Background

Hello.  My name is Michelle.  If you’ve found your way over from one of my other blogs, you probably already know this.  If not, now you do.  I’m a New Jersey native, formerly of Pennsauken and Mt. Laurel.  I’m currently living in Somerville, although that will change in a few months.  I am an enlisted member of the United States Coast Guard, and start my basic training on March 22, 2011.   I am also a certified New Jersey Social Studies teacher, although given the cuts to public education over the last several years, you will probably not be surprised to hear that I no longer teach.  I have worked for Apple in New Jersey and Manhattan since then, and have also currently working closer to home as a part-time SAT tutor.

I am also a video editor, though I usually edit as a hobby and do not see it as a career that I would be happy with.  In that capacity, I edited the first and only season of Issues: The Series, which was released online in 2009.  I have also served as assistant editor on Altostratus Films‘ A Passing Afternoon, as well as the editor for the company’s 24-hour NYC Film Race submission: Happenstance.  Should I find myself back in the NY/NJ metro area in the future, I would be happy to continue working with CJ Maldonado and the rest of Altostratus Films.

My background is in World History, and I am also very interested in international relations.  I hope one day to acquire my Master of Arts in IR and possibly work for the U.S. Foreign Service.  This blog is how I keep everyone updated on what is going on with me.  Before the Coast Guard I was struggling, like may 20-somethings, to find employment after the 2008 financial crash and resulting recession.  Therefore, my archives of anything before 2011 are a bit of up, down, and everywhere in between.