Life is a joke sometimes. You've really just gotta learn how to laugh at it.
Joy, for me, is about having a close relationship with God. Being able to know that whatever happens during my day, I have something I can hold on to. Everything has a purpose, so I don’t really have to worry about bad things that might happen.
I was raised a pretty solid Christian, but since I’ve gone to college, I’ve started focusing on that relationship more. There's a group at RPI called CRU. It’s a Christian organization where a bunch of people get together, build each other up, read the Bible together, pray together. I love being a part of that.
Connecting with people—that's where I’m finding my joy. I spent a lot of my life isolated, self-exiled, if you will. But there’s something about Troy that evokes those connections. See, I’ve been looking around and asking, "Where is the community I’m going to connect with?” I don’t want to just be the curmudgeon that doesn’t like anybody. Coming here, having conversations... it’s like there is hope. There’s a sense of possibility that comes out of all of that.
It’s the small moments where I really feel like I connect to someone. It's not even necessarily about what we specifically discussed. I'll have these conversations that are interesting and that I'd love to continue, but I'll walk away with a sense of that person that we didn't directly talk about. That resonates with me. There's something greater there, something unspoken. Appreciation. Perspective. It's too weighty to call it "spiritual," but when you find people with a rich inner life or an appreciation for things that are bigger than themselves... that gives weight to the conversation.
And if someone has that inside them, and they're trying to bring that forth to somebody else… that’s pretty rare. But I’ve found it here. I can have everyday conversations about where should we eat or what’s business like in Troy, but that’s not what’s going on internally. Internally, we're asking big questions like, “How does one live? How does one raise the level of what’s around them? How does one operate with principles?”
It’s like being involved with a drama — you’ve got a role you play on stage, but what’s actually motivating that? It’s the connections and the pursuit of those connections.
I’m in school studying so I can improve the world somehow. Hopefully, when I’m out there working someday, I’ll design or improve on something that makes life better for people.
Like what?
I don't know... that's why I'm going to school!
My grandfather, Ed Fitzgerald, was the mayor of Troy in the 1950’s. I was one when he died, so I never got a chance to meet him. They used to call him “Dynamite Ed”.
I’m a research preservationist, and I work for the State Historic Preservation office. I just finished leading a mystery tour in Troy, all about the song "Jingle Bells".
See, the song was written by James Lord Pierpont, but there’s been some debate about where it was written. For a long time, the city of Medford, Massachusetts claimed that he wrote it there. They even had a plaque. Then, in 1969, the city of Savannah, Georgia uncovered information that at the time it was published, he was the organist of a church down in Savannah! So the mayors of both cities started a letter war, writing snippy letters to each other about who had the rightful claim.
Here’s the thing, though: Savannah, Georgia doesn’t really have snow. Troy does... and we know that Pierpont lived in Troy for many years before he moved to Massachusetts or Georgia. So I told our mayor that he should write them both “how dare they” letters and claim authorship. *laughs*
I'm a vet. Moved here a few months ago from Albany. If I could say anything to kids, I'd tell 'em, "Think ahead when you're young. Make plans for your life before you get old like me and don't have any."
I love the people I have around me right now. They’re amazing, they’re supportive, they’re funny. This year more than ever it’s been highlighted to me: we aren’t people without other people around us. I’m from California, and I live in an apartment right now with 4 other people: one from Pennsylvania, one from France, one from Hawaii, and one from the Czech Republic. I've got an international group of friends. I’ve learned that people everywhere are different, but there are a lot more similarities than differences. Like... French people don’t call french toast “french toast”, they call it “lost bread” because you chop off the edges of the bread that's stale and you make french toast out of it. But everybody has some version of that dish. My Czech friend's mom also makes a variation of french toast. I can’t pronounce what they call it, but it’s great. And my friend from Pennsylvania, his mom makes it with bourbon. Point is: we’ve all got french toast, we just make it a little differently or call it something else.
I was studying drama at Laguardia High School—the “Fame” school—when the opportunity to go to Moscow Art Theater came up. At the time, I didn't know much about Russia. My mom lived in Romania when it was a Communist country, and she remembered having Russian soldiers come through the country. So she was very hesitant about sending her only child there; but she also knew that as far as arts and culture were concerned, I was going to get the best theater education in Moscow. There were kids in my class that were either very serious, didn't care, or were just there to get by. I was part of that “very serious” group, but I wanted more, almost to a masochistic degree. I wanted theater to run out of me, out of my blood. I wanted to be beaten with the acting stick. And I knew that Moscow was going to be the place that really formed me as an actor and as a person. I wanted to get the shit kicked out of me, and I did. I went to school six days a week. We were in class from 8 or 9 in the morning until 9, 10, even 11 at night with Sunday our only day off.
I also wanted to go to Moscow to be independent and to be as far away from home as possible. I wanted to experience different people. I wanted to be able to grow up and say, "I've been there. I've done that. I’ve met the people of Russia.” We were surrounded by incredibly talented people who spoke only Russian—and we only spoke English. That's what's so cool about theater and the arts. You don't have to speak the same language to understand what's going on. We had a pretty short time to decide "Okay, are we doing this?" I had to graduate early to enter the program. We knew that this was a big opportunity. We were the first American class to be able to study four full years and graduate, and after us, there wasn't going to be another class. At the time, we were basically the first and the last. To be a part of something so historic — that was something I definitely wanted. And we planned to come back to New York afterward to start a theater company. I thought, "Okay, this is how I'll be remembered." I think that really was the moment of decision for me.
Growing up, all I wanted was to become a theater actress. Movies were great because that's where the money was, but theater is where the passion and the live reaction is and that's what I fed off. I loved that. At any moment, I could either make people cry or make people laugh. And every night it was something different.
Now, I'm a news anchor on television. I miss the energy of the live theater. On broadcast television, I make this connection with so many people, and they think they're making this connection with me; but it's a one way street. I'm simply the medium delivering the information, so I don't get experience their reactions. I don't get to hear them laugh. I don't get to see them cry.
Plus, news is completely different. News is about real life. Art and theater are created to elicit some sort of feeling. Real life isn't created to elicit feelings, it just does.
Sometimes I forget that as part of the media, I’m affecting people’s lives. Of course, you’re going to have your own opinions. You’ll agree or disagree with what your hearing, but somewhere in the back of your head is that person’s voice or a sentence from an news article that stands out. Maybe you’ll start repeating it, and then suddenly this person or organization has affected you or changed you. And there’s some weight that comes with that. So I struggle sometimes with openness: this is me, no apologies. I can’t reveal too much of myself. I want to be authentic, but not polarizing.
I have to derive pleasure in different ways now. I have to take pleasure in finding stories that uncover the truth. Stories that have the potential for profound change. There's definitely pleasure in those things. I just don't know if I found that story yet. I haven't uncovered it quite yet.
My job is what brings me the greatest joy in my life right now. I work the dish room in the dining hall at RPI. It’s a great job. I’ve worked here 3 years. I’m learning a lot about food prep and cooking. I eventually want to start my own catering company and build from there. I’m using what I learn here to my own advantage, doing solo projects.
Yeah, it’s a hard job, but it really is worth it in the end because you get a lot of good information, especially if you don’t have any background in culinary arts. You can talk with someone older or someone with more experience and they’ll be like, “try this or try that.” You take that home and experiment, and you become good and people start to like your food... then, you can start a brand.
That’s what I’ve been doing, trying to build a brand for myself. I want it for myself so I can branch out. I’ve been trying, y’know?
We kind of met through a friend. RPI has a convention every year called Genericon, and this friend of mine recommended it, so I went. During the convention, me and my friend were trying to ditch a dude who was harassing us, so we ducked into an elevator. It was a small elevator and we were two big guys, and this guy here was already on, and... I swear, it sank down. We were scared to death. We we're like, “We’re all gonna die together!”
After that, we went to The Rocky Horror Picture Show… I think that was the first time we just genuinely hung out together, and we just hit it off. Have you ever seen that show Supernatural? He was like my Dean from Supernatural, so I just started calling him Fat Dean.
Now we're awesome friends.
I go to Averill Park High School right now, and I really like it. I’m especially happy with the classes I’m taking. I want to pursue foreign language… I’m taking French and Spanish right now, but I want to take even more. Eventually, I’d like to join the Air Force and become a linguist.
I’m finishing up with my Masters in Public Health. Now I need to get a “real” job.
I’m just not sure how things will change in the future. One of the neighboring laboratories just got funding for work they’re doing with the Zika virus because they’re frontrunners in that area; but I’m not sure about the future, especially all the unknowns around Obamacare. I’m sure there will be some budget cuts in that field, but… I do research. I work in a lab, so what I’m doing probably won’t be directly affected. Research will probably still get funding.
I definitely enjoy research, but I don’t know if it’s my primary passion in life. I’m kind of using it as a stepping stone. Ultimately, I want to go on to equine medicine… I guess I just like animals a lot more.
I am from Burma, but I am in the country for a poetry competition. A friend of mine lives in Troy, so I thought I might explore the city a bit.
I will recite to you a few lines from one of my poems:
life short suffering tall plenty of water no fish, no fish at all
Happiness. Suffering. All of it is short-lived.
I didn’t stay in school. I wish I had. I’d be better off right now. I’d be on a better path. I’d definitely have my career up and going, but I made a lot of dumb mistakes in high school. If I could choose a different career, it would probably be with something with animals. I always wanted to study zoology and work in a wildlife sanctuary.
Be kind whenever possible… and it’s always possible. Engage with somebody because you don’t really know what their story is. It’s far easier to smile than to frown, and it pays off more at the end of the day. What’s the purpose of waking up every day with a bad attitude and being pissed at the world?
Maybe it’s not what you did at your desk all day that mattered. Maybe you were here for this one day, just to put a smile on one person’s face. Maybe your only job that day was to make that one person smile who didn’t have any reason to or any hope. After all, without hope… what do we got?
I was a drinker, and I’m fighting that every day. Alcoholism... that’s a pretty big struggle. I’d get a few too many, and I’d be a very different person. But I did one treatment of acupuncture, and it worked. I was also a two-pack-a-day smoker. I did laser acupuncture—one treatment, twenty minutes—and I haven’t smoked since. That was 8 years ago. I’m also a clearer thinker now. I can hop in the car and drive to the store without worrying about breaking the law.
That's my struggle, but I guess everybody's got something they struggle with. We’re really all the same, in a roundabout way.
I’ve been a professional sculptor most of my life. I also write. Frankly, money is what motives me as an artist. Of course, there's more to it than that, but it's my job, y'know? A profession. It's nice if you're dealing with subject matter that appeals to you. And sometimes it's just the challenge that moves me forward, "Can I do this impossible thing?" I guess I find most of my joy in my own artwork, the challenges I absorb myself into.
In all honesty, though, I would almost never express it that way; joy is kind of a concept that's passed me by for a while, especially as I struggle to stay afloat financially. I've got a few large commissions I'm waiting to hear on that I think might come through, so I'm hoping things turn around soon.
What brings you the greatest joy in your life?
My son.
Wait… is this going to be quoted publicly? I gotta be honest. He doesn’t bring me the greatest joy in life… *laughs* I have two sons! If my other son reads this, he’s gonna be like: WHAT?!
The day I learned what it meant to be happy was the day I walked into a diner in Washington, New Jersey—the day I found her. A friend of mine said to me, “You gotta go to this diner. It’s the greatest food in the world. Plus, there’s this girl there who is gorgeous.” Well, I walked in and said, “Wow, you’re right!” But he was like, "No, no, not her." He had actually been talking about a different girl! Didn't matter to me, though. I told him, "No, that's the girl." We lost touch after that for a while, but then one day, out of the blue, she called me up.
I Googled him. He wore a work tag when he came into the diner, so I remembered his name from the tag, then Googled it later. I found him, then I called him.
And I ended up the luckiest guy in the world.