Chuck Kramer taught reading and writing to local junior high students for 30 years.
"I really enjoyed working with adolescent kids; I liked their fresh point of view, often raw and unmodulated," he said.
Now retired, Kramer stays in contact with some of his former students via Facebook, watching as they pursue careers as lawyers, engineers, teachers and more.
Kramer's passion has long been photography. He has taken pictures, documenting the lives of his students, friends, and family. "While still teaching, I did some magazine work and shot a book-cover for a friend's poetry book," Kramer said. "After retiring, I found myself shooting a lot of drag shows and submitted the pictures to Nightspots, leading to regular freelance work for that magazine and Windy City Times. I've also done event photography and glam shots for performers."
In retirement, Kramer has resumed his passion for writing. After all, he worked on student newspapers in high school and college, and did free-lance journalism for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily News and The Reader while still teaching.
"Since [retiring,] I've been able to focus more on fiction and poetry," Kramer said. "I've had short stories published online and recently attended the Key West Literary Seminar."
Plus, Kramer has had poetry published in various small journals, "and I'm a regular at the Weeds Monday night for its poetry open microphone, where I not only read but photograph the other poets," he said.
"I've been actively bisexual since puberty, though I never thought of myself as bi or gay or straight. I simply didn't define myself in terms of my sexuality. I'm a son and brother, husband and father, a teacher and photographer, a man who enjoys the company of both women and men. That's just me. I want people see me as a person rather than as some creature defined and limited by a label, even when that label does describe a certain aspect of my personality. But I am bi and that's the only label that comes close to describing who I am in terms of my sexual orientation, so it'll have to do until something better comes along."
THE STATS
Age: 69
Relationship status: Single
Neighborhood: Uptown
Job title: Retired teacher, Chicago Public School
Favorite local restaurants: Sun Wah BBQ and Calo's
Granddaughters: Alexandra, 17; Hanna, 10; and Elle, 7
Five people (living or dead) who you'd like to have dinner with: Phillip Roth, Toni Morrison, Tony Hoagland, Stephen Spielberg and Joan Baez