30 Sep October at Experienced Goods

By Jennie Reichman

Have you ever been brave?  Even if your initial answer is “no,” I bet you’ve done or said things that have challenged your sense of safety, things that have involved risk, that evoked the sense of jumping off a cliff into the unknown. Bravery is often measured in terms of high drama and outrageous danger (think confronting someone who is wielding a weapon or running into a burning building), but most of us are brave almost daily. Heck, just driving to work can sometimes feel like I deserve a medal. Bravery is starting a conversation with someone you’ve just met, volunteering for a task you don’t totally feel qualified to perform, speaking your mind when it seems like nobody agrees with your point of view. For some, bravery is just getting out of bed in the morning. Some things I did when I was younger and that I now think of as brave, I embarked on fearlessly and without a second thought. I naively assumed that nothing would go wrong and it was all a great adventure, like moving across the country without a job or a place to live, or getting up on stage and singing songs I wrote. Miraculously, most of those risks turned out well and have immeasurably enriched my life.  

Saying yes to big life changes is brave. That is why I encourage all of you, the next time you visit Experienced Goods and see our hard-working assistant manager Eric Cutler, to congratulate him on the new path he is bravely taking, teaching art in area elementary schools starting in October. Eric is a talented artist himself and currently teaches in the evenings at The River Gallery School on Main Street in Brattleboro. Like most creative people, he has long dreamed of supporting himself with his art. In 2009, after working at Experienced Goods for a year, he moved from his native Brattleboro to New York City to pursue a career in the theater (he is also a very fine actor). In 2012 he returned to Brattleboro and to Experienced Goods; he has been an important member of our team ever since.  

In August, however, Eric gave notice that he will be leaving his job at Experienced Goods to teach in The River Gallery School’s new program in the schools, bringing fine-art education to young people. Eric is uniquely suited to this work: He is visionary, and can see the potential in a blank canvas, an unused space or a young, creative mind. He has a delightful sense of play and welcomes the opportunity to turn a boring task into a game or see the hilarious side of a situation. He loves beauty and visual excitement; many’s the time he has reimagined and transformed ho-hum areas of the store into intriguing, enticing centers of interest. He’s great with children; he talks to them like what they think and say is meaningful. The lucky kids he’ll be teaching will find themselves entering the world of art as an extension of the self, limitless and magical, and with lots of support along the way. 

That said, even though we are excited for Eric and his new endeavors, we will miss him terribly! Luckily he will be working at the store part time until the end of the year, so we have lots of time to come up with a real bang-up going-away bash for him. (Shhhh, don’t tell him.) And who, you ask, will be filling those massive assistant manager shoes in his stead? Our own Emma Champoli, who at this point has worked in every department of the store and in every capacity assisting ably and energetically, will be taking on the mantle. Congratulate Emma on her new position when you see her! Yours truly will be managing the clothing department, and between myself, Emma, Karen and the rest of the staff, we just might be able to do the same amount of work that Eric now does by himself. I’d say we are pretty brave to attempt that, wouldn’t you? ~ Jennie Reichman