Careers Ended, Some Un-Begun

Tonight someone asked me if I wanted to participate in a reading of a play. I didn't tell him that I'd need a script in very large type, that I might not be able to read it at all, or that I once didn't return a call from a casting director who'd wanted me to come in and read a part in an audition.

I used to make and sell woodblock prints and was often hired to make puppets for plays. As my vision waned, it became more difficult to do the detailed work that these jobs required. Eventually I could no longer do it at all. I stopped making prints and puppets in 2010.

When I was a college radio DJ, I applied for a third shift public radio job in Boston. The interview was great, but after the board operator showed my AP feed, PSA cards and atomic clock, none of which I could read, I didn't go back for my studio test. I stopped DJing soon after.

I love to cook. Years ago I briefly worked prepping salads in a restaurant on Chicago's North Side. One day the head chef yelled at me for not making one the way she wanted. I hadn't seen what she was talking about. I gave notice the following week.

When I was very young, I worked at two moviehouses, starting out as a corn-popper and ticket-ripper, and then got promoted to manager-operator. The "operator" part means knowing how to run and maintain the film projector, which I couldn't focus. I left after the owner told my coworkers, "What can he do? He's blind."

As a kid, I loved math. In 4th and 5th grade our math teachers gave us these quizzes that were printed so faintly that I couldn't read them. Instead of taking these tests, I'd just sit at my desk and cry. By high school my math skills had dwindled to the point where I was getting C's and D's.

The takeaway: My many possible careers as stage actor, visual artist, NPR reporter, DJ, chef, cinematographer and mathematician may not have panned out, but I sure do have a lot of skills under my belt. Got a job for me? So long as I can do it and it's discrimination-free, I'll consider it. You know how to reach me.