Local writer Curt Melliger was recently featured in the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul essay collection, “Hope and Miracles: 101 Inspirational Stories of Faith, Answered Prayers & Divine Intervention.” He’s been published in the Four Corners Free Press and the Durango Telegraph. His essay “Teacher in the Wheelchair,” featured in the Chicken Soup collection, recounts his encounter with a wheelchair-bound boy and his mother at a Durango grocery store that changed his perception of happiness.

The Cortez Journal recently talked with him about his essay, and how he ended up in the area after a long journey.

Question: You’ve been published a lot locally. How did you get started with writing?

Answer: I kept a road journal for years – I still call them road journals. I don’t write down my daily activities, but I write down thoughts and ideas that come into my head and people I meet. My favorite writer is Jack Kerouac, and he said write down whatever comes into your head, and that’s what I do. I love to write. I didn’t go to college or study writing or anything. I had real difficulty putting sentences together when I young. I started writing and I realized it was easier to write than to speak. There’s always a surprise and magic to writing something new.

Question: You’re originally from Nebraska, how did you end up in this area?

Answer: When I was 17 I came out for a little trip before college started, I had a college scholarship. My van blew up north of Durango, and it changed my whole life because I suddenly realized I didn’t want to go to college. … I wound up meeting some really cool people, and getting a job and a girlfriend and a whole new life. I stayed around Durango for about nine months and then I hitchhiked around North America for about five years, working all kinds of odd jobs and seeing the world.

Question: When did you decide to settle here?

Answer: I fell in love with this area…I kept leaving and coming back because I couldn’t find anything better. Back in ‘06, my dad got sick and asked if I could come back home and take care of him and mom. Back in Colorado in ‘11, there was always something about this area that I liked, its between the mountains and the desert and there’s just so much variety and public land, and the people are cool. I wanted to check out Cortez, and ended up finding a home East of town and I think I found home here, I really like this area.

Question: Tell me about your recent essay in Chicken Soup?

Answer: I’ve been trying to get into that book for 10 years, and I finally hit bingo. And they sent me an email saying ‘We’d love to see some more of your stuff’ so I’m hoping to be a regular contributor. I was reading that several writers careers started just by getting published there.

I’ve known rich people that have had everything that were miserable and lived on Skid Row with people who were happy. …It’s about perception. That article is a perfect example: Here I was depressed out of my mind because I had a small problem. ...I had miserable back pain, and here this young boy in the wheelchair who had a hundred problems was happy, and his mother who had a million problems was happy. As I left the store I realized I couldn’t even feel my back. You know, I can’t even remember how bad it was.