William Daniel Brown

AMDG

August 29, 2012

From Henri J. M. Nouwen (Catholic priest and writer), from his book, Can You Drink the Cup?: “We have to live our life, not someone else’s. We have to hold our own cup. We have to dare to say, ‘This is MY life, the life that is given to me, and it is this life that I have to live, as well as I can. My life is unique. Nobody else will ever live it…. Many people can help to live my life, but after all is said and done, I have to make my own choices about how to live.’”

Dear Mr./Ms. ________________________:

Welcome to another school year! The start of a new school year has always offered me – as both a professional educator and an aspiring student – hope because it is a chance for a new beginning. We cannot do anything about what happened yesterday, for yesterday is already gone. What we can do is examine our past, recollecting the avenues we have traveled to get to where we are now, and learn from both our successes and failures so that we can orient ourselves; then, we can more purposefully continue to navigate our way to where we still need to go.

My own odyssey has taken me from Manila, the Philippines, the city wherein I was born fifty years ago, to the United States of America, the country that adopted me and my father and two older brothers as its children in 1981. For close to five years in the late 1980s, I also lived in Fort Sill, Oklahoma and in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, where I was stationed as a field artillery soldier by the United States Army. After then serving for sixteen and a half years here at this school – yes, I had worked at Mira Costa High School in the past – I moved to Beijing, China to be with my family; I had lived there for four years before returning to California and to Mira Costa this year.

The Philippines, the United States of America, Germany, and China – these are the places I have called “home” during different parts of my life, places where I have molded myself through the different people and experiences I have encountered and the choices I have made in response to these encounters. I suppose it made sense that I inevitably would land in an international school in Beijing because of my background: my surname, “Brown,” shows my European heritage while my dark skin reveals my Filipino genes; I was educated for thirteen years in a Catholic school in the Philippines but continued my university studies in various secular institutions in the United States; my professional experiences range from being an office clerk (my first job in America!) to a bookkeeper to a soldier before finally discovering that my vocation or calling was to teach.

Did I plan my life this way? Not even close. As a boy, I had thought that my vocation was to become a Jesuit priest, but my faith had not been strong enough for me to overcome my selfishness, fear, and attachments to take that step. Later, I had wanted to be a comic book illustrator because I loved to draw; I envisioned myself as the artist for the Batman comic books! (You should not be surprised to learn that two of my favorite films are the recent Batman Begins and Batman: The Dark Knight.) Alas, I had to accept that I truly was not all that talented as a graphic artist; therefore, I had to consider other alternatives.

Then during my last year in high school, my homeroom advisor and Sociology-Economics teacher, Father James O’Brien, SJ, one of the most influential people I have ever met and a man I will certainly write about in these weekly letters, asked us in his twelfth grade homeroom class to write about what we wanted to do after we graduated from high school; I answered, “priest” and “soldier.” (The patron saint and founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, himself had been a soldier before events, such as getting his leg shattered by artillery fire, led him to devote his life to “help[ing] souls”… Those Jesuits really had me conditioned well, didn’t they?)

No, I had never consciously resolved to become a teacher; however, in retrospect, I see now that a few of my mentors (Father O’Brien being one of them) recognized a teacher in me that I had not seen – or had refused to see – and placed me in situations that would nurture that seed that had been planted a long time ago. I just had to go through my life, accumulating knowledge and experiences, before finally realizing that I possessed certain abilities and traits that would help me effectively share what I had with others; thus, I chose to become what I had always been built to be: a teacher.

We will encounter many different experiences that will mold us into who we are – and yet will be. As the poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, put it in his magnificent piece, “Ulysses,” “I am a part of all I have met. Experience is an arch wherethro(ugh) gleams that untraveled world…” These experiences will help us practice our ability to choose, our gift as human beings to respond to forces outside and within us. What this school year can offer us all is the opportunity to prepare to make sound choices – so that we become what we were built to be.

So how about you: who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you now? Where do you see yourself going?

Thank you for considering these musings. I consider it a great blessing to be able to teach you – and also to learn from you! I will be writing these letters to you every week (and yes, I will be asking you to write in class based on the letter’s focused topics). Thank you for trusting me with this responsibility to be your teacher.

I wish you all a fruitful school year that will help you orient yourselves – where you started, where you are, and where you are going – so that you may choose wisely. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to see me. You also may contact me by e-mail at .

Peace be with you all,

William D. Brown

Teacher, English

Writing Instructions:

1. On the margins, write down synonyms for the boldfaced, italicized vocabulary words.

2. Writing Assignment (to be written in class on _________________): Write a letter EITHER introducing yourself to me from the perspective of one of your parents OR introducing yourself by introducing your parents. (Who are you? Who are your parents? What/ who is important to you? What is your background? What have been important influences on you?)

Prewriting activity: Interview Questions for Parents:

1. What is your name? What did your friends and family call you when you were young? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Where were you born? Where else have you lived? When were you born? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How would you describe the place and time in which you lived as a child/adolescent? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What was your childhood like growing up? What do you remember doing? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Who were your friends? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. What did your parents do for a living? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What values did you learn from your parents? How did they teach you these values?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What did you like or not like about school then? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. When you were a teenager, what made you feel successful (for example, performing well on a test, cleaning the house, etc.)? What made you happy? Why did these activities make you feel successful or happy? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. What did you dream of becoming when you grew up? Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. What was the most important event that you remember happening when you were young? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12. Who were the persons you most admired? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. What was the most important scientific or technological development then? Why was it so important? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Prewriting Activity: Interview Questions for Self:

1. What is your name? What do your friends and family call you? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How would you describe the place and time in which you now live? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What is your childhood like growing up? How do you spend your time? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What do your parents do for a living? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. What values have you learned from your parents? How have they taught you these values?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What do you like or not like about school? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What makes you feel successful (for example, performing well on a test, cleaning the house, etc.)? What makes you happy? Why do these activities make you feel successful or happy? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. What do you dream of becoming when you grew up? Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. What has been the most important event that you remember happening when you were young? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Who are the persons whom you most admire? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12. What has been the most important scientific or technological development so far? Why is it so important? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________