THE INFORMER PAGE 2

DECEMBER 3, 1991

Silent café chats lead poet
toward career at Cap

Inspiration can arise almost anywhere. In the case
of Blake Foss, it came from watching conversations in a
small café.

That was about 19 years ago, when Blake was work-
ing in Ottawa as a business telephone installer. He had
lunch in the café each day and was fascinated to see two
regular customers conversing in sign language.

“I became very interested, and I began taking sign
language classes,” he said.

The classes set Blake along a path that eventually
led to his job as Special Needs Advisor at Cap.

After getting a grounding in sign language, he trav-
elled in Europe. He then returned to Canada to further
his education. Next he worked as a pre-school teacher in
a Head Start program, and he went on to take a job in
Winnipeg as a counsellor for adults with hearing dis-
abilities. He enjoyed the job and said the people of
Winnipeg were “tremendously friendly,” but after four
years he felt an almost magnetic pull toward the West.

“I packed my car. I’d never been to Vancouver. I just
wanted to go. The mountains and the ocean were call-
ing,” he said.

Here he began working in an outreach project for
people with intellectual disabilities. Before starting at
Cap Blake worked three years as the Employment
Equity Coordinator for persons with disabilities at the
B.C./Yukon regional office of Employment and Immigra-
tion Canada.

He started doing auxiliary work for the College in
April and took on the part-time Special Needs position
Oct. 1. He works at ARC on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
afternoons on Thursdays.

As Special Needs Advisor, Blake spends much of his
time providing services to students with physical
disabilities, including those who have visual or hearing
impairments. He does everything from arranging for
interpreters and audio-taped texts to providing handi-
capped parking passes. Also, he looks forward to provid-
ing in-service training.

- On Oct. 12 he met with a few students who were
discussing the formation of a students with disabilities
group. “It was a very productive meeting and produced
a lot of ideas, commitment and support,” he said.

“One of the things I like best here is the one-to-one
contact with students. Being a part of the College
learning environment is new to me, and I’m really
enjoying it.

“There is a relaxed kind of energy that I like here at
the College,” he added. “I enjoy the whole wooded area.
I find it’s refreshing and energizing, and it’s nice to be
out of the concrete city core.”

Perhaps the College environment is giving him fur-
ther inspiration. Although he professes to have no
hobbies, now and then Blake writes poetry, such as this:

Trusting is a sigh of relief with inner knowledge
Being myself releases caution to the wind
And truth is truly relaxing

His writing usually focuses on human evolvement, a
theme that carries through in his work. The theme also
encompasses the main message Blake wants to convey
to the College community that people should take time
to talk to the students who have disabilities.

“It’s a wonderful way to learn,” he said.

continued from page one

violence against women. A student will read the names
of the Montreal women as red roses are placed on the
cedar wreath.

The community is invited to the campus for this
ceremony and may participate by:

¢ Making a donation to the Monument
Project
¢ Placing a candle (available at the Student
Society Office, N Building) by the display.
Leading up to the Dec. 6 ceremony, candles
will be placed on a rock next to the display.
¢ Placing their own rose on the wreath
¢ Wearing a white scarf (symbol of innocence)

The ceremonies are being organized by the Capilano
College Women’s Centre Steering Committee, which
comprises students, staff and faculty.

‘