Bruria Lindenberg Cooperman

author  •  sculptor  •  peripatetic  • rebel bubbie

For This
I Survived?

CHILDREN OF SURVIVORS
BEYOND THE TRAUMA

Bruria Lindenberg Cooperman

author  •  sculptor  •  peripatetic  • rebel bubbie

For This
I Survived?

CHILDREN OF SURVIVORS
BEYOND THE TRAUMA

Bruria Lindenberg Cooperman

Her kindergarten teacher told her mother that she does not stop talking. There is nothing she keeps secret. (So be careful.) And nothing has changed. She still talks too much and she still loves to entertain people with her stories.

Various people have told her she should be on stage, she should do comedy, she should … Whatever it was, it was all true and perhaps her life would have gone in a different direction but she never stood still long enough. There was always one more adventure to try.

Her friends teased her because she would never hang up her pictures. They stayed on the floor, leaning against the wall, waiting to be packed up, just in case she needed a quick exit. Commitment for her was tough.

Her wanderings had begun early. The family immigrated to Canada in 1954, moving to Hamilton where she was given the name Brenda. No one could even pronounce her name nor would they try. That was the beginning of the countdown to get out of there.

She always knew that New York was the only place to be. At her first opportunity, she was out of there. First college then grad school at NYU. She returned to Toronto where she dabbled in film production – an iffy career that gave you status but little remuneration. With her tastes and dreams, teacher’s college could fill in the gaps and give her the summers off.

From the beginning of September to the end of June, she ‘pretended’ to be normal with a normal job – teaching high school. But it was always about the next adventure and she needed money for that. When July 1st came around, she was on a plane going somewhere. Wanderings around England, France and Switzerland. A semester in Sienna — with the Paleo a highlight. Italy was her favourite. If people asked her brother, his answer was always the same. “Still peripatetic.”

Still feeling the wanderlust, Japan was the next stop on her life journey. Six years living like a queen but even that began to wane.

As many times before, she returned to Canada. This time she decided it was time to get married. (She came to everything late!) On a dare, she placed an ad in The Globe and Mail. Earl Cooperman, of Ottawa, Canada, answered and it was a done deal, instantaneously. She moved to the nation’s capital where she shared a house with a husband, a teenager, two goldfish, a hamster and a dog named Kafka. After staring at the walls and missing her friends and family, she went back to school and received a doctorate at the University of Ottawa.

She now lives in Toronto with her husband and a mutt called Izzy, close to their three children, their spouses and eight grandchildren. It was time to write ‘the book’. Twenty years later but that’s par for the course. She does public speaking and is available to anyone who will listen. She loves to talk and make people laugh!

In her spare time, Bruria loves to work with paper in all its forms. Please check her Instagram feed to see her eclectic art that may be of interest to you! She’s on Instagram here.

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