2022 - Winds of Change

 Special Thanks to Anwyn for the prophetic dubbing of our family year as "Winds of Change."

Library

A grand Quest. I quit my job. It was a frightening prospect. I'm not good a preparing for such things (even though Wendy knew that I should be preparing), so instead I just quit. Let's back up a second...

2007 Casual

In 2007, I was done running Diakuw Dayhome and had driven Leora and Anwyn's school bus for a couple of years. I was ready to move on and started working as a casual at The Saskatoon Public Library. I didn't really think it was my dream job, but I wasn't sure what else to do.

2010 Program Associate

By 2010, I had moved from working as a 'casual' employee to working part-time on the service desk, to working as a 'program associate' in Pooh Corner and The Children's Department. It was here that I rediscovered my love of performance AND the fact that I wasn't born to do Shakespeare, but rather to fall down for children. 

This was my dream job. It was secure. I was surrounded by learning, passion, and fun.

2017 Library changes direction

The library system needed an overhaul, which I supported in quite a number of ways. I was a leader for change. I hoped to improve the programming situation in the system, but was never empowered to have the kind of impact I wanted. I began to feel frustrated, but was willing to try a lot of different strategies to make things better. 

2020 COVID-19

I think it changed the game for a lot of people. I'm no exception. I stayed with SPL throughout the pandemic and found meaning in trying to learn a bunch of new technical skills and push programming to maximize our impact in a whole new way. That didn't really meet the vision of my managers or the directors of the library system.

As we came out of the pandemic lock down, it was harder and harder to do meaningful work at the library. I felt hampered, ignored, and openly challenged by the people who were there to make great programming happen. I watched friends get bullied by people who felt angry and powerless in their own lives.

Enough.

Captain Orange Storytelling

Wendy could see that I was trapped and miserable. We had saved up a substantial nest egg with which we were planning to build a grand back-yard greenhouse. Instead Wendy said I should quit and take a year to explore my artistic passions. Wow. I was moved by her generosity and frightened by the prospect of facing a year of unemployment which I was certain would culminate in me proving that I don't know what to do with my self and don't have value to anyone.

Not a very health self concept. Generally, I think a lot better of myself, but when feeling vulnerable and beaten down by circumstance, it is my default state. I'm working on it :)

My PLN* 

I said I wanted to be an artist and performer. Wendy, Leo and Anwyn helped me design an approach to my year to try and find out if I could do this. I needed to make a business plan, a website, design business cards, and start making calls. We would call it a success if I had 5 paid gigs over the course of the next 12 months.

*PLN is a misspelling of PLAN. To fully appreciate the joke, please see The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett

Puppet Heads

Puppet heads is my affectionate name for a group of performance minded friends from SPL. Jim, Crispi, and Clare. They offered me a LOT of support and encouragement in the early days of the PLN. I was scared and crabby and they helped give me constructive ideas, hope, and something to do.

A very practical example is Crispi giving me a job--and the puppets to do it. I did a Punch and Judy show for Government House in Regina.

Daycare Centres

Crispi urged me to contact daycares and helped me set some general pricing principles. I sent out an email and was shortly overwhelmed with requests for me to come do story-times for pre-schoolers. As of today, I am fully booked for the next 3 months and have plans and bookings all the way into June. Wildly successful by the standard that I set out to meet!

Puppetry

Hedging my bets, I applied for a couple of grants and also for a spot in this summer's Fringe festival. I hoped against the odds that I would get one of these to help keep me busy. Instead I got **both** of the grants AND the Fringe show--requiring me to actually book time off of my full storytime schedule in order to complete this other exciting work.

TLDR

I'm having a great time and if it all ended tomorrow, it would have been SO WORTH IT!