November 15th, 2022 began as another futile day of human progress. This season of grappling with the hopeless reality that I would never amount to any real career. While I have never been allured by the lofty aspirations of fame and great wealth, I’ve been worrying since high school that I would never be able to make it on my own. My own insecurities and general anxieties would prevent me from obtaining a steady form of employment. Writing about Spike Lee and Alexander Payne movies are what I dream of, but writing gigs for lowly recent college grads like me aren’t offered, and who in the world would care about my two cents on The Fabelmans?
Anyways, on that seemingly dreary November morning, I changed up my routine by heading to the bathroom first thing post-wakeup instead of browsing on my phone while still in bed. It’s not ideal that most of humanity has adopted themselves to looking at their phone as their first human activity of the day. I think I subconsciously had a George Costanza complex going on with me at this point, now months removed from graduation and still without a career break. If I’m not doing the complete opposite of my usual habits, then I’m at least taking a piss first thing in the morning instead. I arrive back into my room to check my phone afterwards. The screen lights up, and it just happened to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Collider gave me my first big break.
I spat out the coffee that I wasn’t drinking when I saw the follow-up email from my application, which I had sent a week prior. I had just about forgotten about my application there, as I was resigned to expect disappointment. But after further application steps and training, I would become a published, freelance features writer for Collider. It took a while for this euphoric break to seem real, especially for someone who is not blessed with the highest of self-esteems like me. I love writing for the site, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for giving me this opportunity. While there is still more down the road in the future, and I’m obviously aware that I am not immediately set for life, I would say that it’s quite fortunate that I can get paid to write about Election and 25th Hour. Please check out my feature stories (see the tab at the top of this site) and support Collider as a whole.
Sometimes I wonder if that email would have ever reached my inbox if I decided to pick up my phone first thing in the morning…
The Empty Theater 