Every few weeks or so, the community college where I teach selects a couple of faculty members to highlight by posting a photo of them in the hallway alongside a kind of Q&A about their personal life. It’s a fun way for the students to get to know their teachers and for us faculty to get to know each other. I’ve certainly enjoyed standing in the hallway and catching up on my colleagues.
Well, this week, I got featured on the board, and I thought it would be fun to share my Q&A responses with y’all. 🙂
Instructor’s Name & Subject: Samuel “Dr. Sam” Snoek-Brown, Writing.
Educational Background: PhD in English (creative writing), University of North Texas (2007); MA in English, West Texas A&M University (2001); BA in English, Schreiner University (1999).
Short bio: I was born in Oklahoma and raised in Texas but I got to Oregon as fast as I could. In between, I’ve lived in Wisconsin and the United Arab Emirates, and my wife and I have traveled to Canada and Europe and Asia. When I’m not teaching or traveling, I write fiction: I’ve published a chapbook of short stories and a novel called Hagridden.
Hobbies & Interests: Writing (no, seriously! it’s not just my job!), hiking, coin-collecting, travel.
Favorite food: “Mexican macaroni” (my own recipe!).
Favorite Sport: I’m so lazy that I don’t even watch sports.
Favorite Pet: Our two cats, Ibsen and Brontë (yes, they’re named after writers).
Favorite Movie: Book of Kings (a short film by Chris Terrio), Amelie, Kundun, American Beauty, 12 Angry Men.
Favorite Music: I have varied taste, but lately I’ve been fixated on Summer Camp. But I’m also a recovering metal-head.
Favorite Book: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Beth Ann Fennelly’s Tender Hooks, Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, Chris Ware’s Building Stories.
Favorite Person in History: Guilty pleasure: Vlad III of Wallachia. But really it’s Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Favorite Moment in my Life: The day I met my wife.
Nickname: I don’t really have one, but I once earned the epithet “Alamo” after a rousing game of paintball.
Favorite Place I’ve been: Oregon! But for travel, it’s probably a tie between Scotland and the Netherlands, both the homelands of my great-grandparents.
Favorite Teacher and why? Billie C. Hoffmann, my 7th-grade English teacher and 8th-grade yearbook teacher. She treated me like a fellow scholar and a colleague even though I was just a kid; she made me feel like my personal writing and my interests were important, that they were as much a part of my education as anything I learned in a classroom. I carry that with me today and strive to share that with my own students.
Samuel Snoek-Brown 
That picture of you striding along in the kilt – it looks like you’re off on a mission.
I was off to a gallery showing and reception for a friend’s illustrated novel release. The invitation said everyone was feeling fancy and, in a town that never dresses up, it would be fun to wear “cocktail attire.” So I wore this. 🙂
That book, by the way, was James Bernard Frost’s A Very Minor Prophet.
Braw!