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3 0 t h r e u n i o nComing Alive in the College ClassroomJ O H N F i S K E ’ 8 1John Fiske ’81 admits that hispath to college teaching was a meanderingone. “I have not had a linear,focused post-Nobles existence, but Ifeel as though I am where I should be,”he says. That place is a classroom atBunker Hill Community College inBoston, where Fiske has been teachingEnglish and writing since January 2010.During his years at Nobles a careerin college teaching was the last thingon his mind, Fiske says. “Even when Igraduated from Trinity I wasn’t thinkingmuch beyond the present moment.I was interested in boat building andgoing on canoe camping trips in thesummer, so I did that for a while.”By 1988, he realized that he wasinterested in teaching—and landed ajob at Landmark School in Manchester,Mass., where he taught geography—and caught the travel bug.“All I had at the time was anapartment and a job. I quit the joband dumped the apartment,” he says.Unencumbered, Fiske traveled aroundIndonesia, Thailand and Australia, thenreturned to a middle-school teachinginternship linked with the graduateschool at Lesley College in Boston. Heearned his M.Ed. from Lesley in 1992.But, he says, “I’m just not wiredright to be a middle school teacher.”After a period of job hunting and subbing,he decided to try writing for aliving. He starting freelancing for theAppalachian Mountain Club and wenton to be what he calls “minimallyJohn Fiske ’81 at BunkerHill Community Collegeprosperous,” writing brochures andbylined articles for corporate clients,as well as creating river guides forthe AMC.Then, in 1999, he and his wifeMary, a bond trader, adopted Alex, “Hewas born in Romania, and had been inan orphanage for two and a half years,”says Fiske. “I immediately becamethe at-home person. My presence wasessential, crucial for Alex.” Duringhis at-home-dad years, he wrote andpublished a novel, The Library Book.Fast-forward a decade. “In the fallof 2009, I realized that my full-time,on-call role for Alex had become increasinglyunnecessary,” he says. Thepossibility of college teaching appealedto him, so he contacted the dean of theeducation school at Boston University,who put him in touch the dean atBunker Hill Community College,who put him in touch with the chairof the English Department.“I interviewed on a Saturday morning;he gave me the book and told mewhich classroom to show up at onMonday morning,” Fiske laughs. Hehas been teaching at the communitycollege ever since.“I really like BHCC,” Fiske says.“The students come from all over theworld. I have students from Vietnam,Morocco, Japan, India, Togo, HongKong…. Their diversity is the bestpart of the job.”Fiske says he as found his nicheteaching at BHHC.“I am in the right place. I want toteach college kids how to write.”—Catherine O’Neill Grace32 l the NobLES Bulletin l Spring 2011