The Promised Land

12.18.18

I’ve been asked a lot recently where it is that I want to go, and I keep telling them that I'm already there. I’ve made it to my promise land. A year and a half ago, I was in a state of misery of sorts. I was struggling to keep friendships, working 80 hours a week, and doing the best I could to keep it together and finish what I started. A year and a half ago, I graduated the top of my class from a 4-year arts program, packed up my life in a U-Haul and drove my ass back down to California with only the promise of a temporary place to stay at my dads house. Within a matter of months I got a job doing what I love and what I went to school for, I got a place of my own, I joined a super awesome funk band, and was again surrounded by people who love and support me.

Today I interviewed on our local radio station, KVMR, talking about our bands upcoming gig and two of our songs from the album we released last October were aired. I am a part of an arts organization, The Center for the Arts, challenged with the enrichment of the arts community of my hometown including performance, visual, and written arts. I do less of making visual art and more of promoting and supporting local artists and youth arts programming. I forgot to take a vacation this year because I was so enthralled with what I was doing that it didn't occur to me to take a break, or need one. On a daily basis I am encouraged and supported by loved ones, coworkers, and strangers with whom I encounter. Sure, I have the same struggles as any adult in the modern world-relationships, financial, etc- but it has been years since I was content with my life on a daily basis.

I live in my hometown in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world, and not just because of the scenery. The people here care about other people, about art, about community. How could I want to be anywhere else? Im in the promise land!