Roger Eberle:
CLASS OF 1977
Norkam High SchoolClass of 1977
Kamloops, BC
Cariboo CollegeClass of 1985
Kamloops, BC
Tisdale Unit Composite High SchoolClass of 1978
Tisdale, SK
Overlander SchoolClass of 1972
Kamloops, BC
Brocklehurst Elementary SchoolClass of 1967
Kamloops, BC
Roger's Story
Life
Imagine
the summer of 1991. Where are you? Bombs over Kuwait,
but I'm at U.B.C. puzzling over The Structure of Modern English by professor Frank Bowers in whose classes I have been learning the basics of rudimentary phonetics
highly heady stuff! Fortunately for me, I have a diversion in the form of a beautiful female co-ed named Jennifer with whom I spend long lunches on the museum of anthropology hill overlooking the picturesque Pacific with totems and a longhouse off in the distance and the high windows of the modern looking museum just to the left behind us; we talk about music, drama, movies, and other interesting subjects over our picnics on the grassy knoll.
I am currently into listening to music with tastes as broad as the following: Metallica and Mozart; Bach and BTO; No Doubt; Swollen Members; U2; R.E.M.; R.E.O. Speedwagon; Def Leopard; Jim Croce; John Cougar; Bob Dylan; C.C.R.; Blue Rodeo; Leonard Cohen; Rufus Wainwright; Tori Amos; Smashing Pumpkins; Wycleff Jean; Garth Brooks; Kansas; Vanessa Williams; Sheryl Crowe; Stevie Nicks; Destiny's Child; Faith Hill; Linkin Park; John Coltrane; Talking Heads; Ani Difranco; Elton John; Counting Crows; Avril Lavigne; Foo Fighters; Aeorosmith; Bruce Cockburn; Dianna Krall; Gob; Goo Goo Dolls; Nickelback; Pink; and Train. These are just to name a few in a list that could go on indefinitely.
I love to talk music, especially the meanings of particular lyrics, like "Man in the Moon" by R.E.M. or "I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats:
pick a song, I'll discuss it with you provided I can listen and view the lyrics.
Other topics I like to discuss range from themes as diverse as those dealt with in novels by Robert Heinlein or by Ray Bradbury or by Ernest Hemingway or by John Fowles or by Charles Dickens; or as creative as the nuances of various movies, like in the depth of acting ability shown by Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest; or as inspired as musical ballads such as Led Zeppelin's famous classic rock tune "Stairway to Heaven" (which Foo Fighters make an admirable effort to cover with an acoustic guitar); or even themes as diverse as those shown in all of the great sitcoms of our generation: Seinfeld; Friends; King of Queens; Everybody Loves Raymond; Eight Rules for Dating My Daughter; Two and a Half Men to name a few; or themes as focused as those enacted by my own personal idol of professional FOCUS: namely, detective Bobby Goren of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. If you haven't watched it yet, give it a shot. The acting of Vincent D'Ognofrio is superb (he was also great as the perverse villain of The Cell (which also stars my personal favorite actress of all time: Jennifer Lopez!
(kidding aside.)
I had a fun time at high school in NorKam Senior Secondary, and Tisdale Unit Composite School, then I worked as a short-order cook, janitor, disco swamper, bookstore clerk, electrical apprentice, electrician, and took a couple of years of college then went back to work as an electrician, then finished my B.A. at U.B.C. and my B.Ed. at U.B.C. Now I teach English at the high school level tutor students in English and write an Arts and Entertainment column.
In 2011, I completed my Masters of Imaginative Education at SFU.
Along the way I met and married a wonderful woman named Helen, and we currently live together in relatively low key harmony in a quiet little suburban community just outside of Vancouver, B.C.
These are the broad strokes in my life, and some of the more salient features that interest me in the world. Grill me for details if you'd like a rare meet.
School
*first of all this is college/university; for high school see under the college profile--I got them mixed up when I was writing, and I'm not about to change it all now:
College was at Cariboo in Kamloops where I learned the basics of English literature from Alexander Watt and Anne Molnar (maiden name), two highly capable professors; then I learned drama and composition from David Edwards a fine theatre coach... I met lovely Laurie and spent some time studying with her and with my friend Dennis Hayes. Gidi Nahshon and his wife (at the time) Jeannette and Doug Omelchuk and I were often together on-campus during the mid-eighties. REO Speedwagon provides us with the ballad of the time in "I can't fight this feeling any longer".
Then, a few years later on to UBC:
B.A. (majored in English) (minored in History) concentrations in the Middle Ages and the early Reformation and Romanticism in Literature. Read some great Henry James: "The Turn of the Screw" -- a chilling read you can't put down and can read in one sitting quite easily. Took courses in literary semiotics and criticism as well as survey courses in the novel, American Literature, Canadian Literature, John Milton, Rhetoric (great one!);
UBC has some great professors as well as that big draw--wreck beach!
I learned from professor Friedrichs about the Reformation and professor Lee Johnson about John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and some of his lesser poems including the fantastic sonnet--"On His Blindness" which I have committed to memory because of its allusiveness and rhythmic qualities.
B.Ed. also at U.B.C. (couldn't escape the beach!) Several interesting courses in methodology and a particularly good post-pract...Expand for more
icum pedagogical potpourri. (not too heavy-handed on the alliteration there I hope!)
I remember one particular course in adolescent psychology was especially appropriate. I can relate to the adolescent psyche partly because growing up is so hard to do for me... the perpetual (here I go again with the alliteration) Peter Pan complex. There's a hint about my education for you... tell me about yours sometime soon, ok...
College
Well since I rambled on about college in my high school section, I will digress at length about high school in the college biography section!
But first, let me go back to an even earlier era--elementary school in Brocklehurst elementary. I remember acting as one of the munchkins in the wizard of Oz... meanwhile later on in Overlander elementary I got to play the King in the King and his Creampuffs... which gave me unlimited access to creampuffs!
Acting was an early ambition of mine.
Now for the sordid details of high school life:
I remember Denis Poelzer calling me "the criminal" for getting booted out of school after being caught stone cold drunk at a high school curling bonspiel... I remember the afternoon of that fateful bonspiel night, I met up with a couple of hot babes from a small neighboring town... we headed up into the hills above Bachelor Heights (appropriate name) and drank quite a bit of rum! Yo Ho Ho!
I also remember Miss Logelin's English 11 class and studying "Macbeth".... I remember following Louise Senger down the hall, dramatic presentations with Chris Weddell; table tennis with Ross Lowndes; Reaching for the Top with Carol Evans, Russ Kerr, and James Redekop.
I did pretty well in all my courses at high school, except for the ones I failed through falling behind after I was suspended for a couple of months for bad conduct!
But that just gave me a chance to take History 12 and Math 12 again at Tisdale Unit Composite School the next year when I moved back out to Saskatchewan after attending a family reunion in Nipawin. Tisdale was the perfect small town to grow up in--a single Chinese food restaurant, a pool hall, a bowling alley, a car dealership, a couple of grocery stores, a few restaurants, and a single drive-in Theatre which we all went to see John Travolta grease up the screen with his lightning fast dance moves in "Saturday Night Fever". The summer was hot, and the winter chilled us to the bone, but Wiener and Horn kept us laughing at the Stonehenge Inn with their hand-dancing and rough-housing. I met some good people while cooking at the Inn. And we partied hearty at the band house which housed a new band every week. Meanwhile back at school Degenstein taught me history and I learned math from a stern women whose name presently escapes me... (but I will remember). I lived with a foot in two worlds at this time, and this has been something I have grown used to doing over the years... life is a series of paradoxes. And living is never dull. I remember the graduation party at Annette Messer's being a real blast with a bonfire and drinks all around... of course there were always drinks all around in those days.
So what meaningful words can I leave you with?
Write to the mean and you'll never be too obscene. That's my motto. Chat with me on-line sometime, and you'll quickly see what I mean.
So for now, until I change this page, I remain, the irreverant pagemeister himself, Roger Eberle
Workplace
While attending high school I worked part-time as a gas pump jockey and I remember pizzas and cokes with Tony Bruno and cruising in his car with chicks... and parking up above Rose Hill Road. We really worked it!
After high school I moved to Saskatchewan for a year where I worked in Tisdale at the Stonehenge Inn, a nightclub that served high class meals and had a live band every week! I learned how to cook there and this helped me get a job back in Kamloops where I moved to in the summer of 1978. I worked as a short-order cook in the lounge of the David Thompson hotel under the Prefontaine's management and under the direct supervision of Janice Deol's mom, Pudgy (a classy lady). Mickey's was the disco at the time and it was a going concern; soon I was swamping for Jerry Deol in this fine drinking establishment. Jerry taught me how to laugh at myself and enjoy life. He is a great guy. And oh yes, I remember dancing the night away on my nights off. Later I was offered a high paying job as a janitor in the DT Pub (the Zoo as we called it back then). Thanks to Chris Weddell for putting in some all-nighters working with me there.
Anyways, that was my wild youth. As I matured it became important to have a trade--my dad got me a job as an apprentice electrician to Wolfgang Kuehnel and it got me started at a trade that I spent the better part of ten years learning and experiencing. I am now a journeyman electrician, but not working in the trade. This is mainly because I went back to college and on to university at UBC to get my B.A. and my B.Ed. Something which allowed me to do what I really wanted to do all along--namely, teach English.
Call me crazy, but I like working with teenagers. They keep me young at heart, and help me be as creative as I can be; they challenge my intellect and integrity, as well as affording me a relatively high degree of independence.
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