This is my Resume
Jamie Comeau
After I wake up each day and open my eyes, I try and work on opening my mind, and always try to live a little by allowing myself to make mistakes and to then, take in the experience, and learn, and learn to grow, to succeed …………………RESUME.
When one walks (with friends) unsupervised, to and from their elementary school, (a six-grade, four-room schoolhouse) via obvious countryside Tom Sawyer-ish disturbances with Huckleberry Finn idealism, a natural pathway forms, gets beaten down, but the GRASSROOTS of such a pathway seem to always survive, remain intact.
Small school houses as such usually mean distant bus rides (an education unto itself) for its mover-ons and I moved on and into a great high school experience; influential teachers, student council positions, sports, and all around scholastic success finishing 13th in a large class.
Classic yellow school bus rides on a daily basis turned into Greyhound ones on a vacation basis as I was receiving a BACHELOR of ARTS DEGREE in SOCIOLOGY whilst using my elective courses to obtain a CERTIFICATE in FILM PRODUCTION from the UNIVERSITY of NEW BRUNSWICK. Some person named DEAN put me on their LIST.
Those standard vacation bus rides turned into an annual flight as my pathway extended further to LOYALIST COLLEGE where I received my DIPLOMA in BROADCAST JOURNALISM. I don’t know if it was the same DEAN or not, but I was again, put on their LIST.
My first proper education coincided with the job I landed after leaving my formal training grounds whereas I completed an ESL PROGRAM and became a TEACHER of ENGLISH for 3 years in South Korea. Students ranged from preschool to grandparenthood. Oh my, oh my! The freedom, travel, personal connections, food, architecture, art, history, languages, cultures, different levels of thinking - of doing things.....the true makings of a proper education as only experience is fit to and can, provide.
And from a proper education, true colours find room to begin their bloom. For 5 years, 2009-13, I stood alongside my mentor, my friend, a true genius, and with her, helped transform her stereotypical corner store into the polar opposite; an enchanting, fantastical, magical Vancouver local-type shop/eatery experience, and a very high quality two-person operation it was. A very difficult to explain in words type of product that we had created, but a very successful endeavour it was on so many levels , as is evident from a large portion of physical and tangible documentation and intangible accounts; impossible to add a more meaningful venture on this resumé.
I sat down one day and documented within one of my journals, all of the jobs that I’ve had throughout the years as well as all of the places that I was officially able to call home; ‘twas interesting to do so, as it enabled me to return to my GRASSROOTS and helped remind me where it is I am now and how I’ve arrived. Maybe you can relate? Paperboy, student city worker, government research farmer, lawnmower, gardener, server, referee, substitute teacher, advertising sales rep, a small warehouse installation business with me doing the installing, the assistant to a house flipping designer on high end, West Vancouver homes, a carpenter’s assistant, a forklift trainer, and all these, amongst others, correlate with positive thoughts, memories, and skills.
An experience-rich past, an eclectic gathering of degrees, diplomas, certificates, and a diverse ensemble of employment history quite often creates a lot of questions and wonder within a person along the way, and for me, there was no exception. I am so grateful to have found my work after so much experience. In my special studio space, goodness happens daily as I continue to develop into a sociological, interactive, space transforming, environment shaping, sculpture oriented artist with a focus on communicating with people on a very personal level, with hopes of helping them look into that very difficult thing to look into to - that proverbial mirror, and to help them realize that they can do!