Why be normal? That was a bumper sticker you’d see on the back of VW Rabbits in the early 1980s. But my mom, P’Tricia, knew that wasn’t even the right question. There’s no such thing as normal, she told me, over and over. The heteronormative nuclear family wasn’t “normal,” in her eyes. It was toxic….
Category: career
Do you (have to) love your job?
As a GenX-er, I was raised in the era of “You can do anything! As long as you get a job.” Get a job, any job at all. If you enjoy it, that’s the icing on the cake. But don’t expect to like it. Something happened after I became an adult, and a whole generation…
How sexism stunted my career
I know workplace sexism is not over, but I also know that most millennial women I know have had to slog through less of it than previous generations. As a GenXer I am part of the last wave of women to come into their careers in the twentieth century. We were still dealing with the…
now is not the time to stay in bed and watch tv
More people than usual are unemployed right now. I not only lost my day-job, but I seem to have a cold. Which is totally uncool (the virus part, that is). The urge is strong to wrap myself around a bottle of Nyquil and hide. I am resting and drinking water and taking vitamins and hot…
social media is making my head explode
So yeah, I twitter. I actually enjoy twittering as a creative mini-exercise. What is fascinating in life, and how do I write it in under 140 characters? It can be quite an exercise in concision, and also a good way to determine what is relevant. Not that everything I tweet is relevant, by any stretch…
the inevitable
It was only a matter of time before “the economy” caught up with me. As of Monday, I joined the ranks of the unemployed. And if I’m honest I’m quite glad about it (in betweeen waves of terror). Now is the time for me to push forward plans that have been floating around for some…
Seattle Moves… or at least half of Seattle
Yesterday a colleague and I (both of us women) went to a panel discussion on video and motion graphics at Northwest Film Forum, called Seattle Moves. We were intrigued, because we are both involved in motion graphics and video projects from time to time, and they promised to show some of their latest work. It’s…
“Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say” – Cheshire Cat
I read a lot of RFPs and Project Briefs and Proposals. These are documents that are meant to define slippery items like “scope” and “deliverables”, but it is alarming to see how often these documents are vaguely and poorly written. Part of this has to do with the fact that they are often written by…
call me: Creative Diplomat? Email Aficionado?
It seems to take far too much effort to tell people what I do for a living. My actual job title is a throwback to the film industry, but what I do has very little to do with filmmaking. Traditionally, the Production Manager managed the crew and equipment, while the Producers managed the schedules &…
networking is easy
Networking is, for me, a dirty word. I hate schmoozing. I hate anything that smacks of self-promotion, especially if it is disguised as being “friendly.” I don’t need to be liked that much, and I don’t like people who are working hard to be likable. So I tend to avoid anything labeled a “networking opportunity”…
Plumb Wonderful 