How Do You Spell Relief?

After months of appointment postponements and weeks of worry from some persistent mouth sores, I'm happy to report that Dr. O'Sullivan has given me a clean bill of health. Walking into Princess Margaret Hospital this morning, it was impossible not to have a sensory flashback to the autumn of my treatment. The crisp, windy air was cool against my skin like a fall morning. The lobby of PMH greeted me with its familiar yet subdued sounds and smells. I had to remind my legs to carry me up the stairs to the Head & Neck clinic, rather than down to radiation oncology. I couldn't shake the memory of feeling as if the world was shrinking away from me like the closing of an iris.

  

Twenty minutes later, when the good doctor gave me the all clear, I realized how much I had feared the return of that constricting iris. Amazing how a few words from a man in white can spring that sucker back open again. So here's to the world being wide open with possibilities again.

What shall I do first?

Online Love for Medical Man!

Summertime and the living is... queasy?

Well, Dodie Jones over at School Library Journal online obviously had sickness in mind for last week's "Remarkable Reads" column. Jones features four children's titles about medicine and guess which one leads the pack? The Adventures of Medical Man! SLJ has been a big supporter of the book, having previously published an enthusiastic review back in February. As a writer and a teacher, I'm thrilled to see the book getting repeated praise from a source that is so well-respected by educators and librarians.

And speaking of teaching, click on over to But I'm a Teacher! to get the scoop on my most recent adventures in education -- if you have the stomach for it, of course.

Springing Forward, Looking Back (to the Future), and Launching The Never Weres

First, a quick health update: My next PMH check-up, originally scheduled for April, has been postponed by the hospital twice. I'll now be seeing Dr. O'Sullivan in late June. Fortunately, I have not been experiencing any problems (hooray!) so there's no rush.

Meanwhile, school has continued to dominate my attention these past few months. I'm happy to report that after surviving the dizzying intensity of the first six months, I am finally starting to feel more on top of things. Check out my "But I'm a Teacher!" blog for more details.

Being more organized at school means I've been able to emerge from my lesson-planning cocoon and venture out into world more often -- ah, the rebirth of spring!  Alfredo accompanied me on two of these excursions to the Toronto International Film Festival's new Bell Lightbox cinemas in Toronto's theatre district downtown. The good folks at TIFF were hosting a Back to the 80s mini-film festival and we took in The Princess Bride and Back to the Future on separate Saturdays. Alfredo was seeing both films for the first time, but for me it definitely felt like stepping into that famous DeLorean and going back a few decades to see those films on the big screen again.

Film nostalgia was not my only time-traveling experience this spring. March also saw the publication of Annick Press's science-fiction graphic novel The Never Weres, written and drawn by Fiona Smyth and set many years in the future. This work marks my first time as an editor on a comic book and I loved the experience. I've always felt that working on picture books meshed well with my filmmaking background, and comics are an even tighter fit. Indeed, the conventions of visual story-telling in comics predate motion picture technology, and when film eventually came along, early filmmakers lifted many of the editing devices wholesale from that older medium.

This comfort and delight I felt working in comics helped make up for the fact that I had limited experience editing in this medium. I suspect mere gusto wouldn't have been enough to build a project from scratch, but fortunately I was working with Fiona, who has volumes of experience drawing comics; in fact, she teaches a course on "sequential narrative" at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Her panel-to-panel storytelling instincts are astounding (as is her ability to liberate that narrative from traditional panels). This level of expertise at the page level allowed me to focus on supporting the bigger-picture, so to speak, elements of overall story and pacing. The result is a sweeping dystopian epic that is nevertheless anchored in the personal and emotional stories of three teenaged friends.

Of all the amazing projects on which I've worked as editor, The Never Weres is the one of which I'm the proudest to have been involved. So I was thrilled to be a part of the official launch at Toronto's Gladstone Hotel in March as part of This is Not a Reading Series (TINARS). I had the chance to sing Fiona's praises before a packed crowd before they were treated to a dramatic reading of the first chapter by a cast of actors. 

The comic pages were projected at the back of the stage as the actors read the dialogue and narration. "Not a reading series" indeed! It was an engaging and effective way to give a "reading" from a graphic novel. Following the presentation, Fiona sat down with Globe & Mail arts columnist R.M. Vaughn for a conversation about her career and how she went about creating a graphic novel for young adults. 

After the interview, Fiona sat down to sign books at the sales table. The line was long and the book supply eventually dwindled, but I managed to sneak in at the end and get my copy signed.  

I hope so too, Fiona! Who knows what the future will bring?

I'm Still Here

Yeesh -- It's been four months since my last post. Anybody still paying attention? For those who are, I can assure you that I am indeed still here. The reason for my online absenteeism is the new job; in fact, work is also the reason for my in-person and on-the-phone absenteeism. My apologies to all whom I haven't been in touch with these past few months. My life has been, and continues to be, dominated by getting up to speed as a full-time teacher. All the teachers I know told me that the first year of teaching is a blur. Four months into my first year I can wholeheartedly vouch for that assessment.

Beyond having limited time and energy for blogging, I have had another nagging concern holding me back. Most of my thoughts these days are about my teaching--especially my frustrations at not yet being the quality of teacher I hope to become. Aside from being terribly boring for most of you to read about, there is the sticky issue of making public my private concerns about my still-developing teaching skills. Although I feel such reflections would help me grow as a teacher, they are not necessarily thoughts that I'm ready to share with everyone. It's not that I want to bad-mouth anybody (other than myself), but rather that it's a struggle to honestly reflect on my own job performance if I'm worried about how the parent of a student might (mis)interpret it.

This blog was originally set up to keep y'all posted about my health after my cancer diagnosis, and the act of writing for you turned out to be very therapeutic for me. Now as I struggle with being a first-year teacher, I'm finding my mental health could use the same kind of writing therapy to give me some perspective and help me cope. Did I just compare teaching to having cancer? See! I'm getting myself into trouble already...

Anyway, the solution I've decided on is to start a second blog. But I'm a Teacher! is already up and running with parts of this message as its first post; however, access to this new blog is restricted to those whom I've granted permission. In order to access it, you'll need to set up a blogger account (if you don't have one already), which is a pain. I've already e-mailed invitation details to some of you. Anyone else interested should contact me and I'll set you up. If you're not interested in my teaching-related ramblings and/or don't want the hassle, no problem. I will keep But I'm an Aries! as a public blog and will continue to update it with non-teaching related info for family and friends. If you're interested in neither my teaching nor the rest of my life, then why have you read this far? It's the Internet, dude! Go find some singing kittens or something.

For those curious about what else has been going and have hung in this far, here are two quick highlights from these past few months:

Earlier this month was Jeanette's Mom's birthday. We took her out for lunch and then for a visit to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. It's a spectacular place to visit in the middle of winter.

And finally, way back in November, Alfredo and I celebrated our seventh anniversary with Big Brothers of Toronto by returning to the site of our first-ever outing: The Hockey Hall of Fame. Below are pictures comparing then and now.

That's all for now, folks. I hope it will be less than four months before my next post here. Thanks for your patience as I continue to work at this teaching thing. With any luck, it won't be too much longer before I get better at striking a balance between work and having a life. Until then, see ya on the other blog. 

JOB!!!

I am thrilled beyond words to announce that after 164 applications, I have found a full-time teaching position! As of November 1, I will be one of two teachers in a Grade 1 & 2 classroom at a wonderful private school in Mississauga.

I could not imagine a better fit for me -- the school's founder and principal is an alumna of the same program from which I've just graduated. And the teacher with whom I'll be team-teaching was a graduate of the same program just last year! Needless to say, the school's pedagogical approach is a seamless match for the theories and practices in which I've been steeped these past two years.

Meanwhile, the school's location will help get Jeanette and me get further west, as per our plans. We'll stay put for now to let the coffers refill, but eventually we'll pull up stakes and settle as far west as we can comfortably manage (sorry, Vancouver friends; not that far west).

It is an indescribable relief to feel the pieces of our life plan falling into place at last. Indeed, September proved to be an emotional month. After Labour Day came and went, there descended a cloud of disappointment at not having found a teaching job for the start of the school year.

This gloom hit the low point in mid-September when I lost my wedding ring. Faithful readers of this blog may recall that after the weight loss resulting from my cancer treatment, I'd started wearing my wedding ring on my middle finger. A few weeks ago, I foolishly thought I'd gained enough weight back to safely return to using my ring finger. That very weekend, while playing soccer with Alfredo in a local park, I noticed the ring was gone.

Alfredo was a champion in helping me look for the lost ring, but we found no trace of it. I returned on my own later that afternoon with a metal detector and searched until sundown. No dice. The ring was gone. I've since put up posters offering a reward for its return but have heard nothing.

You'd think this would be grounds for divorce, but Jeanette was a rock. I, on the other hand, was a wreck. The problem with shaping stories for a living is that you can't help but read symbolism into this kind of event. It was hard not to see losing my wedding ring as a sign of our marriage falling apart as a result of my being unemployed and in student debt. Jeanette just rolled her eyes at my melodrama.

But the bills still needed to be paid, so I turned my attention to finding other work. Fortunately, this search was more fruitful. At one point, I was up to six part-time jobs, including my publishing work, bookstore hours, some tutoring jobs, and facilitating play-based workshops for a marvellous company called PlayLab. With a full-time teaching position now wonderfully imminent, I will be stepping away from all but two of these jobs. I hope to continue on with Annick and PlayLab as much as my time will allow.

Beyond the stress of job searching and the distress of losing my ring (I'm currently wearing a temporary replacement, by the way), September also offered some buoyant highlights. For one thing, the weather has been gorgeous. We've enjoyed some beautiful weekends up in Harriston, whooping it up at the Fall Fair and spending Thanksgiving in short sleeves taking in the fall colours.

On the cooler (as in arena ice) side of things, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto has outdone themselves in generosity this fall. Alfredo and I have been to not one but two Leafs games! We've been waiting seven years for tickets, and then boom! Two sets of tickets in as many weeks. The first was a pre-season match against the Philadelphia Flyers. The seats were two rows up from the ice, and a friendly usher named April gave us two pucks from the Leafs' warm-up session! The Leafs lost in an overtime shootout, but it was exciting right up the end.

This past Thursday night, we were back at the Air Canada Centre to see the Leafs take on the New York Rangers. The Leafs lost again, but this time we got a goody bag with hats and a foam finger. We were also shown on the Jumbotron during the first intermission, which was pretty cool.

So, it's been an eventful week. In addition to attending the NHL game and landing the teaching job, there was one last amazing highlight that I have to share. Wednesday morning was my most recent checkup at Princess Margaret Hospital. I brought copies of The Adventures of Medical Man signed to Dr. O'Sullivan and Dr. Irish. Often I won't see either doctor at these appointments, but I was in luck on Wednesday--they were both in the office.

After Dr. O'Sullivan examined me and gave me the all-clear, I presented him with his book. He was so thrilled, he went dashing out to fetch Dr. Irish. They returned together and ooed and ahhed over their copies. Bear in mind that during my treatment it was rare to have them both in the same room at the same time. Being able to give them both their books in person simultaneously was more than I'd hoped for. I couldn't stop smiling.

What an unbelievable week. I am so, so, so, so grateful for having so, so, so much to smile about.

No Job News Yet, But Here Are the Stats

A great big thank you for everyone's support and encouragement during my search for a teaching position in Southwestern Ontario. I'm afraid I have no news to report in terms of a job offer, but for the curious (and for fellow stats geeks) I've compiled the data of my search to date in the table and chart below.



As you can see, I have submitted a total of 86 applications. These applications have been in response to job postings from the 10 school boards to which Jeanette and I are willing to move. It is interesting to see that kindergarten positions are the most in demand, likely as a result of the ongoing implementation of full-day kindergarten across the province. More surprising to me is that the second most advertised positions have been for grade 6. Whatever the reasons behind these numbers, I'm encouraged; the lowest and highest grades were the practica I enjoyed the most.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, folks. By now some of you are starting to look pretty claw-handed, but hopefully I'll find something soon. Stay tuned!

The Adventures of Medical Man

They're heeeere! Advanced copies of the children's book I co-wrote with Dr. Mike Evans have arrived, hot off the overseas presses: The Adventures of Medical Man: Kids' Illnesses and Injuries Explained published by Annick Press. As a lifelong book lover, and as a worker in the book industry lo these past 15 years, I confess to feeling a great thrill at seeing (and holding!) a published book with my name on it (as a writing credit; no doubt David Wichman: The Unauthorized Biography would produce a wholly different sensation).

Better still, it's a book with which I'm tremendously pleased. We combined Dr. Mike's medical expertise with my movie obsession and created cinematic analogies to explain common childhood ailments: allergies, concussions, broken bones, ear infections, asthma, and strep throat. None is exclusive to childhood, of course, as I was painfully reminded a few weeks ago when I contracted strep throat. (It would have been a brilliant marketing move had the book been available for sale yet.)

Despite my ill-timed infection, the strep throat chapter is, in fact, one of my favourites thanks to superstar illustrator Gareth Williams, who lovingly created that chapter's superhero artwork in true comic book style. Indeed, Gareth was a real find. He's based in South Africa, and as his first art samples for the book came in electronically, it became clear that he's no less a film geek than I am. He carefully recreates the look of the various film genres we rip off, er, pay homage to: b-movie sci-fi serials, film noir, horror, submarine films, and, of course, Indiana Jones. It was a lot of fun watching Gareth bring the book to life before my eyes.

The whole project was a blast to put together, which is pretty amazing considering it took almost two years and I was working on my Master's degree at the same time. Hopefully it will be as much fun to read and it will have a long, healthy run in bookstores. You'll find it on shelves by the end of the summer.

And speaking of long, healthy runs, I post about the book here not only as an act of shameless self-promotion:



Thanks, docs. I literally couldn't have done it without you.