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Time travel
Dec. 19th, 2017 06:18 pmA friend of mine introduced a question on her Dreamwidth recently, swiped from Science Fiction author/editor Gardner Dozois:
"If a time-traveling much younger version of yourself came to the door, would he or she be disappointed in the older you they found? Why? Or if they WOULDN'T be disappointed, again, why?"
Honestly? I think their reaction would be: You're making a living as an artist? How is that possible?
I always wanted to be an artist, but I didn't see how it could possibly work. Thought I'd be a Commercial Artist, not that I had any real idea what that meant. Ideally, I'd be a cartoonist; I always read the back (funnies) page of the Marshfield News-Herald before anything else.
Potter was not even on the map, though in college I thought I'd go to grad school in Ceramics, then support myself teaching at college level.
A lot of these things sorta happened. I was a Graphic (i.e. Commercial) Artist for four years, first in a college publicity office, then at one of the printers we used to contract with. It was mostly publications design and paste-up, magazines, newsletters, untold quantities of beer ads. I also did some free-lance work, which included more illustration. And I actually was an editorial cartoonist, for a weekly Catholic newspaper, The Times-Review, for four or five years, even made a few national sales with them.
I've also been a children's storyteller and musician (two albums still in print, you can find them here. I designed rubber stamps for a couple of years, mostly trading drawings for product. I did teach ceramics for 12 years, though at the UO Craft Center, not college level. I produced concerts and a folk festival for the University of Oregon Cultural Forum. And I was a radio host for 25 years, got to interview many of my folk music heroes on-air, over the years.
So I imagine time-travelling me would be fine with adult me. Maybe even a little impressed.
Oh, who am I kidding? Teenage me would be all, So, you got married. Does that mean you get to have sex?
"If a time-traveling much younger version of yourself came to the door, would he or she be disappointed in the older you they found? Why? Or if they WOULDN'T be disappointed, again, why?"
Honestly? I think their reaction would be: You're making a living as an artist? How is that possible?
I always wanted to be an artist, but I didn't see how it could possibly work. Thought I'd be a Commercial Artist, not that I had any real idea what that meant. Ideally, I'd be a cartoonist; I always read the back (funnies) page of the Marshfield News-Herald before anything else.
Potter was not even on the map, though in college I thought I'd go to grad school in Ceramics, then support myself teaching at college level.
A lot of these things sorta happened. I was a Graphic (i.e. Commercial) Artist for four years, first in a college publicity office, then at one of the printers we used to contract with. It was mostly publications design and paste-up, magazines, newsletters, untold quantities of beer ads. I also did some free-lance work, which included more illustration. And I actually was an editorial cartoonist, for a weekly Catholic newspaper, The Times-Review, for four or five years, even made a few national sales with them.
I've also been a children's storyteller and musician (two albums still in print, you can find them here. I designed rubber stamps for a couple of years, mostly trading drawings for product. I did teach ceramics for 12 years, though at the UO Craft Center, not college level. I produced concerts and a folk festival for the University of Oregon Cultural Forum. And I was a radio host for 25 years, got to interview many of my folk music heroes on-air, over the years.
So I imagine time-travelling me would be fine with adult me. Maybe even a little impressed.
Oh, who am I kidding? Teenage me would be all, So, you got married. Does that mean you get to have sex?