Stories of a caregiver: “Chuy” the Blesser
Date
2020-12
Authors
Porter, Thomas
Cataldo, Raquel
Ward, Sabine
Swaggart, Shalia
Dancer, Sarah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Military Children Education Coalition
Abstract
In a writer’s workshop setting, military caregivers describe how they protect and serve their families and others as blessers and mentors, after experiencing the catastrophic physical, emotional, or mental loss of a loved one who served in the military.
Description
As a faculty member in the ILT department and Writing Director of UTSA’s military family caregiver group, “Writing Back to You,” I workshopped, edited, and submitted five stories that were published in “On the Move” magazine, a journal of the Military Children Education Coalition.
The stories address the partial subject of my doctoral research (Porter, 2017): the Hidden Alliance of Blessers.
Blessers can be family members, breadwinners, caregivers, teachers, relatives, friends and others who, with unique insight, perhaps because they have faced obstacles themselves, see the secret, hidden gifts in others that might not be apparent to them, and inspire them to advocate on others behalf.
Porter, T. (2017). Dissertation. Life stories of pre-service teachers: Bids, invitations, resistance and redemption and the hidden alliance of Blessers.
Keywords
caregivers, mentors, alliances, storytelling, writers workshop, military
Citation
Porter, T., Cataldo, R., Swaggart, S., Ward, S., Dancer, S. (2020). Stories of a caregiver: “Chuy” the Blesser. On the Move, 14 (1), 38–45. Military Children Education Coalition.
Department
Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching