MattAdams

Southbound Train

Five years ago I was preparing to graduate from college with this degree in photojournalism. If I didn’t believe that time travel was such a horrible idea, I would go back in time to the year 2007 and ask myself..well actually I would tell myself that we finally made it to SXSW, after years of talking about how someday we would partake in that festival, so just hold on for a bit we’re gonna make it! I would then propose a question to myself, “Where do you think you’ll be in five years?” I’m sure Matt Adams from five years ago would say Chicago? No. New York? No. D.C.? No……Pittsburgh….NO…Athens, Ohio.  Where? That’s right, you’ll be calling the Southeast of Ohio home for two years. I would then probably humor my past self with stories of how we basically screwed a lot of things up. We’re in a ton of debt, you’re still single, you’ll be moving back in with your parents AGAIN soon and oh by the way we drink now. 

Five years ago  I was over confident that the world of freelance would accept me with open arms and that I would have this studio or work space or whatever my idiot self thought was going to be my creative area in some big city. That never happened. I failed to move to Chicago, I moved back in with my parents kicked it around Pittsburgh for awhile then decided that in 2009 it was going to be The Year of the Matt and I was going to hit it big in Austin, TX. The first few months went ok, before things went horribly wrong. I was broke and stuck in Texas. Man, that’s a great title for an alt country song. Anyways I used the last bit of money I had left to get back home and after dealing with my constant biopolar state I applied and was accepted to grad school. I somehow, someway made it in the Viscom program at Ohio University. I made it through this program and I’m on the verge of graduating. So here I am, back in the same position I was five years ago. This time with even more debt and not so much confidence. The end of 2012 may just be one of the most difficult times for me. Broke, back home with my parents and no job prospects. The rejection letters from jobs keep piling up and I don’t know where I’m going to go from here. On my walk home tonight to my apartment I thought about what was facing me. I had a conversation with my present self and I propose the question, how are we going to make it? I don’t know what my next move will be, but I know what the final goal is. I have to get back to where this all started.

Texas.