David Greatrix is an air force brat and Prairie boy who did most of his early growing up in Canada’s capital and in Germany, in addition to spending a good number of his formative years as a child and adult in Winnipeg. He wrote Farewell to the Good Old Days in part to expose the details of a long and sometimes sticky career in academe in Canada, a career that included facing an ongoing string of professional obstacles. He considered his experiences with these and other obstacles worthy fodder for a “no-holds-barred tale of betrayal, ambition, and stupidity” that would ideally help spare others in similar circumstances from suffering the same fate.
In addition, Greatrix penned Farewell to the Good Old Days to educate individuals interested in what he considers the dubious evolution of modern university life, and on a more positive note, to inform an audience curious about engineering as a profession. Greatrix is adamant that his literary deep-dive into stories of so-called professional people behaving badly serves not only as a cautionary tale, but also as a salute to those worthy colleagues in the academic world who were sincerely trying to do the right thing.
