Work
by Barbara MacFarlane
MWC Work
If the work I’ve done throughout my life was depicted in a great work of art, it’d be a cubist painting of an eclectic resume spanning thirty-five years. After graduating high school a year early, then pursuing my college degree in Dance/Theater Arts going to school and performing was my work. Work has never defined me. It’s just been a big part of what I did. I pursued work that enthused me and was qualified for. I’ve never been intimidated by the interview process whether it be a panel or an individual. When you are authentic, honest, and sincere you can sit before anyone and make a case for why you should be the one they hire.
I’ve worn many hats in my life. Some suited me and some didn’t. I’ve pursued work that ranged from concessions at a movie theater to working on an Alaskan fishing ship. My first pursuit was as a ballet dancer with the local ballet company so I thought I was going to dance professionally. I loved dance and it was all I did starting at the age of nine. It was very clear to me that I wanted to support myself and it never crossed my mind to find someone to take care of me. I felt that work was just what I would do. My first job was around 15 years old working at my favorite movie theater, a new one in town, selling candy and popcorn, and getting to see movies. I remember this job because it made me happy. I loved the atmosphere and the smell of buttery popcorn and the sounds emanating out of each theater of the movie that was being shown. I’d love to have a video of my interviewing for this job to see a teenaged me, pursuing employment for the first time.
Overlapping this job, was another as a stagecraft apprentice at our largest theater in town that seated around 2000 people. I was taught how to build and paint the sets used in the large and beautiful musicals that we put on and to step out of the way or assist traveling shows that came through. We used the huge sound system to blast the music of the time like Pink Floyd or Emerson, Lake, and Palmer or whatever we felt like listening to. It was wonderful being surrounded by such artistic and hilarious people. And this was just the crew. When casts of musicals, one of which I also became, were in the house, things were raucous, vibrant, and exciting. Since this theater was on our university campus, the atmosphere was full of creativity. This was one job I’d pick to let define me and I have regretted many times over the years not making this my career. Many of the people I worked there with made theater their lives. They refined their skills and became lighting designers, directors, actors, and dancers and I worked with them all. Even today, I’ll never understand why I walked away from that when it suited my temperament so well. It fed something in me that nothing else has since.
Job descriptions began to string together as the years passed such as stagecraft apprentice, deli-counter help in Red River, N.M., open mic folk singer, ski-area secretary, community center manager, t-shirt silk screen sales, aerobics teacher, Nautilus gym membership sales, a waitress at a quaint cafe, exercise/dance studio owner, apartment manager, administrative assistant, phlebotomist, and nursing assistant, museum foundation membership sales, army reservist psych tech, playwright, eCommerce entrepreneur and the biggest job as a mother.
In a way, it’s all a blur even though I did all of it in earnest. leading up to motherhood. Motherhood is in the now and very vivid. I’m wondering what my recollection of it will be when I’m in my nineties? I hope to be in the world to find out.
Work you say? It’s a curious word.
