. And I am sure that I will invent some more of my own (like this video I am trying to produce right now). But I do hope to take the time to slow down during the next six months and learn how to go deep. If now's not the time, I'm not sure when I will ever have a similar opportunity.