I’m sorry
to say Jonathan Gheller has closed down his Storylane site. It was a good place
to post and share stories and to get a little feedback. Plus there were always
a lot of great prompts to choose from. However, upon its demise, Jonathan
generously sent me back the several stories I’ve posted, and now I can share
them here. I’ll start with a couple. Please let me know if you like them, and
if so, I’ll share a few more. I’ll also share my latest Buddha picture. I love
it.
How I Got My First Job
Out of College
I graduated
from UCLA with a degree in English and had no idea what I would do
professionally with it. I had wanted to work as a journalist and actually
completed all the course work for a degree in journalism at the University of
Wisconsin. But family illness caused me to transfer to UCLA for my senior year,
and UCLA didn’t offer a BA degree in journalism.
So I was
stuck in a city I didn’t know and where I hardly knew anyone. I tried valiantly
and unsuccessfully early on to get a writing job and then gave up. It was 1962.
Not a lot of jobs for women writers in those days, especially in Los Angeles.
Then
someone suggested I try the growing aerospace business in southern California.
And I did. I
called Douglas Aircraft Company – the precursor of McDonnell Douglas and now
Boeing – and asked the man who took my call if he ever hired anyone with a
degree in English. And he immediately said yes, come right over. After a brief
interview I was hired as a technical editor, working on users manuals for a
spacecraft project.
I’d like to
say this story had a happy ending, but it didn’t. The contract was cancelled –
not unusual in that business – and I was laid off after three months.
However,
that job kicked off my career of almost thirty years working as a technical
writer and editor and a proposal manager in the aerospace business. Only later
in life did I start to pursue the career of my dreams – journalistic and
creative writing.
***
Some of My
Favorite Toys Growing Up
Growing up I loved to play with cutout dolls. I had dozens of them. One
even had a photo of my face on it. Dressing the dolls up later evolved into my
love for drawing and designing clothes and shoes. My girlfriends and I would
sit for hours drawing very high-heeled shoes. I like to think that Christian Louboutin got his design prowess from us.
Louboutin
I also
loved a large mama-doll my grandmother gave me. If I sat her up she would say,
“mama” and open her big blue eyes. I still have that doll in its original
clothes. Another toy I still have is the stuffed dog made out of real fur that
my father gave me. I haven't looked it for a long time. I'm afraid to see how mangy it looks by
now. My doll collection also included a set tiny storybook dolls, but I wasn’t
allowed to play with them. I had them on display on shelves in my bedroom.
Girls back
in the day when I was growing up didn’t play sports very much. I liked to swim
and ride my bike. I also loved to play jump rope, jacks, and the One, Two,
Three O’Leary ball game. I only started playing team sports in middle school.
