on paper, i’m told i should just forget it now and just get out of my profession, but i’ve put too many years into this professional investment to just cut my losses and walk away from it.

i used to be inspired by Peter Jennings when i was younger, because i knew that he landed his career as a news anchor on American television (i know, reading a teleprompter and making love to the camera is nothing like pitching to clients and presenting constantly outstanding work — then again, both are pretty superficial, so hmmm) without a university degree.

of course, what i was forgetting was that it was an earlier time, and he’s a heterosexual white man.

nevertheless, whether the industry is academia or something else, i can’t not try. then again, looking back on my professional career, the only time i was ever permanently brought aboard in a creative setting (minus talent agency registration) was design firm which dissolved just six weeks after i was brought aboard.

ehhhh, i’m just nattering now. it’s pale comfort in bleak moments, i guess.

nevertheless, having reconnected in the last couple of years with four people from childhood whom i shared in the honors program and seeing where they’ve gone with an education since (law degree from NYU, journalism degree from Yale, genetics/biology M.S. from A&M and an M.B.A. from Harvard, all of them also female, for what it’s worth), i realise that i don’t have the immediate option of going back to school right now (i owe federal/state taxes for 2002 which i’ve been unable to pay this year, thanks to the lovely and kind Unemployment, which pretty much shatters gummint financial aid).

nevertheless, i can’t just squander the chances i have with the sweat and effort i’ve expended over the last nine years. also, i would have gone through school by now (at the Academy of Art College in San Fran) had it not been for a certain tar pit of a situation that i had to endure back in Minnesota. you know the one (part of me thinks that was a mistake, too).

have you thought about going to school since you’re going through prolonged periods of unemployment? i believe evergreen is pretty welcoming toward nontraditional students, and can award credit for professional experience…it might be worth looking into. there’s bound to be a grant or scholarship out there for you =somewhere=…

that’s just it. i have no degree. i hate it. between that and the other stuff some (well, in decreasing numbers, actually, but ehhh) might see when they see me in person (i needn’t have to tell you, of course, cos you’ve known me long enough), this is perhaps why i’ve been unemployed for so long and why i feel the temptation to just give up, despite my commensurate professional experience and portfolio.

nevertheless, i can’t afford to either renege trying or altogether give up, which is why i bothered pitching myself to this lead.

now you know what i’m up against.

the only thing–it’s a technicality, but universities are usually sticklers about this–is your lack of degree. of course, i am -assuming- that you don’t have a degree, since you don’t mention it in the letter. if you do, you should be a shoo-in!