Conversations with the Past

Reflecting on the people who remember all the people you used to know

This past weekend I called someone who I haven’t talked to in about 25 years, and even though she is in her late 80s, she picked right up where we had left off in our previous conversation.

Joyce, whose last name I won’t use here so as not to blow her cover from Google, was the administrator of the UC Davis English Department’s graduate program back in the 1990s when I was a graduate student. Staff members like Joyce hold together academic departments that are filled with faculty who have significant teaching loads and daunting research responsibilities. Also, the egos! Many faculty are (seen as) the most important people in any room they enter, so such people are not always eager to defer and compromise. Thus, staff members who elevate the success of the department above their personal concerns and goals make everyone seem functional.

Joyce had a steel-trap mind, meaning that she could call up the geographic, academic, and disciplinary backgrounds and qualifications of everyone who applied and was admitted to the MA, MFA, or PhD programs. Talking with her on Sunday, I found her to be just as sharp, reminding me of conversations she had with faculty decades ago.

Everyone she worked with and everyone who taught me in the 1990s has retired or passed away, four of them just last year, but because she and I have excellent memories of that era, we stepped right into that era, reflecting together on the remarkable scholars and writers who occupied Voorhies Hall back then. I reflected on how all of us have so many memories that are likely to be called up only by being triggered by the relevant people who participated in the remembered experiences. The deaths of our friends and beloveds affect us deeply not only because of the ways that we enriched our lives, but also because of all the fading memories that they no longer will be triggering for us. Some people write down their recollected experiences as a stay against such diminishment.

I also reflected on what Joyce and the English Department faculty envisioned for me, what I once hoped for myself, and how my actual path compares. I myself imagined a different trajectory for my life, but I know that my life is rich and meaningful, and suited for me, in ways that I would not have enjoyed if I had followed that trajectory.

So, I send thanks to Joyce and to everyone at UC Davis who guided and stood beside me during that era, from faculty and staff to my peers and students. I’ve relished my path of curiosity, discovery, laughs with family and friends, and occasional accomplishment. As Mae West said, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

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Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:

1. Mottos and Slogans. What ubiquitous organization invites us to “Customize Your Cup”?

2. Internet Culture. Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, the co-creators of Snapchat, all attended what university together?

3. Newspaper Headlines. The tech-heavy NASDAQ stands for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. By about how much has the NASDAQ dropped in 2025 so far? 1%, 5%, or 10%?