boring rvork to nrake lnoney. At 15, nry newly ir<:qrriled
job provecl rle
wr()ng. My interest in h()h, to control and
corlrdinate rny body gave rne a passion for myjob as a
gymnastics coach.
\{4ren one of my students perfects a skill it is a tritrnrph for both of trs.
I have lreen r'<laching for Iive-anrl-a-l'rall' years, the last hvo as assistant rnan-
Iikulari (al
rugcr in chalgc of two ()tl)er conchcs. I teach
as e
)oltng gymnast and totlay
frrr left, aboue), coaching othns.
children 415 years olcl irnd have ot,er ninety sttrdents rveekly. My stucly <lf'nature has also l>lossorned. I've clrrg up a large porti()n ol'nry yarcl anrl ltlan to plant over a hrrrrrlrecl species of florvers, her-lts, vcge tal>les, trces, an(l fi'uit plants. I now pliurt lny ()wn rnrrslrlo<lrns irs well as lincl wilcl ones. I'm cloing everything irrrlepcn<lently, flrrnr laising nly own transplants in a nrakeshilt ltot fi-an-re t<r tilling the beds by hancl wirh a pitchlork (although the hancl tilling is more Iirrnr lack of firncls lirr :r rot<>(iller- than any love of digging) . I have plans r<> atterl(l a conrn.rrrnity college in search ol' :rn Associate of' Technical Arts deglee in landscape clesigr.r and installation. As a chilcl, lteoltle rvorrkl itsk nte rvlrat I rv:rntecl to be when I grerv trp. That qrrcstion confirsecl nte. 'Iherc \{/ere so lnany tltirlgs I wantecl to be; how corrld I prrrsrre.iust orre? I likecl to porrnd tlte piirno back then. Norv I'r,e turrglrt rrr;,sell pic<'cs cveu tny piirtrisr monr has trr>uble with. I'd love to plav rvr'll t'rrorrglr to llerlil'rrr s,rrrrc <lay. I like t<.r dance ancl once choreographed a prodrrction with some fi'iends as a going-away gilt to my best fi'iend. I've perlirrnrcd in many atnateur theatr-ical
I"trttn Arnarula Bergson-Shilcock (PA) :
and tlo the lights fbr others. I have a reputation as olle of the best babysit,ters and horrsesitters in the area ancl plan t() brrild ury orvn horrse ancl fanri11,. I lrave ltegtrn t() explore tlvo ()rthree of my interests and the otl'rer lrtrndrecl ol- so :lre rnerely on holcl -
Or.re of the rtrost wonderfirl things nly l)arcnts clicl fbr rne when I rvas grorving uJ) w:rs to take ruy work lvhatever-it happenecl to be - seriously. I can still ler-nenrber the sheets of onecent stalnps my sister Emily ancl I used to get at the post office. Fifty cents bought eltough statnps to last fbr a rveek or more of'otrr private mail garne. It was a perf'ect solution: inexpensive enough that my parents rvotrldn't go broke or feel gtrilty abotrt trsing the stanlps "only" for children's games ancl yet real enor,rgh to satis$r our rvish t() ltotjust irnitate the aclult rvorlrl brrt acttrally be a part of'it. I srrppose sollleone else corrlcl have looked ar nvo young chilclren playing rvith real starnps and trsing real envelopes irnd pirper and seen waste, llrt lirr llrn ancl me it was real lvork. As lve rrse<l orrr mail system to cleliver lette r-s an<l bills to our alter egc_rs ancl other farnily members, we practiced and learnecl what others might call penmansl-rip, spelling, grammar, pultctuatiol'r and etiquette. Much of rrty "real lvork" these clays involves writing in one lbrm or another, though oftentirnes it hides under labels such :rs le tter, essay, e-mail, story, or even (now that I'nt in college) homervork. But a lot of what makes my life joyful and rneaningful to lle now began as a plivatc rnail garne with my sister.
So insteacl of'asking nre wlrat I \vant t() be, I lvorrlcl rirtl)er lteople ask rurc all that I aur.
rvriting \vas Iny iurrnersion in or.rr doll corunrunity, known as Dolltown. The clolls sent mail to each other too.
pro<lrrctions ancl lrelpecl cr.eAte the set
not lbfgotten.
(
Taking All Work Seriously
)xotvtNr ; Wn
r
r<
lt
.
Another early influence on my
rl
S< :t
r<
lor.rr.r< ;
# 1 04 o Apri.l r.,/ M,,ry l {)-()l-r
althotrgh the challenge rvhere they were concernecl rvas often not the words thernselves btrt fitting otrr important messages onto the tiny scraps of paper we used. Dolltorvn also had several nervspapers, one of which, The Dolltown Daily News, lastecl for some tirne. Though the DDN clicln't always manage the claily
part, the publisher/eclitor,/ chief: reporter/ aclvertiser/ clelivery-person (or, as the clolls said, Human Arnancla) dirl Irer best. What I loved about wriring the DDN was tl-re freedom I had within the constraints I set for myself. If one edition contained too much about the Lotr family and not enorrgh about tl"re Peas, I knew I was in trouble, not rlnly with my readers but with my ()wn unspoken promise to be as fair and even-handed as possible in rny coverage. I also set space requirements fbr myself (mostly because as head printer and paster, I clicln't really want to have ro
do too much cutting and pasting my interests lay much more in the rvriting end of things). Using the real rrewspaper tllat carne into orrr horrse every Srrndiry as a model
of
sorts, I gave the DDN several sec-