In the interest of self-disclosure, know that this could be construed by some to be a shameless plug for a new venture launched by my artist-student-son and his collaborators, called Geek Fight. But what it actually is is an expression of my delight and hopefulness this morning. I figured folks might enjoy vicariously grooving on some hope for a change.
For the last few years, my son Ian has been struggling to stay in school at UGA (majoring in Art, natch), and his father and I have been less helpful than we wanted to be in helping him stay there because we haven't had much money to spare. So despite him being a senior with a 4.0 average who worked/saved up for three years to go back and finish the last two years of his B.A., and who had some Hope scholarship and Pell grant money to help along the way, he's been doing the living-on-nothing thing and is going to have to borrow more money this summer--that is, IF he can get a loan--or he'll have to drop out one semester shy of graduation. Which would be a major bummer.
I have to admit, I have worried as only a mother can about him crashing down in disappointment due to no fault of his own.... How many of you younger Kossacks can relate to this (below the fold)?
We are in our late fifties, early sixties. We've been telling our son, like a broken record, "Get a job. You've got to get a job. Get a job on the side. Look for Work Study. You've got to do something to supplement your income so you can stay in school." And he's been telling us about this "game" thing he's been spending just about every extra waking second working on when he's not killing himself on living up to his own very high expectations for himself in his classes.
Now, we've smiled and said encouraging things, but when he said they were going to sell this game, we were thinking, "Yeah, right, that's going to fly...especially in these hard economic times...." And we've come back around to "Even if it's less than minimum wage, you've got to get a job."
Well, he sent me this link today to the Geek Fight launch with a "so far, so good" comment, and I'm majorly thrilled and impressed with how professional it is! And so I'm sitting here, feeling hopeful about the future all of a sudden, because my son (who has every reason to be bummed out and depressed and pissed as hell at the mess my generation has made of this world) is going on with his work and his plans and is not lying down and giving up, even if WE feel hopeless and fearful more often than not.
So I just had to share with everyone here how PROUD I am of him, my son who has voted in every election since he turned 18 and who's putting himself through school pretty much by himself AND is helping to build a neat business AND has written a novel already on top of all the art he has created AND is just damned determined he's going to live a vital, creative life even if the whole damned world does seem to be blowing up all around him. He has inspired me and gotten me back in touch with my own can-do spirit, something I very much need right now. Ian, you ROCK!
I would be thrilled if those of you my age would share what your children are doing to build for the future--and if those of you who are younger would share your exploits, too. Nothing gives me more hope than feeling like the younger generation is going to make it. I mean, I want to make it, too, but if I had to choose between my son and myself, I'd want him to be the one to walk away from the train wreck.