J-School, or Justifying My Questionable Financial Decision

I'm back from Dallas, from a very exhausting week of reporting on the 2013 TCG National Conference.

Background: TCG stands for Theatre Communications Group, a membership organization for non-profit theatres across the country and the publisher of "American Theatre" magazine (aka, where I work). During the week, besides getting trapped in the elevator of the Borg-like Dallas Theater Center headquarters (seriously, it's shaped like a cube), and getting to finally meet certain artists in person (shout-out Desdemona Chang, Tlaloc Rivas), I was struck by how very lucky I am to be able to write about an industry that I adore, and to see as much theatre (good and bad) that I want.

There are people going to school to do exactly what it is that I'm doing. And if I made it, others might, right?

The Real World (Not Like the TV Show)

I'm no longer a student. For anyone who has been a student at university, especially those with advanced degrees, you feel like you are never going to stop being a student. Before graduation, I could never see past the cap and gown hour.

I have been a real adult for approximately one week and two days. I moved into my New York City apartment four days after coming back from covering the Spoleto Festival.

How does it feel?

Adulthood is like being on summer vacation though with an added dose of anxiety because I am, presently, unemployed. Not without trying to be employed. Here's a handy piece of advice about the communications industry (excluding PR), they hire as needed so if you have not graduated yet or, like me, will be truly finished after graduation, chances are (75%) you will be spending a month or two unemployed.

So for the first time in my entire life, or at least my life after 18, I do not have a laid-out plan. I have a plan of attack (and a couple of months worth of savings to pay the rent) that I am using to hopefully score a job. But ask me what I'm doing one month, two months, six months from now, my answer will be... "Working?" Working on getting a job. Working at a job. Working on something... It's an endless question mark at the moment.

My sister says that's part of life. The alumni's from Newhouse said that I'm doing the right thing by moving to New York City and trying to find a job. I can tell you that a year ago, I would have moved back to California rather than risk going someplace new without a job. After all, there are worst things in life than moving back to Orange County. At least I won't have to deal with snow anymore.

But there are things you should do and things you want to do. 8 times out of 10, the things you want to do win out. Because those are the things that bring you joy. So for now, I'm comfortable with my question mark of a future plan. There are worst things than spending summer in New York City.

Notes on Graduation (and How to Find a New York City Apartment)

So I graduated. This time last year, I thought there would more hoopla and celebration, and some marvelous bursts of insight upon receiving a Master's degree. But what seems to have happened is more like excitement mixed with fear, mixed with a shrug that says, "Onto the next." Maybe it's because I don't receive my degree until after I finish covering the Spoleto Festival for the Charleston "Post and Courier" so there's no elation that you would usual expect would come after you get a Master's degree. Maybe it's because I haven't had time to bask in that graduation afterglow. Right before graduation, I was on a Canadian road trip with my parents and after, I was in New York City looking for an apartment.

I found a place in two days (How? Craigslist and a good pair of walking shoes). I signed a lease a week after graduation for a two-bedroom apartment. Here is a tip about apartment-hunting in New York, it's usually apropos to look for an apartment two weeks before you plan to move in. Anytime before then is too soon and no one will rent to you.

I had a job interview, which I am still waiting to hear back from.

Then I headed off to Charleston a week and one day after graduation for Spoleto. The work continues indefinitely.

Someone I knew asked me, "How does it feel to get a Master's degree?" My answer, "It hasn't hit me yet." So ask me again in two weeks. For now, it's as it's always been.

Though I'm beginning to get a clearer picture of life after graduation. So perhaps the answer is, it's both satisfying but unsettling. But that's real life, no grand epiphanies. If anything, it's more questions.

The Art of Doing Nothing

I'm a workaholic. I blame my father, the great multitask-er, even when he's retired and supposed to sitting all day reading and relaxing, he's currently landscaping my sister's backyard.

Of course, to be a journalist, that's a prerequisite. After all, we are the lords of multitasking, always reading, researching, interviewing and writing. The news cycle is never-ending these days and there are always updates and things to be caught up with. Because a journalist is not a journalist if they don't know the news.

And if you're a freelancer, that's double the amount of work because you spend your work time in that job that makes you actual money to pay for the essentials (rent and food), your spare time is spent being a journalist because that's where the passion lies and that's why you wanted to be a writer in the first place.

My adviser told me to stay centered, after I expressed to her that I feel guilty even watching movies because then I feel like I'm wasting time. "That's not good," she said.

Doing nothing is an art as of itself. Because in a world now where information is consistently streaming in and the avenues to get that information is convenient, there's a desire to be constantly stimulated.

It gives birth to a nation of pure neurosis.

I once wrote an essay for speech and debate in high school about finding your inner hobbit. It was about finding that creature inside that is able to relax, to do nothing and not feel ashamed for it.

So since this is Spring Break at Syracuse University. It's what I'm going to do. Yes, there's still work and a deadline to deal with. But I'm dealing with it at a leisurely pace, while still leaving ample time for bad movies, catching up on my reading and visiting New York City again.

Because sometimes, doing nothing is as much work as doing something.

Journalists in New York City

What do you do when you put 15 graduate students together into one hotel and herd them around a snow-filled New York City for a week and a half?

Well, if you were are part of the Goldring Program at Syracuse University, then you get a germ-filled group as two were struck down with stomach flu, one with a chronic cold, another with an ear infection, and by the end three were developing cold-like symptoms. The rest fearfully stayed away though you can hear the germs beating down and crackling evilly outside of the immune system doors.

But joking about "Oregon Trail"-like bouts of sickness aside (whoops! Someone just died of dysentery), the trip was both awe-inspiring and almost frightening. It was an exercise on how little sleep you can get and how much you can force yourself to write invigorating, analytical prose despite it. All while meeting established writers and networking like your life depended on it (and for those whose career will become our lives, this applied).

It will forever become the week where I drank my weight in coffee (I recall one day where I had about three cups of black coffee in succession), where down-time was spent not exploring the wonderful Manhattan but napping, and where I fell asleep for about two seconds standing up at the MOMA (don't tell my adviser that). Then again, I lived there part-time last semester so I don't feel too guilty.

And within that, there was copious amounts of starchy, meat-based food (vegetables optional and need not apply) and shows! So many shows! Like two or three a day shows! Art shows, theater shows, jazz shows, an modernist classical music show!

Of which I will attempt to write about a small number of them in the upcoming days (and I already have, check the last two posts), as well as other thoughts I discovered during the trip. So watch for that.

Now back to reviewing...

Apparently I'm Fashionable

One of the girls in my program, Avantika, who is also one of my housemate, is a fashion writer from the "mysterious subcontinent of India" (I love "Big Bang Theory") keeps a blog. Because that's the trend these days as a journalist, if you want to be respected, keep a blog. So 'Avantique' is where she photographs fashionable people in Syracuse and assess their outfit, ie: the most probing of critiques because, as any chef knows, presentation is everything.

Well most recently, she has critiqued an outfit from yours truly. And apparently I'm fashionable, who knew?

"Being Formal: Diep style."

My Weeks in Review

So I'm finally utilizing the hard-earned knowledge that I received in the three days that I'm in class...by making a time-line (using Time Toast, which we used in Web Journalism) of my typical week. Now you, readers, will know how I can be in NYC and Syracuse at the same time!

Here is my typical week, Sunday to Sunday, with kitties!

And to illustrate just how productive I am, here's are some recently published items from "Back Stage."

"Web Series Teaches the Business of Acting."

"'Glee' Does 'Rocky Horror'"

"'Do, a deer,' Sing-Along 'Sound of Music'"

In Which Writing Invades My Life

The worst, and maybe the best thing about being a writer are that ideas come from everywhere. They come from the things you do, the people you meet, that piece of gum lying on the sidewalk that sticks to your shoe. It seeps in from every direction and you never know when it might hit. That's the best thing, everything is inspiration.

And that's also the worst, EVERYTHING is inspiration.

The Boot Camp Retrospective

So it's the end of the Newhouse "Boot Camp," what was called by many as 6 weeks of tortured hell, of late nights, early mornings, deadlines galore, and general brain-dead moments starring at the computer screen.

Though I cannot say that I didn't enjoy the experience, it was an educational introduction into the upcoming year, one that will include multiple deadlines, AP stylebook issues, drafts upon drafts, and waiting for people to respond to your phone calls.

The Helicopter on Campus Post

We interrupt this blog for a very important bulletin.

The Frustrations Post

I have just been dancing. Because it's the end of another long week and I am halfway through what they call "Journalism Boot Camp."

The Why Post

Why do I want to be a writer?

The First Week Post

On Saturday night, while the world danced in dark halls and shot back jaegers like it's water, I had the best sleep I've had yet. That was after a long week of introductions, niceties, and straight nine to five block of classes that make me feel like I'm back in grade school again, though with a Macbook this time.