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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2021)
6A | OCTOBER 14, 2021 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Arts & Culture Arts Pondering the deep questions, in novel form by Sophia Edelblute sedelblute@cgsentinel.com It’s not uncommon to question the com- ings and goings of life. The meanings of the everyday, and large- scale events. Perhaps even some of us have dwelt on the meaning and purpose of our ex- istence here on Earth. “Embrace Inverse Vibrations,” a book by Eugene local Adam Chouinard, attempts to find out. In a novel split into seven parts, Choui- nard examines a va- riety of life’s ques- tions, from personal reflections such as, “What will I regret, or be proud of, when I’m gone?” to societal ponderings regard- ing our influence on Earth, all told from the point of view of one man’s journey through a place called Limbus. Nearly 14 years ago, Chouinard had a brush with fate, which helped spur into mo- tion his novel. While in the car with a group of friends, the driv- er fell asleep they got into a near fatal crash, hitting a guardrail at almost 80 mph. “It was sort of a life-changing event actually, and so that, I think that experi- ence sort of stewed for a while in there and found an out- let through some of the storytelling in the book, and that’s the personal level of the story.” As a biologist by trade who studies ani- mal behavior and evo- lution, it wasn’t un- usual for Chouinard to ask the big ques- tions. That accident, and his studies, really spurred into life ideas for his book. “The personal side of it, if I have to ratio- nalize it, comes from that brush with death. Then the other stuff comes from looking at the world through the lens of a biologist, and someone who studies animal behaviors,” he said. “I think about us as a species a lot, in the way that I look at other species on the planet and the way that they have evolved, all the baggage they have because of that, and then the way that we will continue to evolve, and the way that we could contin- ue to evolve.” He’s always felt the need for a creative outlet. Originally that outlet was music, and albums he created only for himself and a select few others to listen to. But he found himself with a gnawing need to write a book that could perhaps address life-changing thoughts sometime in 2012 he said. “I just wrote it in about a year and didn’t let myself give up and then I put it in a draw- er and I despaired for about six years. I read it again and I let a few close friends and fam- ily read it,” said Chou- inard. At first, he thought it may turn out to be like his music, enjoyed by a select few. But after near-constant thought of it for those six years, and an unshakeable passion to finish it, he went through that first draft and started edit- ing. “I just decided to OPAL CENTER IS SEEKING… PROVOCATIVE, FUNNY, HORRIFYING, AND ORIGINAL PLAYS BY EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS FOR THE 2022 SEASON. CALL ABOUT OR EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSIONS AND PROPOSALS TODAY. OPAL CENTER for ARTS & EDUCATION 513 E. Main St. Cottage Grove opalcentercg.org For More Information: 541-623-0513 Are you a Chamber Member? Ask us how you can become a member today! Contact the Cottaeg Grove Area Chamber of Commerce (541) 942-2411 info@ cgchamber.com COURTESY PHOTO Embrace Inverse Vibrations is a science fiction odys- sey about how all life is connected, exploring a vari- ety of life-affirming questions. take the plunge, to just go for it,” said Choui- nard. Of course the next step after the long edit- ing process is publish- ing, and Chouinard wanted to take control of his own work with independent publish- ing, and the beginning of Proavia Press. While still a very new publishing op- tion, Proavia may someday see books from different au- thors, as Chouinard hopes to be able to help others who share similar genres of work get published. He’s open to producing “di- verse forms of artistic expression” from mu- sic to poetry to videos and visual art, as well as books. It’s “just the begin- ning,” he says. Now, coming on the one year an- niversary of the pub- lication of “Embrace Inverse Vibrations,” Chouinard plans to have more projects in the queue, including a science fiction com- ing-of-age story he plans to release next summer. In the meantime, “Embrace Inverse Vi- brations” is available at The Bookmine and Kalapuya Books in Cottage Grove, and Tsunami Books and J Michaels Books in Eu- gene. 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