A
week ago Friday my path took a turn that I didn’t see coming.
It
didn’t show up in the headlights – not even the high-beams.
I
got a call from the Chair of the Community Development and Health department at
Fleming College. She asked if I’d be interested in teaching this fall?
Now,
I’d been interested in teaching at Fleming since I arrived in Peterborough.
Back in the nineties I’d taught a few courses at George Brown’s Community Worker
program and really enjoyed it. So I started enquiring as soon as I arrived.
I
discovered that lots of people had done part time teaching gigs at Fleming. As
in the private sector part time contract workers are a cost efficient way of
filling gaps in the workforce when an Employer can’t offer job security or a
Benefits plan. This I already knew.
Then
the job at George Street church came up and swallowed me whole. I took the
supervision of a Fleming “Social Service Worker” student who needed a field
placement. The first and second summers those students helped get the Community
Garden going, host a Community picnic, and get the office systems in place for
what was to become Seeds of Change.
We
also invited the Fleming Early Childhood Education program to use the
auditorium at the church. This fall will be the third year that program is in
place there. With this arrangement I got to know a few more of the teachers and
administrators in this department at Fleming.
But
when I submitted my resume to the Chair last spring – I heard nothing back.
Weeks, then months passed. So I figured the Fleming path was a dead end.
Until
last Friday, when, from around the corner, came an opportunity to teach two
classes - just for this fall - it was explained. They were intending to hire a
full time professor but their search process had been delayed and they needed
someone – could I start next week?
I
have to say that my first reaction was “Oh Shit – a job”.
We’d
been psyching ourselves up to be self-powered, self-employed,
consultants/facilitators/ and workshop program directors. It was like suddenly
I went from riding my bicycle to jumping on a bus. Signing up with a Community
College, it was more like going from a two-seater kayak to a cruise ship.
But
it was like an offer I couldn’t refuse. Not only would I serve to lighten the
“worry load” of friends and family who were wondering how we’d pay the mortgage
on our new home (with Lynn working part time and going full time to school). This call out of the blue also had the feel
of what Lynn calls a “god set-up”.
Just
like god to surprise you with an opportunity you didn’t see coming. Just like
god to wait until the last possible moment. Just like god to take you to the
edge of the precipice and as you’re ready to jump….show you a footpath down.
So I
spent the weekend getting my head around this new prospect. As I pickled large
jars cucumbers with garlic, hot peppers, and wild grape leaves, I gradually let
go of the plans I’d carefully laid out. Every time I felt this new opportunity
“pinching” my plans – I’d breath deep and let my imagination soar to a higher
place to get a bigger, longer view of the possibilities ahead. Like the pickles
– those plans could ferment and be enjoyed later.
A
full day of Orientation at Fleming was enough to make a marble-statue’s head
spin. Getting up to speed. The ADL for the PRP at the CDR didn’t match the EFC
at the PCP. I wasn’t yet in the system so wasn’t able to get “on line” to the
portal of all relevant info.
I
did connect with quite a few folks I’ve come to know and Bill Peacock – the
resident Elder of the department - took the time to tour me around and
introduce me to a bunch of new smiling faces. They made me feel better by
complaining about the start-up chaos and modeling a good-humoured stress about
it all.
I do
love chaos and the creative opportunities it brings. There’s little I like
better than diving into deep waters and having to figure out which way’s up,
which way the current’s going and then - sink or swim. (“That Allan always lands on his feet,” my
Aunt Ruth used to say.)
The
next day was my mother’s 81st birthday and my sister had invited
Mom’s brother, sister, sister-in-law and niece along for a party. It was when I
was telling them about this new job that I realized something about my roots as
a teacher. In the Church-world I often talk about the “family business” of Clergy
who’ve served the United Church. But my mother, my aunts, and my cousin are all
Teachers.
While
my mother’s Dad and brothers all went off to serve the Church, she chose a
profession of service - gender appropriate for their era - and equally
important. Opening minds – young and old – to the methods, skills, and
perspectives that a good education offers - is a sacred trust.
When
I finally managed to get my head out of my own ass and finish looking at how
this opportunity worked or didn’t work for me and my plans – I managed to see
how I might serve the students coming my way.
These
students have chosen to invest in an education that will equip them to serve
others. What a beautiful thing that is. There’s no shortage of people in
Peterborough needing to negotiate the mountain passes of our Social Service
system. They need guides who know the ropes. Workers who will steer them right.
Helpers to encourage them in that soul-sucking journey, and show them how to
negotiate a river crossing where the bridges have all been washed out.
I’ve
got a few grey hairs, a healthy dose of cynicism, and the street-smarts of an
experienced guide. I’ve been negotiating the politics and the institutional
barriers of our so-called Safety nets for decades now. I know how to get things
done with little or nothing - and I know how to milk the cow when she don’t
want to be milked.
Most
of all – my greatest asset I figure – is that I love to learn. I’m old enough
to know that my answers need questioning. That the relevance of my experience
is limited - because the mountain terrain is always changing with floods and
landslides. That the glaciers that once fed our Safety net are shrinking fast.
And so, ingenuity, creativity, and persistence are the spikes and ropes of this
trade.
I am
a deep believer in the power of collective action, of pooled thought, of
drawing lessons from the ages and giving old lyrics and new beat. I know the
road back from burnout. I know that you never know what’s around the next
corner – good, bad and ugly – that the turns are taken best when taken
together.
This
week I’m a college professor. I’m looking forward to what I’ll learn.
2 comments:
Congratulations Allan. I wish you the very best in this endeavour - and it is soooo true - NO-ONE learns more than the teacher - you will do well and you will love it.
Lynda Ferguson
I'm excited for you, Allan. And all this before I even got a chance to respond to your last post, which was beautiful.
AS for me - I got my wish to live my art. Sensing Sacred Balance is the raft through the cancer currents, which are chaotic. My last radiation session is this Thursday. Every story's got a picture, don't it, and I'm seeing new sights.
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