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I H E U D E N T F IL E S RETIRED VETERAN ENJOYS WRITING 25-YEAR STUDENT READY TO GRADUATE STORY AND PHOTO BY CASSIDY W HITE Eric Bronson is a student at Clackam as C o m m u n ity C ollege and has been for 25 years. H e is curren tly w orkin g on an Associate o f Science w ith a focus on creative w riting and authored his first book, “ The Juggler’ s G irl.” Everybody says the picture looks like him [on the cover]. My nephew Travis Sm ith [illustrated it], h e’ s a graphic artist for D utch Bros. I dropped the idea on him last August, on his wedding day in fact, and he put this together for me, the cover art and this’ interior one. No color inside, that drives the price o f the printing way, way, up. The C lack am as P rin t: Is there any particular reason you’ve been a student for so long? Eric Bronson: The tuition waiver is nice. I’m retired now and I can’t just sit home and watch game shows, so I put m yself to work here. I graduated from George Fox [University] in the mid 80s. I was a hum an resource major, but I didn’ t have a minor so now I’ m finally finishing up a degree here in creative w riting, and I consider that my minor. TCP: Have you written other novels? EB: I’ve dabbled in fan fiction, which you can’ t publish. That is just strictly online. This is the only h o ld -it-in -y o u r-h a n d book that I ’ve done [The Juggler’ s Girl]. I ’m having to make some corrections. It turns out m y copy editor damaged it, but I have access to the lab upstairs and the InDesign program to review work there. TCP: Did you use the degree you earned at George Fox University before you retired? EB: No. I did work in the S i section in the Arm y. I ’ m a retired soldier, alm ost all o f it in the reserve com ponent. S i is their personnel departm ent, so th a t’ s as close as I cam e. In retrospect, that w asn’t the best thing in which to major. I think I would have been much happier as an English major, as I am now. I love to write. I live to write. If someone asked me what I do, I’d either say I’m retired or I’ m a writer. I just published my first novel. TCP: Do you have a website for your fan fiction? EB: Y e a h , i t ’ s called S in k Into Your Eyes: www.siye.co.uk. It’ s Harry Potter, essentially. I don’ t own the site, but we have a senior staff. We have about 10,000 m em b ers, thou sand s and thou sand s o f short stories and book lin k s. I got recruited into the senior s ta ff a w hile back and it’s a handful sometimes, but I’m getting away from that quite a bit because, well obviously, you can’t publish any o f it because it belongs to M s. Rowling, but it’ s still fun. TCP: Do you have any career objectives in m in d fo r your creative w ritin g degree? EB: I’m going to continue writing. It’s not really a career. It’ s costing me more than I’ll ever m ake. It is som ething to do. If you stop m oving, you start dying. I can’t do that, and this is what I do. TCP: W hy did you decide to participate in the Veterans Poetry Reading last term? EB: I’ve never written that kind o f story before, or veterans writings, or military w ritin g, an y th in g lik e th a t and I was curious. I mean we’ve all read “ Red Badge of Courage” or “ A ll Quiet on the Western Front,” ... but I was curious how it would be. So I prepared som ething, som ething very short, and I went there and I went TCP: Tell me about your novel. EB: My son is a semi-professional juggler. Eric Bronson proudly displays a copy of “The Juggler’s Girl.” there m o stly fo r perspective and for curiosity and I ended up participating and I enjoyed it. I’ll probably do that again if I ’ m still in school next Veterans Day. Oh, I ’ve got to graduate eventually. T C P : W h e n are you e x p e ctin g to graduate? EB: I’m hoping by Christm as, at the end of fall term, at least having the degree. I’ll take the occasional class, but I’ m thinking I m igh t w ant to get som e m ore p a rt- time work, just som ething to add to the spending money. Besides, the teachers are probably getting sick of me after all these years. I’ve taken classes in everything you can im agine: business, science, m ath , philosophy, a lot of English obviously and writing. I have no idea how m any credits I ’ve accumulated over tim e. I’ m getting to the point now where maybe I want to move on away from campus and I want to cross that line from career student to alumni. It’s sort of something to cross off the bucket list as far as I’ll have a degree in writing, som ething I’ve taken up as a strong avocation. This story has been edited fo r clarity and space. ON THE COVER: G raphic illustration by Saige Keikkala. Cover design by Brandon Chorum. theclackamasprint.com________________________________ _________________________ OOB EdItors-ln-Chlef Andrew Koczian & Megan McCoy, chiefed@ciackamas.edu: Mews Editor Cassidy White, newsed@dackamas.edu; Arts & Culture Matthew Rowning. aced@dackamas.edu; Associate Arts & Culture Saige Keikkala; Sports Editor Katie Arche»; sportsed@ciackamas.edu; Copy Editor Blake Swan, CQpyed@dackamas.edu; Design Editor Brandon Chorum; Photo Editor Austin Boltz. photoed@dackamas.edu; Associate Photo Editor Victoria Tinker Web Editor Chelsea Pagan, webeditor@dackamas.edu; Associate Web Editor Shaylyn Struna; Ad Manager Robin Scott, admgr@clackamas.edu; Associate Ad Manager Merari Calderon Ruiz; Staff Writers & Photographers Da ni Clifton. James Harley, Taras Ko vch. Tom Bog g ess. Tony Peilico; ProducUo n Cole Slawson. Debbie Fox. Lex re Wagar, Travis Whittaker; Journalism Advber Melissa Jones, melissaj@dackamas.edu; The O x ia n u s Prtef ai ms to report the news in an honest, unbiased and professional manner. Content published in The Print is not screened or subject to censorship. Email comments, concerns or tips to: chiefed@dackamas.edu or call us at 505-594-6266; 19600 Molalla Ave.. Oregon Qty. OR 97045 2 Clackamas P rint MARCH 9 .2016 theclackam asprint.com
