I’ve mentioned before that my wife’s path out of unemployment will be through schooling. At the same time I decided to sign up with Tremendum Pictures (The Gallows–out July 10th in the U.S.!), she decided to go back to school to get a Master’s in Communication. She’s a phenomenal on-camera talent and public speaker, so this is a move that makes a lot of sense for her.
What followed after the decision to actually do this thing was a lot of applying and essaying and petitioning for letters of recommendation and and and. They make you work and work hard and work harder just to sign up for the potential to get a Master’s Degree.
All the work paid off. Not only was Erin accepted into the program, she also got hired as a Teacher’s Assistant. She’ll be teaching two classes in the Fall and will make enough money to not only pay for tuition but also have a little left over.
Let it be recognized lest we be found ungrateful: this is a HUGE blessing.
I can’t say I’m surprised in the least about any of this. Erin is an impressive force in front of a group of people, bring professionalism and pathos to even the most benign of stories and topics. I’ve seen her command a room for over an hour and leave her listeners wanting still more. She will, in the vernacular of people I don’t know at all, crush it. Only she doubts this, as any of us would were we to return to school after a decade away from it.
That’s the strangest part of all of this, I think. Erin and I attended college together, locally, at Fresno State. Now, she’s headed back there and for the next two years our lives will be wrapped up once again in that campus. I’ve been back a couple of times to speak as a guest in the Art Department, but what she’s about to do is on a whole other level. I don’t know that I could do it.
It’s a given I adore her. But, man, do I ever admire her as well.
Erin’s plan always was to go back to school. For the longest time she saw herself getting a teaching credential and becoming a 2nd Grade Teacher. Somewhere between having a child with special needs and getting in front of the camera at our previous place of employment, she abandoned that idea. It just didn’t fit who she was anymore. She had become an advocate in the community for children with difficulties and their families, and saw herself gravitating more and more towards adult interactions and the good she could do there. She found out she enjoyed that more than anything. But there’s not really any money in advocacy and, besides, it didn’t really appeal to her as a full-time job. She enjoys being a volunteer too much.
Then, an entrepreneur friend of ours, Brandon Lee, asked Erin to help him be better on camera. I hadn’t seen her that excited about a project in a long, long time. Over the course of a few sessions and a lot of embarrassing homework assignments (I know some of them involved animal sounds), she turned Brandon from someone who knew there was something not quite right about his camera presence to someone who seduced the lens with confidence.
If anyone can teach about communication and ace a Master’s, it’s Erin. She’s unbearably excited about it, but also, in a really healthy way, she’s a little bit scared of it. This shift in purpose takes some getting used to. It’s not what she saw for herself and making a leap like this is a bit nerve-wracking.
It’s a feeling we’re both getting increasingly used to.
* * *
As for me… I’ll have to come back at you later for a full update. The brief update follows:
I’m taking a three-pronged approach to the future:
1. I’m running a Patreon campaign for the online comic I’ve been running since 2006 (hit the link at very least for the fun video I put together).
2. I’ve designed a symbol I’m putting on jewelry that, from all indications, has huge potential.
3. I’m working on a HUGE project with Tremendum right now that I can’t talk too much about quite yet.
More later.
Brock Heasley 
An excellent update and I find your wife most impressive too! A very good team you are!
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Good on you! Go for it, both of you!
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