BY: HIBA OBEED
Staff
With a history teaching at multiple Saint Louis Community College (STLCC) campuses including Florissant Valley and Wildwood, English Professor Jason Meyer uses his love and admiration of literature to expand not only his own compass, but to inspire his students to think and read more critically.
Meyer looks back at his career, from when he started out as a reading specialist. “First my goal was to teach in an elementary setting, but then it became evident that I could make my way into a college classroom and would enjoy the added freedom that came along with teaching in a college setting,” he said while laughing and clenching his keychain. “So I went for it and I still think it was a good move; I’m still enjoying myself on a daily basis.”
His love for literature and teaching stems from experiences he had early on in his life, he said. “I think it must have to do with a few teachers I had in elementary school that really took an interest in me and instilled me with confidence,” said Meyer looking off into the distance. From then on he said he always knew the goal was to have his own classroom.
He found himself concerned with the state of media literacy sternly saying, “You know what concerns me most is the way that the internet has worked on people’s minds, the way that social media has influenced the way we interact with one another and the way we interact with the world,” said Meyer. He went on to stress the importance of questioning the media. “We have to do the fact-checking, we have to understand what tech companies and politicians are trying to do to us as a people because they have goals- and uh, they’re not for the greater good alright,” said Meyer.
When he isn’t focused on teaching, Meyer said he enjoys reading and writing—mainly fiction and poetry. “I find that when I have time to sit with a novel, I’m often reading it not only as somebody with a love of literature and a love of story but I’m reading to improve my craft,” Meyer said slowly articulating each word. “You know, originality and experimentation on the page still excites me and I love it when I come across it.”
Another common theme throughout his life’s journey has been music. From dancing to music with his parents as a child to starting a band, to co-opening a record store, music has always been a key part of Meyer’s life.
“I can remember being a young young boy, you know, 5-6 years old and dancing to Michael Jackson with my parents in the late 80s,” Meyer said smiling. “And it’s always been that same thing. It’s a matter of listening and being moved,” Meyer said while chuckling. Later he found himself involved in the punk scene, crediting its ideas of revolution and unity as key concepts he has carried with him throughout his life. “If I’m thinking about how my personality has developed over the years, I can drive that directly back to discovering punk music when I was 14 or 15 years old.”
But what Meyer finds the most rewarding aspect of his life is completely separate from his background in music, writing and education. “The most rewarding things to me generally center around my daughter- when she acts with kindness, or when I hear her teachers tell me that she’s a good friend at school; those things are extraordinarily rewarding,” Meyer said gazing into the distance smiling. “I think she’s on the right path. I guess I am a bit of a family man.”
What do you know, empty-headed prof?
Shut the door!
Let us blow a hole in internet folklore!
We shall expose a devolved spinelessness
With our surly open-endedness.
What do you mean—you did not read?
It was such a bore!
I had the bot explain to me the subject’s core!
The bot’s personality is always becoming.
When I log off, I feel I’ve had a thorough culturing.
Poem by: Jason Meyer
