The Optimistic Jim Schaefer
I met Jim sixteen years ago after he had finished his first summer institute at the Eastern Michigan Writing Project. In those days just a few college instructors came through the Eastern Michigan Writing Project Summer Institute, but he was bound to change that. No one who taught with him was ignorant of the work of the Writing Project.”I can’t believe every writing teacher doesn’t do this!” was his incredulous litany. The summer institute encompassed his three great passions: writing, reading and teaching. He also valued, and contributed to, the enduring community of teachers forged by the intensive summer experience.
Jim’s obituary reflects another interest: disseminating good news about academic literature.
Jim shared his passion for writing and reading through the creation of the Riprap TV Program, the Michigan-based show focused on interviewing professors and authors of academic books from around the United States for nearly twenty years. As host and executive producer of the program shown on CTN (Community Television Network) based in Ann Arbor, Jim was an exceptional conversationalist with a gift for making people feel at ease while discussing complex academic theories. Notably, Jim worked with the team to help develop the first book festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
| Jim used these skills to interview Eastern Michigan Writing Project authors, Cathy Fleischer and Becky Sipe, and — for a promotional video–interviewing me. His unfailing smile and engaging questions nursed me through a video production in spite of my photo-phobic rigidity. “You can smile a little,” he kidded me and his coaxing smile helped me muster a tentative grin. In a video session I experienced some of the reassurance Jim usually saved for his students. He was always most proud of the ones who struggled with language or socio-economic disadvantages and would share their writing with me. “Isn’t that amazing?” he would beam proudly. I was always sure he was proud of me.
Jim and his wife Karen brought their skills with video and photography equipment to dozens of Writing Project events, from summer institute closing celebrations to fall conferences, endlessly documenting our work for our website and promotional fliers. They donated their professional skills and hours of time for little more than our fervent gratitude. If I have any regrets about unfinished business, it is that we did not honor them at a public celebration for their tireless efforts to celebrate our work. But they never made you feel obliged. It is significant, and a little sad, that there are hundreds of photos on the Writing Project website taken by Jim and not a single one taken of him.  Jim and Karen |
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| Jim and I enjoyed sharing good books, worthy causes, and persistent frustrations, like his quest for a doctorate in education. Jim had a big picture view of educational change, which confounded the microcosmic demands of a doctoral dissertation, so he labored with institutions and advisors to sharpen his focus. Ultimately he faced the fate of too many advisors with their own idiosyncratic goals for his work. Anyone who has pursued a doctoral thesis for more than few years can sympathize.
A year of our relationship never passed without a book sent in the mail or an article attached to an email for my perusal. I sent a few in return, but I could not match Jim’s generosity. He had wide-ranging interests and never tired of trying to broaden my horizons. I was touched that he kept me in mind even in his retirement, when our paths rarely crossed. In my work of collaborating with talented writing teachers, I have met exceptional human beings, who inspired me to work smarter and harder. None exceeded the tireless optimism and generosity of Jim Schaefer, whom I have loved as a colleague and brother in literacy. I am grateful we crossed paths and then shared the road to better teaching. Heaven will be enlarged by his kind and expansive spirit. |
What an honest, accurate tribute to a fine man! Jim was a devoted teacher and scholar! Thank you, Bill Tucker, for saying what all who knew Jim believes, too.