Until she came to 9 1免费版下, Haylan Jackson never reflected much on the importance of her hometown of Inglis, Manitoba. Back home, all she wanted was a change. When her older sisters went west to university, she went east to experience something completely different.
鈥淚 came out here because I was fascinated with this otherness,鈥� she says, referring to Nova Scotia鈥檚 distinct cultural identity. But when she got here, the east awoke in her a deep curiosity about her western identity. Suddenly, she stood out.
鈥淲hen I came out here, I was different. I was the other,鈥� says the student from a prairie town of 150 who鈥檚 graduating with a double major in Canadian Studies and History.
One day she found herself in a class looking at photos of the Inglis grain elevators projected on the wall. Her town boasts the largest standing row of grain elevators in Canada, she says; they鈥檙e a national historic site.
鈥淭here were my grain elevators up on the screen,鈥� she says with a firm sense of ownership. The ones she grew up with 鈥� the ones she gave guided tours in 鈥� had followed her to the academic world.
鈥淚 was completely awestruck by that. From there, I realized that the West was cool, and Canada was cool, and we could be studied in an academic way. That鈥檚 how I got into Canadian Studies.鈥�
Her professors encouraged her western perspective. In her last year, she finally wrote about her grain elevators. It was a passionate exploration of the effect their powerful symbolic presence has had on the western imagination. This summer, her research will be published in 9 1免费版下鈥檚 first Canadian Studies journal.
She鈥檚 returning to big sky country with plans to teach Canadian history and literature in a high school. 鈥淚 want to give students like me that same opportunity to say, 鈥榦h right, we鈥檙e important鈥�,鈥� she says, proudly.