{"id":576,"date":"2018-09-11T13:26:16","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T20:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mrpletsch\/?p=576"},"modified":"2018-09-11T14:02:56","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T21:02:56","slug":"touching-spirit-bear-the-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mrpletsch\/2018\/09\/11\/touching-spirit-bear-the-author\/","title":{"rendered":"Touching Spirit Bear: The Author"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Meet Ben Mikaelsen!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Touching Spirit Bear was written by Ben Mikaelsen<\/strong> in 2001. Ben was born in La Paz, Bolivia in 1952, although he is of Danish decent. Ben moved to the United States of America in when he was in seventh grade. Below are some questions answered by Ben Mikaelsen about his novel and his experiences. (Taken from: http:\/\/www.benmikaelsen.com\/)<\/em><\/p>\n

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La Paz, Bolivia. Fun fact: La Paz is the highest capital city in the world – it is 3640m above sea level!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Questions with Ben Mikaelsen: What was your inspiration for the Book (Touching Spirit Bear<\/em>)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I was born to conservative white parents in Bolivia, South America. This gave me a perspective on justice not shared by many American children.<\/p>\n

By the time I was ten years old, I had been through three revolutions, walked the streets stepping over dead bodies, had a man shot to death only feet away and watched my first execution.\u00a0 Because our home in Bolivia was up at 14,000 feet on the high plains above La Paz, there were no schools.\u00a0 As such, I was never sent to school or home-schooled until fourth grade, at which point I was sent away to boarding school.<\/p>\n

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Location of Bolivia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The school was run by strict English matrons that ruled with iron fists.\u00a0 Minor infractions were punished with a stick.\u00a0 Severe infractions were punished with a leather strap that left my hands in bandages.\u00a0 My own personal infractions never seemed to be minor.\u00a0 Also, a child such as myself who couldn’t read or write was not dealt with remedially, but rather punitively.\u00a0 If I did the best I could on an assignment but failed, the next day I had to improve or get a strapping.\u00a0 To know that a strapping was coming and I had already tried my hardest was probably the most frightening thing about boarding school.<\/p>\n

I also learned early in life the sting of racism.\u00a0 I knew what it was like to be held down and have mud smeared in my face and to be called a \u201cGringo.\u201d\u00a0 I learned at a tender age what it was like to look at my skin and hate myself simply because one thin layer of my body was different from other children.\u00a0 When I came to the United States as a teenager, I discovered that people\u2019s differences went much deeper.\u00a0 Sadly, it took becoming an angry teenager and seeing the inside of a few police stations before I learned to embrace my differences and to be proud of them.<\/p>\n

This is a long way of explaining that Touching Spirit Bear is the book I wished I could have read when I was adolescent. The hard lessons learned over the years were ones I wanted to share with today\u2019s teenagers.”<\/p>\n