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14 June 2019

Searching for Purpose and Cleaning Our Ocean

Rockaway Beach

"Purpose, It's that little flame That lights a fire Under your ass. Purpose, It keeps you going strong Like a car with a full Tank of gas. Everyone else has A purpose So what's mine?"
~ "Avenue Q"

Okay I think I'm ready to go public with this on the blog now. I've been public with my friends and family about it for about a month now, so I think it's an appropriate time. I did not get into grad school. And for awhile, it crushed me. On my personal facebook, I wrote an explanation as thus:
"Some of you know this already. Most of you don’t but I think I’m ready to go public. I did not get into the doctorate program that I applied to. The initial blow was very hard on me and caused me to become depressed. I’m still grieving it - it’s hard to come to terms with being rejected from something I wanted so bad. I do not want to talk about it. I do not want to plan next steps. I do appreciate everyone’s concern - I know I haven’t been the most fun person to be around lately because of this - but I’m simply not ready to talk about it. I’m only informing people because I’m tired of people asking me about it individually."
Part of the reason it crushed me so deeply is because, well, it seemed like the logical next step in my adult life. You know, that's what archaeologists/anthropologists do. In this field you pretty much get a doctorate or you don't work as anything other than doing the grunt work for the people with doctorates.

I'd spent so long assuming I wanted this that I never once considered if I actually did or not. And - can I be real with you guys for a second here? - I'm still not sure. I have no idea if this is what I really want or if it's just what I think that I should want. Do you see the difference? Because I'm still trying to figure it out.

I know what I don't want. I don't want to be stuck working as a secretary my whole life. I don't want to wake up at 40 and realize I got stuck in a passionless life.

Right now it still hurts too much to think about any passion I may have for archaeology and the like, so I am trying to turn to other things I am passionate about:

  • I was at my happiest when I gave tours at the Winchester Mystery House and, later, Hamilton Grange, so I may try to get a NYC tour guide license at some point. I am still undecided about that. I don't have a lot of free time as it is.
  • I do want to write a novel. I've written for NaNoWriMo of course, but I want to write one that I actually manage to get published. I don't need it to be a Harry Potter-level bestseller. If just one person counts it as among their favourite books, that would be enough for me. I just... need to stick with an idea beyond a few chapters. (I have so many stories abandoned around chapter three.)
  • I am getting deeper into my own religion. I'm considering The Troth's Lore Program and - if I complete that - their Clergy Program. One of my kinsmen will be finishing the Clergy Program soon so I may pick his brain once he does so to see if this feels right for me. 
  • And, if nothing else, I am passionate about cleaning up the SERIOUS plastic waste problem that is plaguing our oceans, as you all know from past entries.
And last weekend, in honour of World Ocean's Day, the nonprofit group 4Ocean (I've really believed in their work for awhile, and I have one of their bracelets) hosted a beach clean-up on Rockaway Beach. Well, cleaning up a beach is certainly a good purpose for at least one day, isn't it? So I signed up and went.


I wasn't alone. Thousands of people showed up. Even on the shuttle over from the A-Train, the train was completely filled with people who were just as passionate about this cause! I met people from organisations such as...

Billion Oyster Project -- New York harbour used to have the most oysters out of anywhere in the world, but between New Amsterdam and the turn of the 20th century, New Yorkers had severely depleted the local supply, and in the process had also severely polluted the waterways that surround our islands. The Hudson River and the East River are still recovering. But the thing about oysters, you see, is that they're excellent natural filters. One oyster can filter 5 gallons of water in one hour. So they can naturally help clean up the water. What the Billion Oyster Project does is take oyster shells from restaurants willing to donate them and uses them to create oyster reefs around Governor's Island, Brooklyn, and lower Manhattan, then gets live oysters ti those reefs. Live oysters thrive on the shells of their fallen brethren - who knew?! (There's a metaphor for ancestor work in there somewhere.) Isn't that neat?!

Coastal Steward Long Island -- Like the Billion Oyster Project, this organisation is also creating oyster reefs with recycled oyster shells, just further out on Long Island. (If you eat oysters at local restaurants who donate, you're helping the cause too, congratulations!) They also host education programs at the Marine Environmental Stewardship Centre at Cedar Beach to educate people about local marine ecosystems, and they work with local businesses and schools on preservation and restoration events.

Oceanic Global -- This is a nonprofit currently working with the United Nations to not just raise awareness of the plastic problem, but to broaden the conversation about it into other areas of interest in order to get more people on board towards the solution. I'm making it all sound rather cerebral, I know, but they partner with a lot of great organisations (including Plastic Oceans, the organisation my facebook charity event was for last year) and their website explains so much more.

Lonely Whale -- Lonely Whale is interesting in that I'm really not sure how to describe them other than that they're not like other organisations here. They raise awareness, sure, but do so in modern ways to connect with The Youth. They organise social media campaigns, guerrilla art campaigns, and even recently hosted a pop-up experience right here in NYC called the Museum of Plastic - which I DID go to. (Did you know that single-use plastic water bottles didn't come into wide use until the early 90s? They're younger than I am!) Their #StopSucking campaign was also instrumental in getting cities like NYC to consider plastic straw alternatives, and they really REALLY pushed for policy change surrounding that. While I realise the straw issue isn't simply black and white (some disabled people do need to use plastic straws for example, and inflexible metal or bamboo ones don't work as an alternative for them), those of us who are able to go without, should. 

From Lonely Whale's "Museum of Plastic" pop-up

The Riverhead Foundation -- Another Long Island organisation, they do a lot of marine research, but they also do wildlife rehabilitation and release, so they've seen firsthand a lot of the tragedy that plastic waste can cause. Also, one of the things they help with is local SEAL RESCUES, which is definitely something I can get behind. Eventually I'm gonna make it out to one of their seal releases, and when I do I'll post about it here.

Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy -- As a partner of the National Parks Service, this conservancy helps with things such as restoring natural habitats around the Jamaica Bay region and, yes, helping to organise shoreline cleanups such as the event I was at. They are dedicated to preserving the long-term sustainability of these parklands so that generations of New Yorkers to come can still enjoy it.

And thousands of ordinary people, just like me - not just a bunch of extraordinary geniuses with doctorates (though there could well have been some people like that in the crowd), but also regular New Yorkers from all walks of life - got together and did something extraordinary. Look at how much trash we picked up all together:

4Ocean supplied hemp bags.
All that trash which may have gone into some poor seabird or whale's stomach, or which may have strangled some defenseless seal or turtle, is now going to be recycled, some of it into the bracelets 4Ocean makes for various ocean-related causes. 

Look, I may not know what I want to do with my life right now. I may have no idea what's next for me. I may not be 100% okay with that. But I am happy with the work I did last weekend. For the first time in months, I'm proud of myself. Oh, and I am starting to plan that novel. I'm not saying much about it yet except that some of my favourite Norse myths will be woven into the plot, though the main plot is all original, all me. I'll keep you guys posted if I actually manage to complete more than just an introduction.

-Nym

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