It is doubtful that any author could be more at home in the travelogues that Stephen Robert Pankiewicz creates for the enjoyment of his relatives, friends and acquaintances. His writings are a compendium of his love of travel, his real life experiences, and his need to share these experiences with anyone willing to listen. All his compositions are filtered through the lenses of his bizarre sense of humour, fertile imaginations, and his propensity to indulge in flagrant embellishment. A sense of humour that for example: considers his 6’ 4” father’s head colliding with an immovable overhead object, or his dear wife Mary’s piercing shrieks as a result of a frigid or scalding morning trailer shower experience, due to someone else’s negligence, as hilarious. The victims do not often welcome this situational humour at the time of occurrence. However, in retrospect, and after the wounds healed, the humour of the situation is appreciated.
Stephen was born in Winnipeg Manitoba, September 13, 1972, a Wednesday, first born to Erika and Gerold, both teachers. His sister Lara joined him in 1974. Lara definitely did not share in his emerging sense of humour, nor his predilection to talk and share his experiences. This certainly did not contribute to the equanimity of the household as they matured. Encouraged by his mother to redirect his illimitable enthusiasm into writing his thoughts and then presenting them to an appreciative audience of two, gave him the start to communicate his experiences in written form. This definitely contributed to harmony in the household. Stephen’s style of writing can be traced back to a school camping trip that perhaps ranked as one of the most wretched experiences of his young life and deeply influenced his style of travel, (involving absolutely no pain or discomfort, first class only). His mother encouraged him to rethink the trip and turn all the disasters into funny incidents and write them down. He accepted the challenge and produced a hilarious story and enjoyed the writing experience and the accolades it brought. The stage was set for his development and our appreciation of his travelogues.
Currently Stephen resides in Ottawa with his wife Mary and is active as Director of Music at St Francis Xavier High School. There he has shaped a National Award winning music program through the same enthusiasm and humour that is reflected in his writing. He imposes his fondness of travel on students, colleagues and parents by taking between seventy and eighty students on music related ventures to mayor centers such as Salzburg Austria, New York, Chicago and Washington. This is indeed a monumental task. To organize, co-ordinate and transport that number of teenagers requires considerable fortitude, tolerance and stamina. His stories about these trips do reflect the tremendous amount of work and stress involved in the now familiar positive spin, that we have come to recognize and appreciate. His student’s testimonials attest to the fact that he is in fact a frustrated tour guide in the guise of a teacher.
Stephen and Mary’s extensive travels in North America, Europe, soon to be expanded to the Orient, have contributed and will continue to supply copious grist to his repertoire. The over three hundred subscribers to his E-mail service are eagerly anticipating his next publication.
