As many of you now know, my name is Tamu Miles. I grew up on Salt Spring Island and until this past August, have worked and raised my children there. I have spent the last four years attending Vancouver Island University working towards the completion of a creative writing degree, and I currently live with my husband and daughter in Cedar, just south of Nanaimo. I also have a son who currently lives with his girlfriend in Victoria.
My husband, Barney, is my high school sweetheart. With his help I have been able to achieve my goal to become a journalist and writer. Without him, I would have had to postpone embarking on this dream until much later as I was a single mom struggling to make ends meet and provide a decent life for my children.
I figured that I would just get this information out there right off the bat, because I know that I am stepping into a small community, much like Salt Spring. I know that sooner, rather than later, you will know all this and much more about me, and in turn I will know as much about you. Well, at least from what I get from meeting you face to face, and from what other people tell me.
I fully embraced this fact the day I drove out to Lake Cowichan for my interview with Dennis Skalicky for this position. I knew that I wanted this job and that I was going to do everything I could to ensure that I got it.
I look forward to meeting all of you. I look forward to hearing your stories and learning about Lake Cowichan, its history, and participating in the creation of its future. I love small community life and I have chosen to live this kind of lifestyle for the past 30 odd years. That’s right, I’m not giving away my age just yet.
I will probably stumble and bumble and forget your names until they get drilled into my head, but the faces that I have already met are very clear to me. Attending the Country Grocer Sale Day and meeting all the people sitting at their booths representing the many non-profit, community oriented organizations that exist here, was not only fun, it was wonderful to shake your hands and begin the process of getting to know you.
Through a community newspaper, the community members are reflected. To me, this is what a community newspaper is all about. As I drive Highway 18 to and from Cedar every day, I see what you see and I become part of the community incrementally. And believe me, I know I will not be considered a true member of the community until I have lived here for at least 30 years.
I look forward to working with each and every one of you, and I hope you don’t get tired of my incessant calls, at odd hours of the day, for information. As of the moment the paper goes to press, I will have been editor for exactly six days. I look forward to many more.