How many English majors does it take...?

Roughly 12% of this summer's staff majored in English or Literature in college. The obvious question bubbling to the surface is "What is there about a degree in English that leads one to the wilderness to wash dishes, serve dinners, guide guests across braided channels to the McKinley River Bar?" Some of us have sheepishly noted that a degree in English prepares one to return to college for another degree. Others proudly wear their "P.O.E.M." sweatshirts (Professional Order of English Majors).

But the knottier question stuck in my mind. Why so many English majors? As you grow to know staff members, it's clear why several cooks come from the Bay Area: so does the Executive Chef. I'm still working on the Vermont connection--at least four staff members live in, hail from, store their off-season belongings in Vermont. The random coincidences explain themselves randomly--went to the same college, lived in the same town, were influenced by the same experiences. But fifteen of fifty people here at the back of beyond majored in English?

Several say, "I'd planned to go on to graduate school, but thought I'd take a year or so off, first." Years of free wandering, silversmithing ensued; the dream of graduate school lingers. For others the graduate degree didn't lead in the planned direction, and Theological School study morphed into driving tour buses and construction. Others (those more newly graduated) simply Googled "Cool summer jobs in Alaska" and trusted the interview process for the rest.

I'm at the other end of the career path. I've done the teaching, the office work, the part-time jobs, even a month of retirement. My wanderlust has long prodded me to wonder how I could spend a summer in Alaska, cheaply. Physical strength proved reclaimable, and love of challenge piqued my competitive sense. And it was that set of "I've done's" that led to the awareness that there is nothing singular about my education.

Deconstructing literature and parsing sentences doesn't predispose an affinity for slogging up to the Ridge Top in rain or noticing clever signs at the end of Wonder Lake or tiny flowers in the underbrush at the side of the path--any more than any other degree does. Responding to inner curiosity and remaining open to unusual opportunities are far more instrumental in the life-decision-making process. So packing Jane Austen and Shakespeare along for reading escape means only that those are the companions I want in quiet moments, along with the Guide to Wildflowers of Denali National Park and Bradford Washburn's maps and photographs of Mt. McKinley. All the details are part of the life each of us lives here 90 miles from the paved road.