GETTING MY FOOT IN THE DOOR

This week was a huge week for me! As it turned it out, I received an alert on my phone as I was leaving class last Monday night notifying me that one of my role models had left me an email. Dawn is a columnist for a major Chicago newspaper and someone whose work I've been following for at least three years. She asked if we could speak over the phone, and I let her know when the appropriate times to call me were. She hasn't gotten back to me as yet, but after leaving her another email today, I have no doubt that I will be talking to her soon. I'm just excited that she actually read my email to begin with, so the possibly that I might be talking to her and gaining some invaluable insights into the world of mainstream media has had me ecstatic all week.

I also discovered last weekend that Pioneer Press, a member of the Sun-Times News Group, has its headquarters in a neighboring town. I went in there on Tuesday, explained to them the circumstances of my visit, and got the opportunity to sit down with a gentleman who helped me set up a time that I could come in and talk to one of the contributing writers. We set up two days this week—Tuesday and Thursday—that I could come in a talk to a few people, so I'm both anxious and excited about that.

However, the biggest news came through my work in another class entirely. The events that transpired are so odd and random that my retelling might come out as a giant, confusing mess of a story, but I'll do my best to tell it.

I am enrolled in a Puerto Rican history class taught by Prof. Josè E. Lòpez. As part of the class, we are required to break off into groups of five or six and volunteer our time in the Puerto Rican community in and around the Humboldt Park neighborhood. My group concerns itself with cultural affairs, which has us dedicating some time to the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) at Division Street and Humboldt Boulevard. Anyway, a few weeks back, a friend of a friend friended me on Facebook. She told me that she worked in the administration offices at Pedro Albizu Campos High School (an alternative school located in the community), and I told her that I was volunteering a great deal of time at the Institute. She told me that her roommate worked at the Institute, a woman by the name of Jodene. To my surprise, Jodene is actually my supervisor! Not only that, I found out last week that my new Facebook friend, Marisol, is also an editor for the community's monthly publication, La Voz del Paseo Boricua. I asked her to visit my main blog, and after reading it, she told me that she would love for me to contribute to the La Voz. She already assigned me my first topic! I have to submit an article on a local cafè and community theater center by next Monday to have it published in next month's issue of La Voz!

I know that this isn't exactly what I'm supposed to be doing in this class. I realize that we're supposed to working more closely with our role models and whatnot, but doesn't my success story illustrate what we've been learning in our texts, namely, that our life paths rarely remain unaltered from their original course? Opportunities seem to surface in the most unlikely places and in the most unexpected ways, but when they do, we should run through that open door with as much fervor and commitment as we can muster.

I have moved more towards my dream in the past seven days than I have in the past seven years. Not only are my goals in life possible, they are more likely than ever! I can't wait to see what the upcoming weeks will have in store for me!