My gosh, so much has been going on and I have had a hard time not only carving out some time to blog but also in narrowing down the topic. I have so many things to write on but today I decided I wanted to let you know about a new and major change. The Queer Femme is leaving the country. Yes, a totally unanticipated turn of events came about a couple weeks ago; I was attending a job-hunting seminar one day and received a text from Angela to call her on my break. Wanda had announced that she had decided to move to Arkansas to live with her sister and the sister’s family. Wow. Okay, we definitely did not see that coming.
After giving up our fantastic jobs, leaving our loving circle of friends and professional groups to help Wanda through her illness, she decided to make arrangements to leave. All I can say about that part is…well there really nothing I can say about it. We weren’t considered in that decision so that is all. So, as one of my old mentors used to say… “Next?!” We took a few days to figure out what our “next” step would be and have decided to move on to the big city. In the job hunting course offered by Madera County I learned that out of the top 20 hardest places to find a job in the country, 5 or 6 of our local Central Valley towns were at the very top. I can testify that my skills have not been of any use to employers around here. For weeks recently, there were 3 jobs available in Chowchilla. One required agricultural background, one was a pastor, and one was at KFC. I looked today and the only one that was filled was KFC. The other two are still there. Not a lot of hope. With we are down to one vehicle, only one of us would ever be able to work outside of town and with no jobs in town, it just is not a promising future. It makes me very sad for Chowchilla that the economy has gotten this bad for them. More businesses are going under and there just is no reason to stay.
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I’ve enjoyed a lot about my time here and have tried to find the bright spots in it. But faced with this new choice, we decided it’s time to move on to Los Angeles. We have 1) been fortunate to meet some amazing women at Butch Voices conferences over the last few years who live in LA, 2) we have other friends from Reno who have moved down there, plus 3) I’ve wanted for years to live nearer to my brother who lives there too. So at least we won’t be going there without knowing anyone. I’m sure it will offer us different challenges from those Chowchilla did; but life without challenges provides very few opportunities to grow and change. I’m for growing. I’m also for succeeding without having to bloody your head from banging it on the wall like this.
There are a lot more blogs left to write about my experiences here in the country so I’ll still be blogging and bringing those stories to you, but now I’ll be changing gears and going through more changes as we work our way into the city. What will become of Queer Femme in the Country? I don’t honestly know, fair readers. I plan to keep blogging but I guess I should change the name once everything is switched around. Got any ideas for names? You guys always have good comments and suggestions so feel free to share them with me.
In the meantime, the QFITC is still officially in the country, even as I’m on a train to LA to search for a job and place to live. Peace out.
Pamela’s blog can be found here… Queer Femme In The Country
