Friday, 10 July 2009

A covering letter that was good for my soul to write.

Once on Talk of the Nation, there was a segment on this horrendous economy of ours. I cuddled up in my pubicle, processing lawsuit claim forms and listened as people phoned in with fascinating stories of surviving and survival jobs (the jobs that we would never take under any other circumstances, but these) and the surprising ways they grew, nonetheless. In any case, one dude called in and said that he had landed a sweet gig by break from the mold of respectful and boring demureness to say what he really wanted to. He threw caution to the wind, (and this is my interpretation) trusted the universe, and leapt, only to find a sweet-ass, golden-threaded net to catch him.

I am not keeping my hopes up so high, but while searching for jobs to apply for, opportunities of any sort, I somehow stumbled upon Weiden+Kennedy's website.

Maybe it was listening to Grace Jones or M.I.A. or that I needed some job-searching that didn't demean my being, but I wrote this, cut-and-pasted here for your entertainment:

Gis a Job

Wieden + Kennedy London

16 Hanbury Street

London E1 6QR

020 7194 7000

london.jobs@wk.com

10th of July already!

Hello!*

I am interested in applying for the as of yet unadvertised temporary job that you will inevitably need to fill for the summer.

I am inexplicably attracted to your firm, having stumbled upon you through a series of non-linear turns of perhaps fate, and perhaps it is only the latter 90% of my brain that I do not have direct access to that will know why I am feeling such motivating to write this letter. Perhaps this numinous thread will reveal itself in a dream. My waking self loves your style, however, and not merely of the adverts you have created and displayed on the website (clever, inspiring; there’s nothing like a good advert), but in your style of communicating your expectations for any prospective minion.

As a prospective minion, I am outlandishly open and flexible. I can be surprising things, which means I can do surprising things. I am originally from the US (with full rights to work in the UK, no worries), have lived in five countries on three continents, have varying language skills, a Masters Degree in Anthropology, extensive organizational and office experience, and have been practising insider art and writing since I was eight. My style would best be described as artfully mixing the likes of a disciple of Grace Jones while colluding imperfectly with Frida Kahlo and meditating as a student of Pema Chödrön. My skin is thick (I have been literally physically harmed at work and returned for more, but not because I am a masochist, but because it was a worthy cause) and my humour, like all things balanced, combines the dark and light.

Three things I am most passionate about are art (whatever form it takes; whoever does it), sustainable health (spiritually, mentally, tangibly, ecologically, socially) and love (as defined by bell hooks: “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth”).

A moment in my life where I embraced failure was when, upon reaching the UK with my partner last September after travelling literally around the world, I realized that visa policies had gotten a lot more stringent and inflexible than they had been when I had last gone to live abroad and that there was no way I could stay in the UK legally. And I had very little money. So I lived beyond sparingly, tapped unknown resources and figured out a way. It included returning to the US, getting married to my partner there, and returning after living apart for eight months all the while cultivating a lot of character. It inspired a chapter for my book entitled, “Rejected by Empire.” It was a very good time for me creatively and soul-wise.

I am currently breaking the rules of our larger society even as we shift away from an ethic of blind, unequivocal pursuit of profit. I have employment come late September, and although I have been offered several permanent roles, I have turned them down despite the fact that I am quite broke, because to take them would mean lying about how long I plan to work there. I believe to live unethically, to lie, or to divide oneself up living in an unintegrated fashion (i.e. without integrity) hurts these organisations, which affects the already dying economy of such a former philosophy, hurts individuals’ abilities to trust each other which unravels the social fabric, as well as hurting myself as someone living without a complete integration of my own life. It is for the greater good. We will see if this will offer any tangible or material benefit to this particular individual in the end.

Clearly, I would love a response from Wieden+Kennedy. Let me make you tea or answer your phone. Let’ see what we can come up with. If it is meant to be, everyone involved will benefit in exponential beauty.

Be well,

Britt {last names}©


* How’s that for avoiding gender mishaps/dichotomies? And a sincere greeting to boot!

© PS I tried to work in some sort of reference to chocolate, but it would have been too much an obvious anomaly, even for me. But dark, organic chocolate with ginger…and that whole thing about integrity? Out the window.

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