Another calendar year in the books. Now is the time when we bask in the glow of another year in business. Who am I kiddin? There’s no time to bask. There’s only time to kiss my kids and get back to work!
It’s been a whirlwind year. If a few years back was the year of awards, then this year was the year of travel.
I’ve been everywhere man! I crisscrossed this great nation twice this year. Drove the entire West Coast once. I saw Denver, New York City, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Omaha, Austin, Philadelphia and Topeka. I walked among Redwoods in Northern California, tried to push the World’s Largest ball of Twine in the heart of Kansas, strolled the legendary campus of BoysTown in Nebraska, stood in front of Kurt Cobain’s childhood home in Aberdeen, screamed “Hey you guys!” as loud as I could on the beach where The Goonies was filmed, collected shells in Seaside, Oregon in the dead of winter, smelled the brightly colored tobacco fields of Kentucky and stood in the center of nation, looked in all around and realized that Foster Focus could be found somewhere in all directions. It’s been one hell of year. I’ll do my best to recall it all for the purpose of archiving within the pages of the mag.
I started the year on the West coast, a place I’ve become very fond of, to the point of considering a move. There’s something about the pace of the Pacific coast that agrees with me. Most folks are friendly and once you get beyond the traffic of the bay area, Northern California is damn near paradise. Before I head north, I generally head to Merced, CA. A few years back, I buddied up with a fella who runs the Renaissance Scholars program at the University of California, Merced, Kevin Bristow. As often happens, we former foster kids became fast friends and rarely do I land in California without seeing him first. I find it’s good to have touchstones everywhere you go, a place you can stop to center yourself before whatever tasks you have to perform. In Cali, it’s In-n-Out and Merced. It’s got a small town feel and fields of onions that remind me of Coney Island.
There are plenty of differences between east and west coasters, the most glaring for me is the perception of time and distance. On the eastern side of the country we measure distance by time and, for me, anything under 12 hours seems reasonable. On the west coast they measure distance by distance, a completely foreign concept to me. It’s four hours to D.C. from my house, I know this. It’s two hours from the San Francisco airport to Merced, I know this too. The difference is that when I’m in Cali, it’s 120 miles. This doesn’t matter to anyone but me, but the looks I get in California when I say I’m going to drive from point A to point B in terms of hours just cracks me up. Okay back to the trip.
The purpose of the trip this time around was to visit FosterClub and Bridge Meadows, a multigenerational community in Portland. Secretly, I wanted to get closer to finishing driving the entire pacific coast. I’d done Los Angeles to San Francisco the last trip and was determined to go from SF to Seattle driving only on the coast. I won’t bore you too much with the details of the drive but if you ever have the chance to make the drive, I highly recommend it. Sky busting redwood trees and miles and miles (or hours and hours) of gorgeous coastal towns and ocean views.
As a film buff, I felt compelled to stop at the numerous film locations Oregon had to offer as I made my way through the Pacific Northwest. I stood in front of the houses from The Goonies (I mentioned the beach earlier) and Short Circuit. I also stopped at the school from Kindergarten Cop. My childhood was right in front of my face.
FosterClub is a group that equips aging out foster youth opportunities from interaction with government and foster care officials but also the tools to work and live on their own. It’s a great program and I’m a fan of the founder Celeste Bodner. I spent several days in their hometown of Seaside, OR, met with the staff and kids from FosterClub and was treated to a tour of the town by way of some strange 4 person pedal cart. What a town to learn about life in! Seaside is a picturesque coastal town with a lot to do and great people to do it with. You should go. And you should check out FosterClub.
I backtracked a couple hours to see the great Multnomah Falls, an impressive 600 foot high waterfall with two drops that feeds the surprisingly wide Columbia River. Sightseeing hasn’t been a high priority when I travel for the magazine but I was convinced that had to change to keep me from burning out, this first trip was a test to see if I could enjoy myself. I did okay.
I’d never done a meet and greet before I stepped on to the Bridge Meadows property in Portland. I was met by kids, seniors and some folks my age as I strolled around the area. Led by the Director of Resource Development, Lani Faith, I learned all about their multigenerational approach to foster care.
To cap that trip off, I stopped at the childhood home of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana in Aberdeen, WA and his final home in Seattle. Music was a big part of my time in care and Seattle was the hub of that music, it was a big thrill to walk the streets with a couple former foster kids. I managed to fit in a lunch with a great advocate Chris Downs before heading to the airport were my all-time favorite band, Sunny Day Real Estate Agency’s music bellowing from the airport’s sound system. The music made me feel like the trip was a success, but I was very eager to get home.
The welcome I get when I return from a trip makes me want to travel more. Three kids running at you, telling you how much they missed you is one of those feelings that cannot be replicated.
A few months had passed before I climbed back into my car on a trip that would take me to the center of the country for the first of three visits I’d make this year. At the request of FF Columnist and mentor Rhonda Sciortino, I headed to Nebraska for an event put on by an agency named Compass. It’s also worth the trip to see Rhonda in her element. I also managed to visit the Foster Care Closet in Lincoln and even attended a Nebraska University football game with the founder of the Closet, Leigh Esau. My return trip to Nebraska included a tour of the famed BoysTown campus whose history was documented in an earlier issue of Foster Focus.
After a short run to Philadelphia to attend the opening of The Monkey & The Elephant coffeehouse, and a stint as an emcee for Shalita O’Neale’s Alumni conference, I geared up for a cross country jaunt longer than any I’d attempted before.
First was Topeka were I met with some officials from the state and spoke to the Kansas Youth Advisory Council on the campus of Washburn University. I’ve grown really fond of some of the advocates in Kansas, a few of them even accompanied me to the Orphan Train Museum in Concordia (story in an upcoming issue). Before heading to Denver to attend the FFTA’s national conference, I wanted to stand in the center of the country. It took a little driving, but I managed to find it. Pretty inspiring moment; everywhere I turned, I was looking in the direction of a magazine subscriber…trippy stuff.
Denver was brief. I was due in Austin, Texas to consult on a caregiver book with the good folks at Cenpatico. Leaving Texas I was already spent but was capable of the two day drive home. I took the scenic route through Kentucky and West Virginia before crawling into my hometown and my bed shortly thereafter.
That last trip may have killed my car. It’s been a steady car that I got right as the magazine started. Over one hundred thousand miles later, she’s starting to feel the effects of the miles. It’s been in the shop pretty much nonstop since the beginning of November. These things happen. They’ll get her fixed up. I’ll get back on the road soon enough. Visiting the Dave Thomas Foundation in Ohio for the start of what I think will be a cool addition to the podcast.
Overall it was a great year, both for travel and for the magazine. Many new subscribers, not too many cancellations or non-renewals so it looks like maybe I’ll start believing that people want me to keep making this thing. We’ve seen some Columnists leave this year, their contributions were huge. I was merely borrowing their skills. We’ve also seen the addition of several new Contributors and that list continues to grow, Ashley Rhodes-Courter will be sharing her thoughts in the upcoming year along with a lot more names you may know.
There will be more celebrity interviews this year as well. Hayden Byerly who plays Jude on The Fosters will be showcased next month. I’ll continue to alert you to any changes in policy or practice all across the country. The mag will continue to highlight kids in need of adoptive homes. I will continue to improve the product.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this magazine as much as I have enjoyed bringing it to you each month. Every year I meet new people, find new writers and cultivate new content for you to better understand this world of foster care. I’d like to think that I’m doing a good job but there’s no time to wait around for compliments, I’ve got to do it all again next month.
Enjoy your Holiday Season and I’ll see you on the flip side of the calendar. Enjoy the issue, lots of great content to end the year.
Owner/Editor - Chris Chmielewski