If you ask me who I am, I probably won’t give you the same answer that I may have given you fifteen to twenty years ago, and I most likely will have to think about the answer I actually give you these days. Twenty years ago, I probably would have said, in answer to the question: I’m Jake’s mum.
And of course, whether naming myself that, in answer to the question of ‘Who are you?’ is an interesting thing to think further on. I am Carolyn. That is who I am. But I am also Jake’s mum, for sure, I am proud to be the mother of this fine young man I carried into this world.
But I’m Carolyn Cordon, writer and poet, as well as President of Adelaide Plains Poets writing group, Editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle newsletter, and a former dog breeder, breeding dogs with the Kennel name of Holkschter Kennels. I’m a former Public Servant, a onetime (failed) dog food promoter, and a couple of other smaller jobs, including the Mallala and Dublin Towns Coordinator, a role I enjoyed, but one I suffered many sleepless nights because of.
The writer and poet jobs, have been with me off and on for the most years, and they are pretty well always happening every day. Writers and poets don’t really turn off after work in the afternoon, because our workplace is inside our heads, thinking, whether we’re doing it consciously or not. And my role as the Editor of the Crossroad Chronicle is one that happens on the weekend too, sometimes, if a community event of note is on, for instance.
Writers and poets, as well as editors, are always looking for the next big thing to write about, hoping to put together something of interest to their audience, through a story of whatever kind is relevant to their role. And I am another thing as well, I am a blogger, with a few different blogs, of differing subject matter. So – gardening, dogs, writing, child abuse, multiple sclerosis & stoicism, these are all things I blog about, so I am open to anything relating to them all, all of the time, because, well you never know what might happen in this brain of mine, when things are in there swilling around!
I have a main character from my unfinished novel, Meredith, and even though I am probably never going to complete that novel, I still see things and think, yes, that’s something Meredith would think, or do, or have happen to her. Meredith is with me, whether I want her there or not. I brought her to life, and I’m not going to abandon her, even though she probably would like me to get her story moving along some more …
All of the things that happen to me, may happen to Meredith, or some other person in that novel or in my next poetry collection, or they may come up in the next issue of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, or one of my blogs. I am who I am, a wearer of many hats, and doing of many things. Life is full of things, good and bad, and I can use them all in various ways, in my life.
And of course, I am a Public Speaker, looking for more work in that role, so I am looking for interesting, informative, amusing things to speak about too. Life truly is a basket of things, isn’t it. Thinking, writing, speaking, being, they all blend together in great ways for anyone and everyone who are interested and are paying attention!
Anyway, the question of Who I Am, is tied up to the question of What I Am, always. Do you have many roles too? And how do you respond to the question?
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 