The Supposed Golden Path

It's time to unveil a plan I've been sitting on for almost a month now. I've kept it under my hat because I've wanted to try it on first. Sleep on it, so to speak. But now I think I may be ready to go public.

I went to Film School at Boston University. A great school, but very expensive. Then I worked in the film biz for about 4 years. After a lot of hard work and starving, I decided that the film biz was not for me. Sure, if I kept struggling for 5 more years, I might be at a point where I could have joined a union. But that would not have been a guarantee for anything. The struggle would continue. And when you cease to have faith in the dream that you're struggling for, it seems pointless to keep struggling. Anyway, that's why I bowed out and one of the reasons we've ended up in Europe... to pursue something else. Does that make my expensive schooling a big waste of money? In some senses, maybe. In others, definitely not. I wouldn't be the person I am today if I didn't have the experience I had in Boston.

About a month ago, I was visited by a great idea. A comfortable, reasonable, intelligent idea. A huge idea. An idea I didn't think I would have considered. What's the big idea? To go back to school. Back to Film School. Go back to get a Masters and a PhD in Film Studies. To become a professor of Film Studies.

I would be paid to do something I love (watching and talking about films/art/music/politics/etc.) and I think I would be a good teacher. And being an "absent-minded professor" seems to fit quite nicely with my personality. Since the time I started thinking about this new path, I've had lots of ideas of how I would run my classes and what I would like to teach. And it feels good. When you have an idea and thinking about it exhilarates you, isn't that your "gut" telling you it's the right thing?

What about my dream of owning a brewery? It's still there. In fact, becoming a professor can actually enable me to have a brewery one day because I won't be relying on brewing to pay my bills. Here's how it fits in... I start brewing on a really small scale, in the summertime at least. Start distributing locally (wherever that ends up being). Slow but steady growth. Having a semi-flexible "day-job" would make it much easier to make high-quality, creative beers for a niche-market. After 10-20 years of teaching, I can transition into full-time brewing. If the brewing is not succeeding, then I just keep teaching. Bases are covered and either way I have a job that I can enjoy!

Doesn't sound to bad, right? Now I just need to implement the plan. It just so happens there is a really good film studies program at the University of Exeter in the UK, the school that Kristen has stumbled upon recently. And since I am an EU citizen, it would be quite cheap to go there. With a BS degree from a good US university and 4 years of experience in the film industry, I'm pretty confident that I can be accepted in the program.

How 'bout dem apples?

-RP-