Michael Evans:
CLASS OF 1981
Harry Ainlay Composite High SchoolClass of 1981
Edmonton, AB
University of Alberta - ArtsClass of 1986
Edmonton, AB
D. S. MacKenzie Junior High SchoolClass of 1978
Edmonton, AB
Michael's Story
Life
I've been happily married since 1998 to Pam Rayment. I had to do it twice to get it right.
We have two children, Prosper, fifteen, and Piper, twelve. The discrepancy between my late onset fatherhood and my own father's age when he was when raising me makes me feel if not exactly old then older: my Dad wasn't yet 40 when I graduated -- when Prosper graduates, I'll be, egad, 55. Fit me for false teeth and a hearing aid.
I'm an independent communications consultant, the owner/operator of Teleologic Strategic Communications. What I actually "do" is harder to explain: I'm a professional problem solver. I do public policy consulting, including helping governments -- mostly municipal -- deal with sustainability issues; I work with businesses to help them meet regulatory requirements; I do public, media, government, industry and Aboriginal relations. My primary work is in strategic planning, policy development, public consultation, project management and writing, and I occasionally make industrial films (small-scale stuff, nothing exciting: my latest film/video project was about wastewater treatment. Woohoo!).
I taught first-year English at the U of A for eight years. I have a BA in Drama (surprise) and an MA in English, with a specialty in Shakespeare. Certain childhood illnesses leave ineradicable traces, and Agrell was among the most contagious agents to which I've ever been exposed. Though no longer in the academic or theatrical streams, I'm still a Renaissance hobbyist and hope, one day, to publish something meaningful in the field. I'm working, sporadically, on a theatre history book about the first purpose-built Elizabethan theatre and the family dynasty that ran it -- sporadically being the operative word. Gotta make a living...Expand for more
, right? Professors in the humanities are among the least well paid, highly (over?) educated folks in academia.
I was moderately serious about film and theatre work up to the eve of my first marriage -- there's usually a reason why one has a 'first' and there's your symptom of bigger challenges -- but haven't done any such work for 25 years(!). I made five bad movies and one TV series, best represented by the fact my name appears in the credits of Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 longer than my face does in the movie itself. But I had a great character name: Matthew Dante. Helps me to feel an affinity in middle age for his namesake.
"Midway through the journey of this life
I found myself in lost a dark wood,
for the straight path was utterly gone."
Hmm. Sounds like my career history.
I see woefully few folks with whom I graduated, mostly due to my own poor skills at maintaining those friendships, though I'm always happy to see people again. Rob Clements is the one person from high school with whom I keep most in touch because he and I played in rock bands together for most of a decade. Following that muse, I once played a small tour in support of k. d. lang and have issued two independent albums long ago consigned to the remainders bin.
I seem to be one among few of our contemporaries who remembers high school with fondness. I was never among the cool crowd -- not as I recall it -- but I did forge friendships through which I grew a late-developing sense of humour and which has made my life more interesting, even if I'm no longer friends with those transformative people. Sure, those high school days have passed into history, but they are still worth the illuminating flash of nostalgia from time-to-time. I'm a sentimentalist at heart.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
