Almost six months until
graduation. Half of me is cringing and going “yikes” while the other half of me
is wringing my hands with excitement. I’ve filled out my passport application,
kept an eye on BBC internships, and upped my freelancing by doing podcasts.
Now, I have the hardest part of the journey ahead: The online portfolio.
This tab on the school’s
platform is the most intimidating thing for me. The reason? My resume looks
lacking. I’m a serious student, so that means I have no club involvement from either
school I’ve been at. All I have on my resume is my degree, extra classes
(speech, accounting, and history), and a tiny bit of volunteer work. That means what I have for my portfolio is heavy on the school influence and less on the creative influence.
Yes, I have a handful of
blog-a-book challenges, photography knowledge and experience, and some editing
experience. However, that compared to what other people have on a resume or in their portfolio makes
mine looks wimpy. Over the last month I have brainstormed the heck out of
things to find out a) how do I scrape together the money to get through my
Masters of Fine Art and b) how to come up with a plan that doesn’t lead to a
starving artist. My solution thus far is make podcasts, write, and aim for a
Patron page.
Summary of the situation I’m
in:
I am under a contract with Division of Vocational Rehab
due to my physical disabilities that are the reason why I have hearing aids and
why I sometimes have to use a wheelchair. Based on the level of my disability,
my work contract was approved. One catch: writing/screenwriting wasn’t a good
enough career to aim for, college teacher of creative writing was.
Don’t get me wrong, I love
teaching – in a way it’s in my blood since I was started young as a peer
teacher for basic science with my dad (who was, a science teacher at a
community college – the SAME community college I have attended and am expected
to submit a resume to upon the completion of my MFA.) Only problem to this is
that I do not like the idea of teaching to fit a test or a single textbook.
Also, my endurance levels would not allow me to teach full time and if I can’t
do it full time I think I would only waste resources. If I ever do teach, it’ll
be to people who want to learn – not to people who are there just because the
class sounded easy and they need blank amount of credits for a transfer. Because
of having that same experience as a student (and technically wasted money on
classes that I didn’t need) , I choose to teach in a more private setting of
giving the tips and tricks whenever someone asks.
So, podcasts and freelancing
are my method to making the funder happy. Writing and teaching for free
undoubtedly may make teachers and peers cringe, but that’s where my thoughts on
Patron come in. Having free access with the option of having a tip jar is
something that I’ve always liked. Not all of us are lucky enough to go to
college. Not all of us are lucky enough to pay for writing workshops or even to
buy writing books. I’m a firm believer on education being free or merely
affordable to the every day person. To put into context of how much I believe
in it I’ll illustrate:
I am the first person on the maternal side of my family
to get an education that is beyond high school. My mother was the first person
in her family to graduate from high school – and thus convinced my grandfather
to get his G.E.D. – I am a third generation American (via paternal) who has had
a better start on life because one parent was highly educated. Since that
parent passed, I have ended up being the most educated in my household and
family. Which scares the living daylights out of me since I am the only one who
can get a fair wage or a livable wage based on my education. Yet, I’m not
considered educated enough by employers.
My lot in life (disabled)
pushed me to get educated so I’m not stuck on the government’s poverty plans
for the rest of my adult life. Rather, my lot in life and the demoralizing behavior
of state caseworkers convinced me that I HAD to get educated because I valued
myself enough to get out of a situation that had me battling my depression
episodes. I succeeded, I’m not on SSI anymore but that is only because I stuck
to my guns when I was told I had to go on a spending spree with my savings or
lose the monthly income.
Because of that background
of being pressured and bullied by circumstances, I feel comfortable with giving
the information I have to teach for free and then have a Patron page to support
the podcasts and the updates on the blog-a-books. It feels wrong to demand that
a person take out a loan to be able to sit in a class that contains information
that I would give to any follower or fan for free if they asked. We live in an
over priced world with under paid resources. I’d like to not contribute to the
problem that my generation has with education and be the person who takes the
risk. I have no idea if my current base is big enough to support a Patron page.
It’s good to hope that it is and I’m putting a lot of faith in this idea.
I won’t be starting the
Patron page yet. Once I have ten or so podcasts written up and at least five
online I will. And if Patron is intimidating, the website and blog will have a
tip jar for readers and listeners.
