The name of this site is Work In Progress, which raises the question*, “What is in progress?” Quite a lot is in progress, actually. Since many of you are keen to keep up with the everyday adventures of the plans and adventures I’m working on, I will begin posting a bit more about key projects that are in progress. Here’s what they are.
Ash over at The Middle Finger Project recently wrote an article on NOT following your dreams. “They” (who is They anyway?) say to be controversial in your blog posts in order to be successful and I know she’s using a bit of hyperbole for the sake of argument. I mean, the website is called The Middle Finger Project! I get a lot of what she’s saying: too often we just follow the pack even when we say we’re following our dreams, we need the experience and insight of others to help refine our path, and even rejecting the status quo can be a clique of its own. So now what?
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Many of my friends (and many Americans, for that matter) are in the process of searching for new jobs. Of course, I changed “career paths” last year when I left a television network to work for myself. I find that while many folks are looking for what to do, not as many know exactly what they’re looking for. What are you doing with your life? I mean, what are you really doing?
One sunny day in July 2009 I set out for a run as I’d been doing often. I am not a runner but I do–or did, rather–run and I was becoming excited at my slow but steady increase in stamina and speed. Five minutes into my run, my right foot caught in the loop of my left shoe lace and I fell, felled tree style, to the ground, smashing my knees, palms, and the iPhone I was holding while running.
Oomph.
At 1:44 AM, sunburnt and exhausted, while sleeping outside in the middle of a park, I realized something: I have a thing. I am a storyteller. For the past two weeks, I have been in Holland, Michigan documenting the work of the students and alumni of Hope College in their pursuit of an inclusive community for LGBT people. The obvious product will be a short film and on-going project to continue documenting the work and reinterpreting the footage. By honing in on my thing, and grounding my work in that, I am able to produce projects that are valuable to others and personally fulfilling. What is your thing?
