THE ACCIDENTAL EDUCATOR
Life-Defining Stories of Rites and Wrongs
a memoir by Dr. Eric Reno
“The writing style . . . is beautifully lyrical. In some places, the writing is stop-in-tracks insightful . . . As ever, there is some truly beautiful writing in the ACCIDENTAL EDUCATOR, of genuine depth and insight . . . Moreover, for a memoir in this form, there is great poignancy and tenderness to the writing in moments.”
Jon Curzon, Editor
The WRITING Consultancy
Cambridge, UK
The Memoir
THE ACCIDENTAL EDUCATOR
Life-Defining Stories of Rites and Wrongs
Eric Reno’s goal was to write about lives through a life, about times through a time. He tells life-defining stories and shares insights of people met, places lived, decisions made, and tragedies and joyous events experienced.
THE JOURNEY
Following high school Dr. Reno spent four years in the Air Force as an Intelligence Analyst in the United Kingdom. Following military service his goal was to become the first college graduate in his family. Following college he spent five years in corporate life, finally deciding it wasn’t a fit. His next goal, at age thirty, was to teach English at the college level. With no job, no money, no teaching experience, but with a supportive wife and a first child on the way, he began the pursuit of his dream. Forty years later he retired as a college president, a journey that could never have been envisioned those many years ago.
Those Met Along the Way
Col. Bill Bower piloted one of the sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bombers that took part in the April 18, 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, five months following the Japanese December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. His specific target was the city of Yokohama. Col. Bower and twenty-two other participants in the Doolittle Raid received the Distinguished Flying Cross that same year, during a reception held at the White House.
At the time of this interview hosted by Dr. Reno in 2003, Col. Bower was one of four living pilots of the Doolittle raid. During the interview, Col. Bower discusses his experience during the raid, parachuting out of the plane and being taken in by Chinese villagers after the bombing was complete, and the remainder of his tenure in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Those met along the way include a ten-inning encounter with Brian Piccolo; holding the first-ever World Champion 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers in the palm of his hand; a week in awe of Maya Angelou; a semester mesmerized by writer, Harry Crews; an attitude-changing phone conference with poet, Judith Ortiz Cofer; a delightful afternoon encounter with jazz singer, Carmen McRae; an evening in the company of jazz legend, Dave Brubeck and family; dinner with and advice from civil rights leader, Julian Bond; and a career-saving year of encouragement from entertainment writer and entrepreneur, Elizabeth Snead.
