The Intern Effect

When I started seriously writing this blog, I did so because I wanted to be able to share my adventures in the art world with other people I know who I may not have a lot of contact with. People who stumble across my blog through Google searches, or through my Myspace page (that I don't really use) or my facebook fan page (see right side of the page) can be in contact with my current work, or adventures through the art world, but most importantly, I made this thing because I won't be living in the same state in a few months, and I wanted to have a way for people to be able to see what I am up to while I am gone.

The reason I won't be living here-if you didn't know- is that I am interning at Hatch Show Print in Nashville starting in February. I will be away from my friends and family, I may not have a job that pays, and I may not be able to afford to live in Nashville without putting it on my credit cards. In other words, my life is about to change, big time!

To put this change into perspective, I can look back at the last 9 years of my life and all 9 years are spent almost exactly the same. I had a pretty stable life. 9 years at UofL. 9 years at the same job. 9 years living at home.

Since I have graduated, and got the internship at Hatch it has affected my life quite a bit and The last nine years' status quo is already starting to go out the window.

The internship, and the possibility of grad school afterward has strained my last relationship to the point of breaking up, and as a result of my 2 month absence, my current employer has said that I won't be able to take a promotion (which would have been my 3rd) because they can't have me be gone for 2 months. Every member of management wants me to take this position.

They say now, that I may not be able to keep my health insurance benefits, and that I may have to start all over again from minimum wage when I get back. The classes at The Mellwood Art Center have been put on hold, and even if they started today, I probably wouldn't be able to teach them because it would end right as the internship was beginning.

I wish that all of these things didn't happen, or could have been resolved, but regardless of the outcome of these events, I need to do this internship. I very rarely take chances with any aspect of my life, and for the first time, I am taking steps towards a positive change. I know that if I decided to stay here, stay to teach, or stayed for a promotion, it wouldn't be me following my dreams, and I would always wonder what it would have been like to work at a place as important to the tradition of printmaking, the history of Nashville, and pop culture in general, as Hatch Show Print.

This is something that I have wanted for a long time, and worked very hard to get. If I decided not to take the opportunity given to me by the people at Hatch Show Print, I would kick myself for the rest of my life.