Comment from Morgan Sully on October 14, 2008 - 8:48pm
Nicky,
this is an awesome post. I've had some of the same tension sometimes with my own work. I used to dj a lot more, promote parties and chase all kinds of wonderful dreams (which I still do occasionally;).
I have a friend who sold his Vespa and vintage guitar to play accordian in a punk band while squatting and busking in Europe. He ended up getting appropriated by another hardcore band (who also wanted him to play in their band), but just ended up driving the Volkswagen bus for them through all kinds of countryside, festivals etc.
He's also now totally brilliant, life-experienced, but without much of an established professional network or much professional experience towards more higher paying jobs (at least the last time we talked).
I didn't have any of those kinds of experiences - stumbling through streets drunken in the morning, backpacking through foreign countries picking grapes in a French vineyard..., but I do have a network and security that I wouldn't have otherwise had, had I not committed to being a VISTA and working as much as I had. I feel like if ever I were to lose my job or switch jobs, it wouldn't be so traumatic/hard as it has been in the past.
I myself have always had a tension between my creative aspirations and my desire to affect change in the world (done through professional work). Finding an org (CTC VISTA) that supports both in some manner has been a wonderful stroke of luck. I certainly don't say that because I'm a VISTA Leader either, I say it because it's just been damn cool, hard and fun.
Good post.
Comment from Josh King on October 27, 2008 - 5:40pm
Hey Nickey,
Yeah, I often feel like I'm not having enough adventures, though maybe not so much anymore (for much the same reasons as you, since now I have a job(s) full of good stuff). I always wanted to do the kind of work I'm doing now, but it's not the kind of thing you can generally make a living with. Or at least, you can't just go out and apply for a job being an anarchist hacker for social justice. But VISTA has given me an opportunity to do that for a while, and now after I leave I'll have the connections and know-how and reputation to be able to keep doing cool stuff, rather than getting a stapler and going all Office Space, which seems to be the fate of many techies.
But DINOSAUR COMICS! Possibly my favorite thing of all time. It is uncanny how often I am thinking of something, just like you were, no matter how esoteric, and I read Dinosaur Comics and that's what the comic is about, even if it's something like "Utilitarianism." I think Ryan North must have a direct connection into the brains of everyone and everything cool.
Good call on Zenni, I'm going to order some glasses from there. My glasses recently broke after only having them for a few months, though to be fair they were cheap-but-awesome reading glasses that I picked up in a thrift store and got fitted with regular lenses, rather than being normal frames. The local optometrists suck, so that seems like a great option. Are you coming to CTCnet?
--
In Solidarity,
Josh King
--
CTC*VISTA Leader
Comment from Anne Jonas on August 6, 2009 - 12:05pm
Hi Nickey,
I'm a new VISTA working out in NYC, and I read this post whenever it was made public last year and really identified with it. As the other commenters have said, I totally get what you're saying and ditto it. I also have found that in my almost two weeks of working this VISTA position that some of this tension, at least, is subsiding - I'm really able to do the things I want to be doing here, and it's making life a lot easier for me. I still have a lot of wanderlust and fantasies of heading off for the forest or exploring - but I get the feeling that this work will make those opportunities even more possible for me. Of course, I'm still in the bright eyed and bushy tailed stage.
Anyway, thanks for writing, and I'm glad to see you'll be serving another year - I've heard excellent things about Reel Girls.
Comment from Morgan Sully on October 14, 2008 - 8:48pm
Nicky,
this is an awesome post. I've had some of the same tension sometimes with my own work. I used to dj a lot more, promote parties and chase all kinds of wonderful dreams (which I still do occasionally;).
I have a friend who sold his Vespa and vintage guitar to play accordian in a punk band while squatting and busking in Europe. He ended up getting appropriated by another hardcore band (who also wanted him to play in their band), but just ended up driving the Volkswagen bus for them through all kinds of countryside, festivals etc.
He's also now totally brilliant, life-experienced, but without much of an established professional network or much professional experience towards more higher paying jobs (at least the last time we talked).
I didn't have any of those kinds of experiences - stumbling through streets drunken in the morning, backpacking through foreign countries picking grapes in a French vineyard..., but I do have a network and security that I wouldn't have otherwise had, had I not committed to being a VISTA and working as much as I had. I feel like if ever I were to lose my job or switch jobs, it wouldn't be so traumatic/hard as it has been in the past.
I myself have always had a tension between my creative aspirations and my desire to affect change in the world (done through professional work). Finding an org (CTC VISTA) that supports both in some manner has been a wonderful stroke of luck. I certainly don't say that because I'm a VISTA Leader either, I say it because it's just been damn cool, hard and fun.
Good post.
Comment from Josh King on October 27, 2008 - 5:40pm
Hey Nickey,
Yeah, I often feel like I'm not having enough adventures, though maybe not so much anymore (for much the same reasons as you, since now I have a job(s) full of good stuff). I always wanted to do the kind of work I'm doing now, but it's not the kind of thing you can generally make a living with. Or at least, you can't just go out and apply for a job being an anarchist hacker for social justice. But VISTA has given me an opportunity to do that for a while, and now after I leave I'll have the connections and know-how and reputation to be able to keep doing cool stuff, rather than getting a stapler and going all Office Space, which seems to be the fate of many techies.
But DINOSAUR COMICS! Possibly my favorite thing of all time. It is uncanny how often I am thinking of something, just like you were, no matter how esoteric, and I read Dinosaur Comics and that's what the comic is about, even if it's something like "Utilitarianism." I think Ryan North must have a direct connection into the brains of everyone and everything cool.
Good call on Zenni, I'm going to order some glasses from there. My glasses recently broke after only having them for a few months, though to be fair they were cheap-but-awesome reading glasses that I picked up in a thrift store and got fitted with regular lenses, rather than being normal frames. The local optometrists suck, so that seems like a great option. Are you coming to CTCnet?
--
In Solidarity,
Josh King
--
CTC*VISTA Leader
Comment from Anne Jonas on August 6, 2009 - 12:05pm
Hi Nickey,
I'm a new VISTA working out in NYC, and I read this post whenever it was made public last year and really identified with it. As the other commenters have said, I totally get what you're saying and ditto it. I also have found that in my almost two weeks of working this VISTA position that some of this tension, at least, is subsiding - I'm really able to do the things I want to be doing here, and it's making life a lot easier for me. I still have a lot of wanderlust and fantasies of heading off for the forest or exploring - but I get the feeling that this work will make those opportunities even more possible for me. Of course, I'm still in the bright eyed and bushy tailed stage.
Anyway, thanks for writing, and I'm glad to see you'll be serving another year - I've heard excellent things about Reel Girls.
-Anne