When people used to ask me where I was from, my usual reply was a simple one... 'I am from Barcelona'. That had been my truth since recently.
It is true, I was born in Barcelona. Although I don't think I am from Barcelona anymore. I don't know where I am from anymore! Therefore, I am trying to find my place in this world again. It is a gigantic task, I realize that. I have lived in so many places since I left Barcelona 30 years ago!
Lets see... There was Paris, Puerto Rico, Washington DC, Puerto Rico again... New York, Ft. Lauderdale, Puerto Rico once more... China, San Francisco, New York (cause the first time wasn't enough!), London, Puerto Rico... And finally I'm back to square one! Right where it all started... Barcelona!
The Puerto Rico bit keeps repeating itself, cause it's the only place where I left some sort of roots... My son Max lives there. So, before it is over, I guess it will keep repeating some more.
Just with the aforementioned, you should have a broader understanding on why it is so hard for me to know what my answer should be anymore!
I have never been your conventional... anything! When I was 12 yrs old my father died. It was only two years after my mother had gone, and my father's family who were dividing his worldly possessions in equal parts, were now trying to divide me and my siblings as well... I had no choice but to face them. Throw them out of the house, let them keep the dough and take charge.
I left school, but not my studies. I did the whole thing on my own. Read the books, did the assignments and took the free exams to keep passing courses. I graduated from High School at 20, once I moved to Puerto Rico for the first time. Passed the College Board and started University that same year. I didn't last though. It turned out that I had been studying on my own for too long, and could not get used to the classroom anymore. Besides, I had done so much reading the preceding years that there was hardly anything new, nor interesting at class! Plus, the education system in the States (and by defect in Puerto Rico too) it is too paternalistic, doesn't entice the mind to think on its own... and that, I couldn't take! Thus, I never finished college.
None of that really matter when it came to find the job I wanted. I first worked for a Savings and Loan in Puerto Rico. I single handled all the public relations for the bank's subsidiaries, but it was not what I really liked doing. I wanted to work writing. What? I didn't exactly know, I just knew I was good at it... I even won First Place in a literary competition in my first year of College!
While I was deciding where my talent would be best served, I got pregnant... then got married! I told you I wasn't conventional! lol Anyway, I took a hiatus to take care of my son... something almost any idiot can do. But, every idiot thinks as its greatest achievement! I included!
It wasn't but after my divorce that I started taking seriously my little enterprise. I had started working freelance before everything went down the drain, and that gave me plenty of business relations to work upon. I was doing exactly what I wanted, even without realizing it!
I wrote successful campaigns for advertising agencies that kept sending me new projects. I became 'it' in the Direct Marketing business, been responsible for 90% of the junk mail people received in their homes! lol I even managed, somehow, to get elected as President of the Postal Consumer Council, twice! The highest honor someone in the field of DM can receive.
My skills at writing all kinds of bullshit didn't go unnoticed. Many Casiano the owner of The Caribbean Business, an English weekly newspaper, called me and ask me to go work for him... I did it for a while and organized their DM Department, while I also worked as a freelance journalist for them.
Everything went as expected, for some years that is. All of you know there is not a soul in this planet that hasn't been touched, one way or the other, by cancer... I had, twice! First it was my mother, then it came my turn. But I am a resilient SOB, and I wasn't just gonna let a pebble in my shoe dictate what my life could, or couldn't be! I am a survivor for crying out loud! And my experience with cancer came upon that, just another experience! Although a wide eye opening one.
After loosing almost everything to the malady, I did like the Phoenix and became even more successful than the first time around. But having to go through cancer on your own, it is not something I would recommend and my brother insisted I came back to live in Barcelona... after much resistance I finally agreed.
What takes me to my present day and quest... Making a living in an overpriced city I don't know if I can still call my own!
I have no idea on how to prepare a CV, in the States we don't use one. Besides, it has been ages since I had to apply for a job, Resume and all... I was sought after! Everybody knew me! But here, here is a different story. Here I am trying to be known.
Hey, I am an open book. You can just browse back my entries and you'll get a most accurate picture of who I am... even though if I don't know where I am from, I sure know who I am... and so will you!
1 comment:
This women is an excellent researcher! she has helped me so many times doing research for my articles. She's very focused and ambitious!!
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