Subscriber Spotlight: Wordsmith, World Traveler, and Impossible Optimist Chris Creamer

It can be hard to stay positive in today's wacky world (trust me!). Chris has it figured out.

IN CASE YOU’RE NEW HERE, Jenna’s Side Subscriber Spotlight is a perk for paid subscribers who have something they’d like to share with the class. Think of it as show-and-tell for grown-ups—except instead of your jar of mostly-rotten baby teeth or the snow globe your fifth grade crush gave you, it’s your business, project, purpose, Substack, side hustle, or genius idea. Upgrade today and get yourself on the list!

Chris’s story (at least for our purposes here) starts in a drafty 100-year-old log cabin where, for more than two decades, he and a group of friends from his Japan days have gathered every fall to play poker, sip Evan Williams Kentucky bourbon, and dream up wildly impractical business ideas. “We had a whole lot more fun dreaming sh*t up than making anything come to actual life,” he laughs. One idea stuck: Ron Canyon, the fictional force who now drives Chris’s “Traders of the Lost Art” (TOTLA) Universe—a character born on the porch of a cabin dubbed Sahalie overlooking the Salmon la Sac River and built to explore authenticity, imaginative branding, and world-class service. A “serial fable-ist,” storyteller, and eager world traveler, Chris counts Blue Highways, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Illusions, and The Legend of Bagger Vance among his greatest influences. Please enjoy getting to know your new favorite mythmaker.

WHO EVEN ARE YOU?

I’ve always written. In journals, on napkins, coasters, the insides of magazines, whatever blank space I could find. Mostly observations, experiences. Then, I epiphanied [editor’s note: I’ll allow it] an idea, ‘Traders of the Lost Art’ and sort of kept it on pause in the back of my mind. What is the ‘lost art?’ Turns out it was ‘authentic’ service that was missing. It started with a book on service called The Transaction. That fable spawned The Service Chronicles, about a road trip from Seattle to Dripping Springs, TX. Then another, The Texas Transaction (having a little fun weaving Texas culture into the Universe!).

The TOTLA Universe is focused on authenticity and service and communities. The fables and characters in this fictional universe are unflinchingly dedicated to creating a more creative, adventurous, authentic world. The simple action of acknowledging people for their efforts with a ‘coin’ (The Transaction) is foundational to this change. Too many people have been conditioned to accept ‘invisibility,’ silence, and compliance. Traders (of the Lost Art) look for opportunities to acknowledge people and new ideas, rather than criticize and degrade strangers anonymously in dank, dark basements. You, Jenna, are acknowledging people with your ‘spotlight.’ Bravo! [Editor’s note: Damn, that made me all teary.]

WHAT’S YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH?

I’m pitching “Key West to Northwest,” a fable-ized road trip that starts out as a promotional tour for $100 COFFEE (see The Service Chronicles), but evolves into a quest to rediscover the heart and soul of America. From coast to coast, sea to shining sea, this journey aims to reclaim American purpose and patriotism.

“It feels like patriotism is a defiant act at the moment.”
-Jennifer Sey; XX-XY

The KWxNW road trip represents a symbol for a society that has drifted far from our Founding Fathers’ vision—think partisan politics, NGOs, the Deep State, corporate media’s divisive and biased reporting, and social media zombie apocalypse. The usual culprits. This travelogue poses a re-Declaration of Independence as we approach our 250th anniversary. Can the journey restore a nation of citizens who share values and national pride?

GIVE US SOME DIRT.

I spent a week in the Philippines while living and working in Japan. I lost my Canon F-1 35mm camera in a poker game (a pretty sad tale that involved some very suspicious circumstances) and experienced the worst sunburn of my life. Upon returning to Tokyo afterwards, I was sick as a dog for almost a week. I have mixed feelings, still, about that trip.

NOW YOU GET TO BRAG!

I’ve taken some ill-considered chances and chased my fair share of adventures. I moved from my hometown in Texas (San Antonio), to live in the Pacific Northwest. As much as I still embrace my Native Texan pedigree, I do appreciate the physical beauty of Washington State. I’ve climbed Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, and Mt. Adams and backpacked throughout the Cascades. I worked on a fishing boat for a season out of Neah Bay and was offshore when Mount St. Helens erupted. After my 3½-year adventure teaching English (it’s questionable whether I actually taught any) in Japan, I traveled to Nepal to trek around the Annapurna Range, took a train from Bangkok to Singapore with a two-week stay on Ko Samui (think hammock, tropical setting, and several Leon Uris books), and then followed that with a year-long road trip around North America.

WHAT’S A HILL YOU’D DIE ON?

Patriotism and belief in this experiment that is the United States. Authenticity in communication.

I am exhausted with MSM and narrow-minded bias and arrogance in direct contrast to the diverse community of the American people. Social media gangs of sanctimonious, self-indulgent posers who have nothing to contribute to the national dialogue beyond screeching, ‘Orange Man Bad’ or ‘Fascist!’ Corruption in government and the deep state. Grift. Graft. And congressional grilling of cabinet appointees.

I have a Pollyanna gene that is insatiable (or so I’ve been told repeatedly by my wife, although she is recently leaning toward frontal lobe damage as the culprit?) and I gravitate to the positive side of things. As screwed up as we, the USA, seem to currently be, I believe we will ultimately right this ship (see?) and fumble our way back to some semblance of the brilliant vision of our Founding Fathers.

SHARE SOMETHING GOOD.

“The artist's journey is the passage by which we re-invent ourselves as ourselves. We discover the self that was slumbering inside us or in chains, waiting to be awakened and emancipated. In re-inventing ourselves as ourselves, we find ourselves for the first time.”
-Stephen Pressfield, author of The Artist’s Journey: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning

WHY DO YOU SUPPORT JENNA’S SIDE?

Are you kidding? Jenna is sharp as a tack and funny to boot. As much as Substack offers political perspective six ways to Sunday, she brings humor and wit to the party in a way that softens the sharp edges of seriousness while simultaneously implanting it on your forehead. I’m a Jennamaniac Fan for Life! And those comments from her subscribers? OH my Gawd! Brilliant! Of course, I also relate to her Texan lilt on the world.

WHAT IF WE WANT MORE?

Check out The Transaction on Amazon and Traders of the Lost Art on Substack. (I am currently posting chapters in a Christmas story, The Sahalie Ltd Express; A TOTLA Fable.)

Please show my Pollyanna counterpart lots of love in the comments (right after you buy his book, of course)!

*Actually that’s a lie because I have a bit of a queue going… but it could and will be you SOON!