Oh No, She’s Blogging Again
Oh hi there! It’s me! I’m back!
Yeah, I know. It’s been like 4 years, but maybe we can ignore that? Or try? No? Fine. I’ll catch you up.
In 2020 I directed my first play, got a tattoo, and then moved back to California from Washington because of the pandemic. I did a lot of school, a lot of writing (not for the old blog, obviously), and attempted to work in theatre again as a lighting designer for an outdoor production of The Sound of Music. That’s a funny story, actually, but maybe for another time.
In 2021 I moved back to Washington after being in California for exactly one year and one week. I discovered that, annoyingly, moving doesn’t solve all your problems and went on an antidepressant (in the words of Glennon Doyle- Jesus loves me, this I know. For he gave me lexapro). I stagemanaged a play, went through my biggest hearbreak to date, got a cat, and discovered how much I love living alone (yes, the final four are indeed related).
In 2022 I directed my second and third plays (so much more on those later, I’m sure), graduated with my BA in Strategic Communication, minor in Drama (ish), moved back to California on purpose this time, got a really good therapist, and went no-contact with my dad (so much more on that later).
In 2023 I moved to Seattle, got two teaching artist jobs that ended as quickly as they began, and became a nanny for the best family, best baby, and best border collie ever. I wrote and published a book, was a Teaching Artist Intern at the Seattle Children’s Theatre, finally made friends, and then started grad school to get my Masters in Teaching, endorsements in Theatre Arts and Mid Level Humanities. I worked in a preschool for a little bit but that was very bad, all while also working as a teaching assistant for SCT whenever they called. I ended the year by getting on a plane for the first time in almost three years to go home for the first time since moving.
In 2024 I moved into a new apartment and started three new jobs all at the same time, and I’m guessing you can guess how that turned out. Three months into the new year and I had transitioned out of one of those jobs, and three months after that I had left two altogether. But the preschool job stuck, and through that job and one really cool kid I came to the conclusion that teaching general education isn’t for, but teaching special education is. I had taken a leave of absence for the winter term of my masters, and in the spring I switched my endorsement to SpEd, but then left the school completely in favor of an online program and a Master of Education in Special Education (which I lovingly refer to as my M.Ed SpEd).
I started the summer of 2024 doing summer camps at SCT as an assistant, and ended the summer with an observation to move up to Teaching Artist. At the same time, I was offered a residency at a middle school through SCT to be one of the teachers for musical theatre and theatre management (tech). My dream of being a middle school theatre teacher was coming true, in a roundabout way. I started the school year with the middle schoolers and returned to the preschool, and things have stayed pretty consistent ever since.
That’s a very, very, very brief recap of the last four years, with a lot of the tears, fears, and broken bones cut out. I’ll get to that. I promise. It feels good to be back.
Me, during the last week of the SCT internship