career
Careers in the industry; from corporate to middle management, food service, media, political figures, and beyond. All workplace careers.
Give This Fangirl a Chance
I crave the moments where I close my eyes and feel every breath in the room come to a pause. Where I lose myself, a body who's heartbeat has been stolen by a kick drum. Where the lights dim and there's no fear, no pain, no connection beyond the opening chords that electrify every atom. You blend into the space; letting go of the failed tests, the thrown together presentations, the traffic lights stuck on red, the parents who can't get along, those who laugh at you in the hallways, the angry words you reserve for yourself. You fall backwards into the roar of voices, crashing through the sentiments you've scrawled across the front of your note book, screamed out the windows on a Tuesday's twilight, whispered to the mirror in the middle of the night. You emerge on the other side, refreshed while at the same time drenched in sweat and post-concert depression. As much as it hurts, emotional and maybe even a little bit physically from the pit, you smile to yourself.
By Alex James 5 years ago in Journal
Reflections on Reflections
Y’all ever have those dreams where you’re dating that ex once again - but this time around it’s a fantasy of how everything turns into a happily ever after? A couple weeks ago I had one of those dreams about my most toxic ex ever: my career in teaching - which lasted 7 years and ended in June of 2020. In this healing year of “professional singledom” and unemployment I came to a sobering awareness of how I was in a codependent relationship with my career in teaching. This dream encouraged deep self reflection which eventually led to some healing revelations that I’ll share in this article.
By Chaski K’uychi5 years ago in Journal
Deep Breathing Actor.
As far back as I can remember, people have always asked me what fulfills me, what drives me, what puts the battery in my back and I’ve never had a clear answer for them. The questions would always present themselves during a moment in my life when I find myself at a crossroads. Maybe that’s what motived them to ask. Maybe they could sense my lack of direction and had to know why I was gambling with my future. It was always the same vicious cycle; taking accountability for my years of procrastination and laziness, searching for any valid excuse for why I hadn’t pressed the start button on my life. What was I waiting for? I mean, I was in full control of this machine I call my life, wasn’t I? I’d become wrecked with uncertainty, which would lead to anxiety and fear that I had wasted my formative years setting the course for where my life would end up and securing my future. The life-altering decisions that would shape my world and, ultimately the lives of my family and future babies never failed to stop me in my tracks and fog up my mind as if I were submerged in deep ocean waters. What did I really want from this life? What would be my legacy? I made it my goal in the summer of 2014 to find the answers to my questions. Now, I can’t even pretend this would be an easy process. Turns out it took a lot longer than I originally gave myself time for. At the age of 27, I felt the sand running out of the hour glass at a rapid pace and I feared I would never get to a place where my life had a thunderous heartbeat of its own. When I realized I needed to seek advice from those with a bit more life experience, I turned to my mother and my sister. To no surprise, they were no help. They felt I needed to stop chasing dreams and focus on doing something “more realistic”. So there I was again, at that very unwelcomed fork in the road, body paralyzed by the unknown. If my own family didn’t believe I could accomplish anything I put my mind to, why bother putting in the effort to search for the meaning of my life at all? Oh well, back to the same humdrum existence ; working 84 hours a week at the post office, getting fat and binging on the trashiest TV I could set my eyes on. This was no way to live and I felt myself falling into an even deeper depression than I had ever been in my whole life. I caught myself on the couch on one of my rare days off from work watching a movie. I won’t mentioned the name of the movie because I don’t want to bash someone else’s work. All us artists have deeply sensitive souls and don’t take kindly to our work being insulted. All I’ll say is how much I wished the acting in the film had been more polished. It seemed like the actors just showed up to set with no real preparation to get into character. Whenever I heard a line I felt needed to be redone, I would repeat the line out loud and give myself a phantom pat on the back for my delivery. As time went on, I realized I loved reciting and re-enacting lines from my favorite movies and shows. I began to look up classes that offered lessons in acting and creative writing. Though I’m no Carrie Bradshaw, I can ink a pretty good story or two. The day of my first acting class, I was asked to do some impov work with a student that had been in a few plays and even shot a TV pilot. I was nervous because I had no time to prepare myself. My instructor could sense my nervousness and reminded me that was the whole reason for improv, everything right off the top of your head. She said it was an “actor’s breath”, no thinking required. And without breath, we’re dead. Convincing myself I had nothing to lose, I took my place onstage and we began our exercise. I was surprised by how comfortable I felt. There were no shudders in my voice and my body language was set firm and confident. When we wrapped our scene, my instructor gave me a sly grin and expressed how she looked forward to seeing where my acting career takes me because I was destined to take over Hollywood. That’s when her words hit me, acting career. This was it! This was my calling and I would have been a fool to ignore it. I knew everything I had been through up until then had led me to that exact moment. Diving in headfirst into my craft, I left no room for anything else. Nothing else could hold my attention. I’d fallen in love and my passion was alive and thriving within me. The years to come I devoured any information I could get my hands on that would bring me closer to my career goals. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I had career goals! I was ready to go through it all, my own personal journey towards lifetime fulfillment. And even though I’ve stumbled, fallen and bumped my head along the way, I wouldn’t trade this path filled with rocks, glass and mud for the smoothest of roads that lead straight to my destination. So why support my dreams? Why bother taking time out of your day to see what I’m creating? Easy. You’ll never find anyone to give more passion, more heart and more diligence to the craft of acting. My hard work speaks for itself. Yes, you’ll come across those with more experience and bigger names but they’re not me. I’ve always been different and could never find anyone else like me. Those years of identity crisis and altering myself to fit into the “in crowds” have fallen so deep into the past, never to be heard from again. I value the quirks and mannerisms found in me that very few possess. That’s what makes me special. That’s what sets me aside from every other actor in line waiting for their turn to audition. I stand out and no one can ever match the uniqueness I bring to every line I recite and every scene that I improv. This is what I was born to do and this will forever excite and send my adrenaline soaring into the stratosphere. I finally have an answer to my questions. Why do I want to be an actor? Is it the fame and fortune? The power and prestige? Not even close. I have a strong desire to create films that will make viewers feel what I feel the very first time I watch a really great movie. I want to make people cry like I did when I first watched Cast Away. And laugh the way I did when I first experienced Mrs. Doubtfire. And spark heated debates about the true meaning to the end of Inception. I’m feeling goosebumps take over my skin just from writing this. That’s where my passions lie and that is the fuel that’ll keep me going to make my dreams an actual reality.
By Krystal Halliburton 5 years ago in Journal
Lights, Camera, Scrubs
For the first nine years of my life, it was just my mother and I living in the same house. But that's not what we wanted, the house became boring, too familiar. I think it started around six years of age where I wanted a brother or sister and my mother wanted another baby herself. Everyday I would ask for a brother or sister, begging my mom to just hurry up. " Mommm! Why can't I have a sibling now? It shouldn't be that hard!" It wasn't until I had just turned nine a couple months ago in October, where my mother had told me our wishes had come true - I was finally getting my little brother or sister in just nine months!
By Yvonaé Dessus5 years ago in Journal
Unfinished Manuscripts
For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to write a book. My first cousin Sherry, who lived next door, and I used to get the newspaper and find a comic strip that interested us and continue the story we wanted. After a while, we had almost written a book together. Unfortunately for me, I never saw those pages again after the age of 15. We'd check every week to see if the stories were close or far off. Our stories had a tendency to be a little more risque! I mean, how risque can a couple 13 year old's be?
By Marilyn Coleman5 years ago in Journal
