The View Up Here

This will have to be quick, since I'm in Rochester, didn't get enough sleep and need to get on with my day. Last night's alumni career program at R.I.T. got me thinking about how I market my self. I'll write more about that later after I've processed some things and had time to sleep and get my ideas coherent. Right now, though, I want to focus on what happened after the program. We let out around 7:30, and I stayed for a few minutes to speak to one of the panelists, who was very interesting and had some good insights to share. From there, I walked the short distance under the pine trees to the Gannett building, which houses the School of Film and Animation. This is where I spent 4 years of my life - 3 as an MFA student and 1 as an adjunct professor. I'd heard that the Fourth Floor, which was the center of production and editing back in my day, and still seems to be, has changed a lot. It most certainly has. Gone are the 16 mil flatbed editing rooms and th...

I think I'm headed into a new season (aside from winter, that is). I feel like I'm working toward a more forward-thinking, inspired phase rather than a sad, sentimental longing for what's passed. Because, you know... I have to admit, these warm temps and sunshine really help. I've always known I have a severe sensitivity to the lack of sun and Vit. D. I had started to slump into the bleak, depressed state that always comes over me in late fall (and lasts for six months). Thankfully, this superlative high pressure system with temps in the 50s and 60s and bright sun this week has been the shot in the arm I really needed to remind me of what I'm working towards. Eyes on the prize and all that. I long to be in sunny southern Cali. Imagine never having seasonal depression again! So I'm headed to Rochester this afternoon to attend an alumni networking event at R.I.T. (where I did my MFA in film). I'm going with resumes and business cards in hand, and I'll ...

Having spent the last several days in the Land of My Birth, hanging out with my best friend JEB, my nephew and his family, my brother, and of course swimming in my beloved sister Atlantic, I am more ready than ever to jump into my new life - whatever that may look like. Here's to LA-LA land, and a couple bottles of the Good Pinot Grigio .

But another sun, that's brighter still, It's my own sun (English translation, O sole mio) The time has come, at last, for me to stop wondering what happened to my hopes and dreams and start living them, by the light of my own sun (so to speak). Thus, toward the end of September, I'll be heading to L.A. (land of sunshine and broken shining dreams) to find a job and work in the industry I've been dying to get into for many years. Is it scary? I'm crapping my pants a little. Is it exciting? I'm still cleaning up the crappy pants, but yes. This is the future I've always been afraid to chase down. I remember very clearly after finishing my MFA in film how I watched many of my colleagues and classmates head out to L.A. That was a few years ago, and most of them have careers they love. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy teaching - but I need to stop hiding behind the podium. I've also recently become reacquainted with aspects of my past self (th...