I want to become my own boss, my own employer, to become in control of my own financial destiny. The year is 2010; this is a time in which even those most loyal to capitalism, free enterprise and a national trust have in their recent (current) memory a disillusionment regarding the true instability of these things. I realize I cannot be in control of my own financial destiny any more than I can be in control of my own mortality. I will receive money and I will spend money, as per my wages, the demand of my skills and labor, and also the means of my subsistence. Likewise, I will live and I will die, as will the remainder of my species, this planet and this sun. Fate is out of my hands; entropy rules. Fate is out of my hands; economy rules.
Yet, I can practice rituals which would feel more my own. I can choose which rituals I perform to claim a share of money, rather than seeking others to choose those rituals for me (boss).
I speak to independent contract, freelance work. As long as I have a primary employer dictating my behavior, I will have a binary to choose: stay to maintain an income or quit to flounder in destitution. The alternative I see to this binary, after attempting remedial strategies for years, is to remove the role of a primary employer. If I have, for example, four employers at any given time, then I can quit any one of them without quitting 100% of my income - rather, I would be quitting 25% of my income. If I am in the common practice of finding and contracting new employers on a regular basis, I would also not face the dreary difficulty of finding a new primary employer to commit to and who would commit to me - rather, I would simply be ending a job early and could begin work on another job sooner; I would be in the habit of finding these jobs in the usual places, and I might even have another one lined up already. I would always expect finishing and replacing jobs, thus removing the high stress of the binary: employed/unemployed.
My particular strategy is to seek a freelance niche in the writing field. Many people possess a significant proclivity in one or two areas - a habit or passion which becomes evident in extreme youth and never seems to disappear. I believe writing fills that space in my life. I believe writing is a skill which I can always summon to perform for me when I desire or need it. Currently, I both desire and need it.
Equipped with my new multimedia functional netbook, I believe I have all I need to create and distribute as much of my word as I please!
The next matter which needs addressed in order to comprehensively cultivate this strategy is to establish a breadth of topics and styles I have passion and stamina to study and communicate. In other words, what will I write about? I need to start somewhere.
My mind keeps returning to gender. I have always found gender to be complex and confusing and I am constantly relating all of life experience back to that theme. Much like writing as a central aspect of my life, I have been developing my personal gender identity and my personal perspective on the phenomena of "Gender." Much like writing, I can imagine remaining rapt with gender through the rest of my life. In fact, it seems that any subject I write on is high-saturation colored by the overarching anomaly: Gender.
Herbs, medicine, song, communication, mental health, and even surviving a harsh Pittsburgh winter all relate to Gender. Gender of mind, gender of body, gender of sex. Gender of pornography, of erotica. Gender of fitness, of transportation. Gender of love. Gender of language. Language of Gender. Gender may be one word that defines all other words in the dictionary. There are thousands of aspects to develop. I can write thousands of words on the subject without ever blatantly typing "G-E-N-D-E-R!"
In my mind, gender finds its root in health. When we speak of gender as a physical sex, we consider the unique anatomy and chemistry of each person - wild yam may be helpful for one woman's premenstrual symptoms, and exacerbating for another. When we speak of gender as a societal role, we consider the morality of expectation and prejudice - the healthiness of our social paradigm. When we speak of gender as an individual's identity, we consider the mental health of the individual - what is the healthiest way for this person to experience theirself that feels true and empowering?
My most significant strategy will be to write absolutely every single day. I will do my best to write well, and I will do my best to type it into the public eye. I can't expect any particular audience, or any fidelity or diligence thereof; this is my endeavor to share because I see that I need it.
Pinky: “What are we going to do tomorrow, Brain?”
Brain: “The same thing we do every day, Pinky; try to take over the world!”
Love and humored thoughts of gynarchy,
Alicia Bryan Comma Duggleby
p.s. Now Playing: Penguin Cafe Orchestra - "Telephone and Rubber Band"
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