BY CHRIS BRAUER
Advance staff
I can’t claim that my life is ever boring, and I’m not sure if this is a blessing or a curse. Just when I think life begins to follow a familiar pattern and I start to plan for the future, something happens and I find myself walking a different path with different challenges. Sometimes this is due to my gypsy soul and other times it’s due to decisions beyond my control. Sometimes these transitions are easy and other times they are not. Sometimes I stay in the same town; other times I journey to far-flung places. Sometimes I discover employment opportunities I may not have otherwise considered, and I am able to learn new things and push myself out of my comfort zone. While I sometimes feel like a pinball, bouncing from one bumper to the next in a crazy-themed machine – not really sure of what I’m doing or where I’m going – I can ultimately look back on my life and say I had a wild adventure, and was lucky enough to have a family that agreed to join me.
After being bumped from my teaching position over two years ago, I felt adrift and unsure of what to do next. Provincial politics and budget cuts made at the district level made it more and more difficult to find another position, and I wasn’t sure how much fight I had left in me. What I needed was to step back. I needed to reexamine my priorities and either find a teaching position in an exotic locale or pursue writing.
I have always loved to write and believe that as Voltaire once commented, ‘to hold a pen is to go to war’. The written word is a powerful thing, and the writer (like any artist) has a responsibility to mirror the world back at itself. I decided to stay in Creston, but I wanted to finish my book about living and working in the Sultanate of Oman. The life we had in the Middle East was far different than the war-torn landscape that is so often portrayed in the media and I felt it was important to discuss that difference in a light, humorous way that revealed the friendly, welcoming and safe country my family and I quickly fell in love with.
I believe we look back and regret the things we didn’t do more than the things we did do, and I don’t want to look back with regrets. So I started to write, and for the past two years I have written five or six days a week. It has been a wild trip full of emotional ups and downs (not to mention coffee and jazz and rejection letters). I have now completed one travel memoir manuscript and I have one in the works (and several pieces in magazines and websites) and I have no plans to stop. Interviewing and writing for the Creston Valley Advance this past year has allowed me the freedom to develop my art in quiet solitude while still continuing to be a part of this community.
But life has set me on a different path again, and I will no longer be working for the Advance. It was with mixed emotions that I handed in my resignation letter, because I actually liked working in the office, and I’d like to thank Lorne for taking a chance on a misanthropic writer. I hope I did well. I’d like to thank Dianne, Jacky, Anita and Casey (who moved on earlier this year) for welcoming me on board, and showing me the ropes, and putting up with my eclectic mix of music – from traditional Irish fiddle tunes to early bebop jazz to postmodern electro-punk. A perfect job for me is when I have the freedom to do my thing without having to worry about office power struggles, and that was exactly what I found at the Advance. Working for the newspaper was a great way to meet people and hear their stories. Every one of us has a story, and I enjoyed sitting down with artists, writers, musicians, athletes, entrepreneurs, politicians, and students of all ages. In my research I have learned all sorts of things I wouldn’t have come across otherwise: Japanese pottery, Indian regional cuisine, beekeeping, felted death shrouds, international humanitarian efforts, provincial politics, local history, and so much more.
I am happy to announce that I will be heading back into the classroom. As much as I love to write, I also love to teach. I think I am a better version of myself when I am teaching, and nowhere do I feel I am making a difference in the world than within the walls of a school. But refocusing my efforts back to teaching doesn’t mean I will stop writing. I believe we make time for the things that most important for us, and I plan to make time to write. A day doesn’t seem complete unless I have put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and I will just have to find a way to balance my two passions (with the occasional run in the woods thrown into the mix). I am a writer as much as I am a teacher, and I think the two complement each other.
I will be teaching a grade 5/6 split class at Yakan Nukiy School. I am honoured to be a part of a school where the teaching and administrative staff is making a long-term dedicated effort to encourage creativity, balance, and a love of learning for all students. I will be spending the rest of the summer preparing my class and brainstorming ideas, and I can’t wait to get started.
As romantic as it sounds, I will not be disappearing into the mist. Neither am I saying goodbye. This is more of a see-you-around. I will continue to share my thoughts and experiences in my bi-weekly column “A Time & Place”, and those interested in reading more can follow me at facebook.com/chrisbrauerwriter. Thank you for reading.