Please consider me in your search for a History Content Writer.

I completed my Art Education degree at the University of Alberta. Courses extra to my degree include physics, organic and inorganic chemistry, zoology, biology and mathematics. My higher-level English studies led to an offer to complete an Honors English Degree. During my last two years of study, I also served as a writer/production editor for the Students’ Union, Gateway,

Upon graduating, I joined The University of Calgary as a Communications Officer II. In this position, I worked with university administrators to develop and implement strategic communications plans for students, staff, faculty and the public. As co-editor of the U of C bi-weekly, Gazette, I sought to write engaging, creative copy. My article, New ways to slice the mapping pie and its accompanying commissioned illustration and my profile of new staff member, Beatrice Medicine, are two examples. I also supplied photography, illustration and design skills.

While at the U of C, I completed university courses in Communications Research Methods, Art & Architecture Canada: 1870 – 1960+, and studied Topics in Prairie Canada with Grant MacEwan.

After almost five years with the U of C, I accepted a position as a Journalism Instructor at Grant MacEwan where I taught newswriting, photography, graphic design and mass media. Moving to Vancouver, I became Western Editor for Canadian Forest Industries Magazine, providing stories on harvesting, safety and milling. Settling in Nanaimo I freelanced as a weekly reporter for The Nanaimo Business Examiner writing on business-related issues, including the development of a submersible camera. Working for T-MAR Industries, I launched the company’s newsletter, The T-MAR Times.

A downturn in the industry led to 10 years overseas teaching in Libya, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, the UAE and Japan. In that time, I developed lesson materials using language carefully chosen for ESL students that ranged in age from grade-three to adult. Highlights of this period include the co-authoring of a series of mathematics workbooks and a number of video productions: the student-illustrated video of my children’s story, The Apple of Albert’s Eye, in Saudi Arabia; God is Love, in Al Ain with my Emirati students; a documentary, Truck Logging in Africa, in Cameroon; and my video application for the position of Traveling Ambassador for Air Transat, in Dubai.

Returning to Canada in 2012, I completed the first semester in the Hearing Aid Practitioner Program at MacEwan University. At this time, I also launched my WordPress website to highlight my creative abilities in writing, photography, art, music and video production. I use my blog and twitter account to promote my belief in a more positive world. I have a working knowledge of MS Office, Illustrator and Photoshop and have used a number of video editing programs.

Moving to Prince George, BC, I served as a Community Support Worker and Residential Care Worker. Many of my clients were of First Nations ancestry and I provided them with informal counseling and support; medication administration and recreation and development activities. They, in turn, allowed me to learn about and appreciate their life experience. I’ve seen the “highs and lows” of not only Canada’s Indigenous peoples but its newer arrivals as well. Whatever the ethnicity, some live in splendor and some on the streets.

Except for my 10 years of international teaching experience, I have spent my life in Western Canada, where I have been influenced by the cultures of its Indigenous peoples. One of the many joys of my overseas travel was to fly via Vancouver’s International Airport where I could see the works of Bill Reid, Susan Point, Joe David, Roy Henry Vickers, Steve Smith and many others. The simple and powerful designs of this art form and the essentially spiritual message underlying it, resonates with me and has influenced my work, The Spirit of Prince George, 2015, which references the work of Charles Edenshaw, is an example.

You say you are looking for a talented freelance artist and a talented writer. I believe I am that individual and that the samples provided demonstrate my innate ability to compellingly tell a story. Accordingly, let me suggest we meet to discuss the contribution I could make to Soul of Canada in the position of History Content Writer.