The "About Me" FAQ
So, what do you do for a living?
Right now, even as I write this, I'm the Editor of the Corante Media Hub.
Yes...I have one of the Seven Trendy New Jobs in the U.S. (according to CNNMoney...)
I have to thank both Hylton and Francois at Corante for the opportunity to be what CNN considers trendy and cutting edge...(makes me giggle just a bit...who'd a thought??)
Also had my first panel experience at SXSWInteractive, speaking on the Us/Them A Blog Conversation Survival Guide panel.
Yes, I know a lot about interactivity. I've been interactive since I hit college in '98 and we *had* to have computers.
Update Recently, me and three other Boston-area women bloggers were featured in the Boston Globe article on women empowered by blogging. At the inaugural conference of the Media Giraffe Project I moderated the keynote panel on citizen journalism. The best part was meeting folks who actually *do* citizen journalism. Wish more of the professional journalists would have done that.(end update 8/3/06)
When my blog the Constant Observer went by the title Snarkaholic it was cited in Time (3/30/06) for my opinion on the "stupidly egotistical" Wal-Mart bloggers.
I've been quoted in Jon Friedman's Marketwatch column (reprinted here) on snark and bloggers.
And I recently published an article on jounalists and interactivity at Online Journalism Review (www.ojr.org)
This year I was selected to be one of the official screening committee members for the 2006 Northampton Independent Film Festival--and was last year's volunteer coordinator. Will probably get stuck being this year's volunteer coordinator also--it's five days of some of the best insanity I've ever taken part in, and I get a plaque at the end of it all!
I also write. I keep this personal blog and have other projects here and there--that I hope turn into something truly grand. I published my first story in the Smith Alumni Quarterly on Smith alumn bloggers--and published another short essay published in the April issue of Vision Monthly.
Yes, I'm busy being trendy in oh so many ways :-)
Come on, what do you really do for a living?
Seriously, that's what I'm doing. Really. I kid you not. I've been working on this transformation since July '05...and it is still an evolving process. What I've done so far is not too shabby.
Okay, so what did you do before that?
I worked as a part-time retail manager while I was freelance writing. But I couldn't focus enough, and felt it best to take that leap of faith by leaving and devoting my time to writing and blogging.
There are few jobs more soul-sucking than retail--although working there, and in a machine shop, taught me a lot about people and interacting.
I graduated from Smith College in 2001 with a B.A. in Religion and Bib. Lit, a minor in English Lit, Highest Honors, a huge, well received Honors Thesis on religion and film--but had no idea where I was going after all that. I'd worked myself into a bit of burn-out.
Yeah, but what about your career path? Did you ever have a profession?
Yes! I did! As a matter of fact, I worked my way up from a lowly receptionist for a general contractor to the Administrative Financial Analyist for a non-profit in Princeton, NJ.
Not too bad for a kid with no college.
But being an overly-dilligent and super-hard worker, I crashed at 33. For the next seven or so years, while most people were adding credential after wonderful credential to their resumes, marrying, and having babies, I struggled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome--they used to call it the "Yuppie Flu" but it lasted a heck of a lot longer than your average flu. I was unable to work and had no idea if or when I would ever get better.
Even though I couldn't work, I couldn't sit around the house either.
I decided to get some kind of education, and went to Middlesex County College in Edison, NJ In '97, I got my AA in English with a minor in Fine Art and the Dean's Award. I was also instrumental in the re-launch of the college literary magazine and was a tutor for mathematics, french, and philosophy.
My dream has always been to write. There were times when I lost that dream (I couldn't articulate it to career counsellors when I graduated) and there were other times when I thought I'd never get any closer to that dream than scribbling on legal pads. Now I see that, in some ways, I am living my dream. It continues to take a lot of hard work and sacrifice to sustain, but I am only at the beginning of what I hope is to be a long and very interesting career...
Lest you think I'm one-dimensional, I've had loads of interesting hobbies along the way, too, including being a goth dj, a crochet enthusiast, rave promoter, transpersonal healer and massage therapist, part-time library assistant, film afficionado, metalhead, rockabilly girl, and punk rocker.
Oh, and I have a bunch of disco records too. vinyl. seriously.
Any other questions, feel free to email me...
Right now, even as I write this, I'm the Editor of the Corante Media Hub.
Yes...I have one of the Seven Trendy New Jobs in the U.S. (according to CNNMoney...)
I have to thank both Hylton and Francois at Corante for the opportunity to be what CNN considers trendy and cutting edge...(makes me giggle just a bit...who'd a thought??)
Also had my first panel experience at SXSWInteractive, speaking on the Us/Them A Blog Conversation Survival Guide panel.
Yes, I know a lot about interactivity. I've been interactive since I hit college in '98 and we *had* to have computers.
Update Recently, me and three other Boston-area women bloggers were featured in the Boston Globe article on women empowered by blogging. At the inaugural conference of the Media Giraffe Project I moderated the keynote panel on citizen journalism. The best part was meeting folks who actually *do* citizen journalism. Wish more of the professional journalists would have done that.(end update 8/3/06)
When my blog the Constant Observer went by the title Snarkaholic it was cited in Time (3/30/06) for my opinion on the "stupidly egotistical" Wal-Mart bloggers.
I've been quoted in Jon Friedman's Marketwatch column (reprinted here) on snark and bloggers.
And I recently published an article on jounalists and interactivity at Online Journalism Review (www.ojr.org)
This year I was selected to be one of the official screening committee members for the 2006 Northampton Independent Film Festival--and was last year's volunteer coordinator. Will probably get stuck being this year's volunteer coordinator also--it's five days of some of the best insanity I've ever taken part in, and I get a plaque at the end of it all!
I also write. I keep this personal blog and have other projects here and there--that I hope turn into something truly grand. I published my first story in the Smith Alumni Quarterly on Smith alumn bloggers--and published another short essay published in the April issue of Vision Monthly.
Yes, I'm busy being trendy in oh so many ways :-)
Come on, what do you really do for a living?
Seriously, that's what I'm doing. Really. I kid you not. I've been working on this transformation since July '05...and it is still an evolving process. What I've done so far is not too shabby.
Okay, so what did you do before that?
I worked as a part-time retail manager while I was freelance writing. But I couldn't focus enough, and felt it best to take that leap of faith by leaving and devoting my time to writing and blogging.
There are few jobs more soul-sucking than retail--although working there, and in a machine shop, taught me a lot about people and interacting.
I graduated from Smith College in 2001 with a B.A. in Religion and Bib. Lit, a minor in English Lit, Highest Honors, a huge, well received Honors Thesis on religion and film--but had no idea where I was going after all that. I'd worked myself into a bit of burn-out.
Yeah, but what about your career path? Did you ever have a profession?
Yes! I did! As a matter of fact, I worked my way up from a lowly receptionist for a general contractor to the Administrative Financial Analyist for a non-profit in Princeton, NJ.
Not too bad for a kid with no college.
But being an overly-dilligent and super-hard worker, I crashed at 33. For the next seven or so years, while most people were adding credential after wonderful credential to their resumes, marrying, and having babies, I struggled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome--they used to call it the "Yuppie Flu" but it lasted a heck of a lot longer than your average flu. I was unable to work and had no idea if or when I would ever get better.
Even though I couldn't work, I couldn't sit around the house either.
I decided to get some kind of education, and went to Middlesex County College in Edison, NJ In '97, I got my AA in English with a minor in Fine Art and the Dean's Award. I was also instrumental in the re-launch of the college literary magazine and was a tutor for mathematics, french, and philosophy.
My dream has always been to write. There were times when I lost that dream (I couldn't articulate it to career counsellors when I graduated) and there were other times when I thought I'd never get any closer to that dream than scribbling on legal pads. Now I see that, in some ways, I am living my dream. It continues to take a lot of hard work and sacrifice to sustain, but I am only at the beginning of what I hope is to be a long and very interesting career...
Lest you think I'm one-dimensional, I've had loads of interesting hobbies along the way, too, including being a goth dj, a crochet enthusiast, rave promoter, transpersonal healer and massage therapist, part-time library assistant, film afficionado, metalhead, rockabilly girl, and punk rocker.
Oh, and I have a bunch of disco records too. vinyl. seriously.
Any other questions, feel free to email me...
posted by Tish Grier at 1:44 PM
6 Comments:
That's funny, I thought you made money by whining about how other people aren't paying attention to you.
lol! what a wiseass! but, now you know it ain't all whine and roses over here.
You have had an interesting life so far and you obviously have the courage to try new things and go your own way. Good for you.
Given your background, you might enjoy a book by Greg Lubrano, called "Limbo: Blue Collar Roots, White Collar Dreams." It gets off to a slow slart, but then it really rocks with truthfullness and humanity.
I have recently concluded that the answer to "Who are you?" is much more useful and truthful (and scary to others) if it not only includes "What you do" or "What your role is...mother, employee, etc." but how you feel, what you have experienced, and what you believe. So, the best answer is as much about being as it is about doing.
A teacher I had recently suggested that in envisioning your life, over time you evolve from "What do I want to have?" to "What do I want to do?" to "Who do I want to be."
I'm coming to see the wisdom in that.
Hi Barry,
I have indeed read Lubrano's book, and recommended it to some other friends who are also working very hard to transcend social class boundaries. I found it not just helpful but inspirational--at times I almost cried during reading as I found myself and my expreiences in several of the stories.
and, yes, I agree that the best answer as to who you are should encompass more than just what you do for a living. When I used to have to answer "I'm a bookkeeper," I felt horribly stereotyped--and I believe that sterotypes hurt us in many different ways. I'm always reminded of Joseph Campbell's comment that we are "human be-ings, not human do-ings." I think that says it all :-)
Hi! I'm a Smith alumna who just received the Quarterly, and I'm confused. Your name on your blog is Tish and your name in the Quarterly is Trish! Now since you actually wrote the article in the Quarterly, it would be strange if your name was wrong there. But it's got to be wrong somewhere. Please let me know what gives. (By the way, I also wrote several times for the Quarterly maybe about 8 years ago.. the "Transitions" page. Cheers, Liz
Hey Liz,
Glad you stopped by! Cool that you used to write for the Quarterly, too....
As for the name, in the blogoshpere, and, slowly, as a writer, I'm "Tish"--would have preferred if the Quarterly had put me in as "Tish," but I'd contacted them using one of my old email addys, didn't transfer the correspondence to one of my "Tish" accounts, so I ended up as "Trish."
"Tish" happened en blog as a typo, and I stuck with it--it was a nickname one of my Aunts used to call me anyway.
I'm not sure if the dropped "r" is a bigger problem than when I changed back to my maiden name after my first divorce. Talk about confusion!
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