Interviewed and written by Queenie Lee Dylan Cramer has been teaching saxophone in Kerrisdale Community Centre for 19 years. He is also a recording artist who has received worldwide acclaim. What is the key for his success? It is his talent, but also his “honesty” with his students and “passion” for his job. Dylan’s success did not come easily. He had gone through difficult times when he was young. The death of his father when he was 13 was the reason he started connecting to his saxophone. “It was a way to escape.” Dylan recalled. However, his way of escape brought him two of the most influential people in his life. He went to LA to study with Sonny Criss who became like a second father to Dylan. “It was like finding my father again.” Dylan described. But heartbreakingly, his second father left him just like his biological father. They both committed suicides.  With his days filled with grief, Phil Sobel was the one who put Dylan back together. “Every death brought in a birth” Dylan told me. Yes, the death of his father gave birth to his passion for saxophone and his attachment with his second father Sonny and the death of Sonny brought in the birth of his other mentor Phil Sobel. “I am very fortunate. Some people never bump into anybody meaningful in their life.” Dylan said. Success never came easily. The success Dylan has today is credited to his hard work and talent, but to him, it is credited to all the meaningful people in his life. The influence his two mentors had on him transfers to how he sees his music career and education today. Being a teacher is not a job for Dylan Cramer. He specifically said to me “it’s...

Ms. Marilyn Teresa Yee is the School Counsellor for Kerrisdale Elementary, whom I, through multiple courtship, convinced to contribute a piece of wisdom to this issue. As Marilyn likes to say, “We all have the capacity to continue to give love and echo life.” ~ The Editor-in-Chief   Written and Photographed by  COCO BIKADOROFF   Q. How long have you served for Kerrisdale Elementary?  A. This will be my 5th year. Q. During your 5 years of working at KE, what has attracted you to staying with serving at KE? A. The main thing is the creative and professional staff I work with. For a school this size, the dedication to learning is fantastic. Everyone gets along so well. The teachers are very inspiring to me. I love being in a dual track school; I love having the French and the English. It just really stretches your creativity. Q. Do you speak French as well? A. I don’t, I speak enough to get by with the kindergartens and grade one’s but I understand a lot more. Q. Do you have any special training/experience that has prepared you to be a better counsellor?  A. Well all of us are teachers, all the counsellors are teachers.  I have a Masters degree in counselling Psychology.  An interesting sidetrack is that I also have a Diploma in Theology, because I always had a whole lot of questions about the meaning of life, why do people suffer, and how do they find happiness.   Q. Please tell us about any special projects that you’re currently working on. A. The most current project I’m working on is to understand something called ‘Social Thinking’ and it’s the work of Michelle Garcia Winner from San Jose California.  She started working with autistic children and how to...

Dominic Morgan is the manager at Bean around the World on Dunbar and 40th. He has been a real supporter of the “Creative Artist Series” at the Kerrisdale Community Centre through a generous donation of coffee to all the participants. By COCO BIKADOROFF     Photographs by DEAN MCLEAN     Dominic is a great supporter of the local arts and runs his business with an honest sense of community flair. I sat down with Dominic to interview him at his establishment… Q. The brunch at your cafe is very successful. What do you love about it? I love the atmosphere that we create, I feel that we’ve created a place where people can feel like it’s their second home and if they do feel that way then I feel it’s perfect. Q. What is the secret to your success? The secret is there is no secret. It’s just having a passion for the work and instilling passion in both the employees and the customers. Q. Which work do you consider your greatest? My greatest…not sure how to answer that, my greatest work so far is a work in progress, and that’s training up people to do what I do here. To be able to pass on the knowledge that I’ve gained. If that’s successful, which I know it will be, then that will be my biggest accomplishment here. Q. What’s the hardest part of running a business like this? Umm, the hardest part ? Nothing is really hard, mainly things are more tedious and that’s anything that’s away from the front counter. Anything that’s not being out here with the people I find less exciting. I like to connect with the customers. Q. What’s the newest, freshest approach that you bring to your job? That’s actually...