A LIFE OF “SIDE-HUSTLES”

I have spent my life as a college professor, but along the way I managed several “side-hustles” that added a great deal of spice and growth to my regular life (but not money ; 0 ). It all began when a group of us at the Woodland Park Presbyterian Church in Seattle opened a coffee house next door to a foreign film theater back in the 1960s. We sponsored discussions of films, politics, and theologies four nights a week, along with the regular coffeehouse fare. We invited local church leaders, university professors, political leaders, and pastors to lead discussions of timely topics and films. It was a roaring success for several years.

At my next place of academic employment in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, I volunteered to teach philosophy courses free every semester at the local historically Black college, LeMoyne (now LeMoyne-Owen College). Needless to say, I gained a deep education about white-Black relations by making friends with my students. I even played in the faculty vs. student basketball game. Most importantly, I was asked to accompany them to the college’s memorial funeral service for Martin Luther King, who had just been murdered there. I shall never forget those days there.

At my next teaching post, Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, I became involved in a curriculum restructuring that led me to take a sabbatical leave to study aesthetic theory and practice. I returned to Seattle Pacific and took as many courses in the arts as I could crowd into an academic year. Unsurprisingly, I was a futz at most of my aesthetic efforts, but I did manage some success, surprisingly, in bronze and stone sculpture. I paid my way by offering a series of lectures on Christian faith and the humanities. This year’s experience led to many interconnections with several interdisciplinary aspects of my regular philosophy studies.

At my next place of academic employment, my wife, Mari, and I were able to put together a “semester abroad” program in Greece that turned out to be a grand success for both our students and ourselves. Not only did we get to visit the usual great classical sites around Greece, but we also got to burrow into the local culture of the small city of Sitia, where the program was based, on the far eastern tip of the island of Crete. Mari and I were also able to spend, and pay for, the summers prior to the fall semesters in Sitia. Another great “side-hustle.” By the way, we paid our own way on these Cretan summers. As should be obvious, this was a “side-hustle” well worth the effort and money.