A Labor of Love
It’s finally September.
I love the fall; it’s long regarded as my favorite season. The temperature drops and the opportunity to wear coats and jackets presents itself. Additionally, today is Labor Day, the last holiday that has anything to do with commemorating the summer, leaving room to usher in Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, the trifecta of perfect holidays. I chose to commemorate this special day working diligently to create a space for my self expression, which doubles as my vocation while I define what the hell that actually means. It sounds like a mouthful, a confusing word salad and, trust me, it’s a lot more challenging than it sounds. What I’m proposing basically is how can I pivot into something I love as much as writing post writers’ strike of 2023, which made my future (and every other screenwriters) shaky while still keeping writing as my career post 2025 fires?
Labor Day is actually significant in that it was designed to honor the social and economic achievements of American workers. I have enjoyed a long and storied career as an American worker since the age of 11 and post fires, I am committing to designing career choices that would meet two criteria. One, I would work as I always did and do to support myself as I take a lot of pride in being a professional, self sustaining woman. On the other end, I would need work that facilitates the newly ignited passion that flames my soul. This overwhelming desire is the desire to be an active part of the rebuild of my hometown, Pacific Palisades. Being the classic Gemini, I believe I could conceivably do both with a little bit of direction.
So, I ponder seriously and I am right and write back to what I always do. I am a writer and through that ability, the possibilities are endless and conceivable. You’re actually asking how? It’s easy peasy…
Because both of my objectives can be distilled down to one significant skill set and that is telling stories.
There is only one thing in which I have any confidence and that is my ability to recount compelling narratives. For centuries, humans have been shaped by the oral traditions of sharing history and her/story through weaving, relating, and embellishing stories of their ancestors and themselves. My world turned to ash on January 8th, and while there are endless podcasts and offerings on TikTok that deal with everything from new construction to hauling routes for post fire debris removal to anger over the powers that be and their assumed incompetence, the only stories I am qualified to tell are the ones that are born from the unique recipe of suffering mixed with full faith something healing is in store for Pacific Palisades and all those who love this land.
A dear friend, David Katz, insisted that I collate all of the stories of my friends and loved ones for posterity in an audio podcast. He even went so far as securing a viable sponsor to make the effort which felt Herculean that much easier (to say this guy is a mensch would be a serious understatement). But, I decided I can’t be defined by a podcast alone, whether audio or video. My offering have to be defined as “vignettes”. The literal definition is “a brief evocative (what a great word) description, account, or episode. And with that, I created a new space for myself to express. What was next?
Well, I pulled out my phone, called a bunch of local friends, and then pulled out my phone again to press “record” to capture the raw truth of what they were enduring, what state of hope and vulnerability they were embracing, and how we could sincerely support each other through these unprecedented times. And I mean it with all the sincerity my heart can muster. I said the other day that I show up (this was in trauma therapy) to listen to other people’s stories and their pain as much as conversely I need to be heard. And that’s the intention I am embracing moving forward with this project.
See, this is the difference between this effort and my career as a screenwriter. There is immediacy in the interaction, probably akin to how a playwright feels to hear her words acted nightly on stage at the same time she gauges the audience’s reaction. My vignettes are intended to be healing and instructive on both ends and I’m grateful to David for inspiring me to work in this innovative manner.
Call off the dogs, I have found my calling.
I’m going to continue to share stories until we are all better and more informed for the future unknown. Happy Labor Day to all. May everything you do, share, read, and write be an endless labor of love.