Graduation

Today I graduated from college. Here is a photo taken right after I left the auditorium. It’s a strange feeling. I’m not sure whether I will fully comprehend it until I receive my diploma (in 6 to 8 weeks). Or when I don’t buy books and start going to class in September. Now I need to find permanent employment (with benefits). I’m more than a little terrified, more than a little excited. It will be great, whatever is in store. Until I discover what I’m destined to occupy my time with during the day, I need to relax and write. One day things will come together. We were told many times today during the commencement ceremony that with a liberal arts degree, “You can do anything!” So here I am world! What am I supposed to do now?!

Ray Bradbury

I am watching an hour long “conversation” with Ray Bradbury on YouTube. I absolutely LOVE Ray Bradbury. He’s the kind of writer I want to be one day. I have many favorite writers, but only a few truly inspire my own work. Mr. Bradbury is one of them. He has the soothing type of storyteller voice that Garrison Keillor embodies. I must admit I only read Dandelion Wine and Fahrenheit 451 in the past. I do own a copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes that I obtained from a local Goodwill store. (Lately I’ve been frequenting used book stores and sales.) Listening to this interview makes me want to go to the used book store near my neighborhood and find as many Bradbury novels and short story collections I can find! He has this old-fashioned grace and style that is so admirable in an age that embraces celetoid stars of reality television programs over real authors. We are lucky he is living in our time. He worked hard to get to where he is today. He would not call what he does “work,” however. He said in the interview that once writing becomes work, you should quit and do something else. Now that I will be graduating from college on Sunday, I have a lot more time on my hands to do what I love.

I remember the day I first heard of Ray Bradbury. I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was the summer of 2002. My family took a small trip up north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We stopped at a small museum that used to be a railroad station where my Grandpa used to work. (I think. Correct me if I’m wrong, Grandma.) I don’t remember the name of the town exactly. The person working was reading a book at the time. He was a few pages from the end and politely told us he would be with us in a few minutes so he could finish reading. We wandered around the room with memorabilia before he came over and told us a little about the history of the building. Before we left, he gave me the copy of the book he was reading. He said he was finished with it and it was the type of book that should be shared. It was Dandelion Wine. I am a voracious reader who will read anything anyone gives me, so of course I started reading it right away.

The other work I read is Fahrenheit 451, which Ray refers to as four-five-one, not four-fifty-one in the interview. For some odd reason, I think I read most of that book in the U.P. as well. We were camping I think. I finished writing a research paper for the History of the Holocaust class I took this semester on Monday morning. My topic was book burning, and I connected the actions the Nazis took on May 10, 1933 to recent Harry Potter book burnings. Bradbury had a lot to say about the Nazi book burnings of course. He wrote an entire science fiction novel about the dangers of that type of censorship. We went to see an exhibit at a museum over winter break that was on tour from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the Nazi book burnings. There were quotes by various writers and other important figures speaking out against book burning. One was from Ray Bradbury.

“I ate, drank, and slept books…It followed then that when Hitler burned a book I felt it as keenly, please forgive me, as his killing a human, for in the long sum of history they are one and the same flesh. Mind or body, put to the oven, it is a sinful practice, and I carried that with me.”

I feel the same way. Here’s to you, Mr. Bradbury. If I am half as honored and revered, I would be extremely lucky.

Temp

There’s a chance I will be a temp for the time being. I had a meeting this morning at a temp agency and the prospects are looking positive. I’m very open with where I want to work and my minimum for hourly pay, which is good for finding work for me right away. My problem is I really am unsure of what I want to do now that I graduate in 8 days. I think this situation is perfect for now. I can keep my skills up, learn new skills, get full time work and keep biding my time until companies and organizations start hiring again. I can’t afford to be picky with employment at this time in my life (and in the world) so I’m feeling very encouraged about my meeting today. This agency looks great! They offer health benefits and holiday pay after a specific number of hours logged. They also offer free online classes so in theory I can learn new skills to add to my resume. Like using Microsoft Access, for example. That is one thing listed on many administrative positions that I cannot list as a personal qualification. Right now I think administrative work is the way to go for me. Eventually I would like to be in an organization that reflects my values and what I’m passionate about. I would LOVE for it to be something literary-related. There is also my ultimate goal/dream in life which is to actually finish the novel I’m always telling people I’m writing/want to write. What I have to say is too important to ignore, and I have many people who are excited about the project and want to help me with it, so I really don’t have any excuses NOT to write the book. Especially since after Thursday around 3-3:30 I will officially be FINISHED with homework for a long, long time hopefully. (In other words: no plans for grad school. Yet. Never say never.) I’ve been doing well with ignoring my worries for the most part. I think this summer will be great!