On the hunt / July 10, 2018 by Helen Arase

The last couple of weeks have been both interesting and boring.

My sister graduated from her master's program with a Magistrate in Philosophy from Concordia University in Montreal - so we all went to Montreal.

I thought it was pretty cool that they had genderless degrees, and I'll admit I never considered that master or doctor were "male" so it's cool that Sophie was able to pick if she wanted to be a master or magistrate.

So we all flew over there, ate poutine and flew back.

I shot an assignment around the same time and got the selects back this morning so I'll be doing that today.

from the Santa Monica Kiwanis Club's Make a Mess Day

That was the more exciting of the last month.

I'm job hunting still, yes, but that's not really what I mean by my title today... I'm on the hunt to make myself better and seek out education, opportunity and risks.

When I graduated college and was not working full-time (I guess I've been brought up to consider myself unemployed unless it's full-time but we're not going to unpack that here) I was in a bad place.

I definitely wallowed in self-pity, but there was genuine self-hate, and the more I sat around with my thoughts of how much I must suck the less motivated I got.

This time around I'm being more proactive. You know, hindsight, 20/20...

I've gone to a journalism mixer, reaching out to people or mutual contacts - which I would never have done before - thinking about the kinds of workshops I can take; I'm not just applying for jobs or whatever from behind a computer.

It's a weird feeling for me to have confidence. Or like, to be able to show someone my work and not have disclaimers about what I would have done or here's what happened, but to just think that it was my best work.

For my documentary website, there's a small disclaimer that I'm not a web developer so you have to view it on Chrome but that's because I want you to get the full experience of the material and not frustrated that my coding didn't transfer 100% to all browsers. You know?

Anyway, back to work...

Master Helen, other thoughts / June 4, 2018 by Helen Arase

I realized I haven't blogged since I was looking for lowriders.

Well... the short version is something worked out, I have a photo series and documentary and a Master of Science in Journalism.

These are a few photos of building lowriders and cruising lowriders.

For half of graduation day, May 11, it was acceptable to call me Master Helen.

This was the only photo I took of myself the whole day... Laura Bouzari just got hired as a producer in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Now the real work begins. I need work. Not for the money (I do need money, because student loans), but I'm saying I need work to feel productive and happy.

I had a freelance assignment yesterday. It was kids doing arts and crafts, organized by Santa Monica's Kiwanis Club and Kiwanis International. It was cool to go out and spend some time with people who are creating and happy while you're working. I'm sunburnt now, though.

I've applied to jobs all over the country.

I'm just as excited to work at a larger newspaper or organization as a smaller one. I think all communities deserve quality journalism and people who are excited about finding the news in their neighborhoods. If you don't come from that place, you make yourself familiar and become part of the community so they know you're dedicated to being more than an outsider covering a community.

I think it's exciting to move to new places. I grew up moving around because my dad was always researching something on sabbatical. These opportunities to move to new cities and countries gave me an idea of how different (and same) the world's neighborhoods could be... I was lucky.

Any time there's an opportunity to move, I'll take it. I tried to move away for college - twice. Four colleges is a lot of credits and transcripts to track down.

I loved Pittsburgh. I loved New York City. I love Los Angeles and L.A. County. I'm ready to jump into the next opportunity.

If life takes me to Texas or North Carolina or keeps me here, I'm ready for a new adventure. I was ready to pack my stuff and move to the Mississippi Delta because I was so excited about Report for America that only needed one photographer and that was the location.

I'm ready, life.