English At 50 | University of Waterloo

Margaret Hitchcock (BA 1992, MA 1994) sees her choice to attend Waterloo at the age of 54 as a self-imposed “rebirth.” Having dropped out of school at 16 years of age, going back after so long put her in an Educating Rita-type experience (Educating Rita). Finding the campus attractive, she chose Waterloo because she had often heard great things about it and she lived “right on the doorstep.”

Margaret remembers many classes of which she was very fond, but she especially loved Professor Mary Gerhardstein’s Semiotics class. Dr. Gerhardstein had a way of using her dry sense of humour to open up the eyes and the minds of her students. As a result of taking Semiotics, Margaret began to see the “infinite realities behind signs, symbols, icons, text and just about everything.”

As a way of applying the new ideas she had confronted in the classroom, Margaret took a co-op position at the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development during the Oka crisis in 1990 (http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/civil_unrest/topics/99/). She was in the middle of a battleground on which the Mohawk First Nation faced off with federal and provincial authorities over a major land dispute that brought international attention to native rights issues. Being in this position allowed her to immerse herself in Mohawk culture, and to this day she recalls with pleasure joining in as Natives and non-Natives danced round the field to the beat of drums as part of pow-wow celebrations, as well as eating in the Kumik (a healing room set up to integrate Native protesters and Non-native government workers), smoking “peace pipes,” and taking part in certain ceremonies.

Margaret respected professors who, like Dr. Gerhardstein, welcomed debate in their classrooms. Lively discussions in class helped her realize the importance of an open mind while allowing her to see the world through the eyes of others. Margaret believes that she rid herself of many of her own “half-baked ideas and certitudes” as a result of these debates and to this day she says, just as Socrates did: “I know nothing.”

Apart from the mind-opening changes that occurred as a result of her studies in the English department and in co-op, Margaret also had lighter experiences at the University of Waterloo, including “drinking sprees” at the Bomber and one-time karaoke in front of a large audience (an experience she does not wish to repeat). To this day, Margaret is involved with editing, and writes creatively as often as possible. She also has a green thumb; she completes paid gardening contracts whenever she can. Along with paid work Margaret is a regular volunteer at the Library for the Cineseries, and is the Secretary for the Cambridge Sculpture Garden. One of her stories was chosen by Canadian writer and former St. Jerome’s English professor Eric McCormack as the winner of the Dorothy Shoemaker Award. Today, she often sits in on culture classes at UW’s School of Architecture. Summarizing her time at UW, Margaret says, “it does delight me to have reclaimed the academic promise I showed as a young girl.”

Ms. Margaret Hitchcock (BA 1992, MA 1994)