End of a Year
Ian MacKaye famously sang, "I don't like parties, they avoid the truth." But if we want to make it to the end of another year, we're going to need joy as a survival strategy.
I.
For my last “normal” job, I sold real estate in New York City. It was “hardcore” only in the sense that my boss was actually Keith Burkhardt—singer for the seminal New York hardcore band Cause For Alarm—but other than that, it was mostly just a way for me to live. I was good at my job, I took care of my clients, and it was the most lucrative job I’ve ever had; I can tell you that much without blinking. But it’s also possible to be good at something you don’t actually enjoy. When you’ve lived the majority of your life doing creative work, being uncreative for a living feels like living in a well-funded black-and-white movie. I wanted to live in color again, and I was willing to slash the operating budget.
One day in 2021, following a particularly distasteful exchange with a client, I very spo…