Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Feeling things hitting close to home.  Hearing of a few more people ill with Covid, both family and family of dear friends; and more people losing their jobs now. 

So many musicians have lost every job on the horizon, really through August and, in some cases through October.  Those in my sphere who’re in academia are relatively safe still, though furloughs and pay cuts are likely not far off.  But others in the ‘professional’ world are now also being laid off.

The most recent layoff hits very close to home, though the reaction it’s causing is a jump-start to job-hunt action, which I’m glad to see.  Within hours of the lay-off news, which came as an enormous surprise even to immediate supervisors, phone calls to contacts have been made, resume updated, and some very interesting reconsiderations of goals.  The family is now open to relocation, which is something I’d not have expected.  There’s severance through the end of July, so hoping for some good news, as the experience they bring to their resume is significant and well-regarded.  I just don’t know if people are hiring, and the heartache will be another heart-wrenching situation to see and feel.  Looking over their work history, though, reveals that when such traumas have happened, a situation emerges that was better than the position that ended.  Hoping, so very deeply, that this is the case again.

Feeling fear and anxiety for another; knowing what it feels like to be in a situation out of one’s control; wishing to ease another’s burdens, but completely unable to do so. 

All of this balanced by good news from a young colleague whom I’ve been helping since last summer.  He just got a job offer, a one-year position with the expectation of a tenure-track search in the coming year.  Those things are never a guarantee, but it looks promising, as that was told to me unsolicited when I was phoned for a reference.  This young man is not a U.S. citizen, so there will ultimately be immigration issues if he’s hired more long-term, but that’s to be dealt with at another juncture.  It’s good to hear a dose of positive news.