Stifler's Mom
Did you watch the Golden Globes? Neither did I. Rather I received bits of the highlights how I get all of my news- a day late and googling it after someone at Create mentioned the event.
This is how I found myself watching and rewatching Jennifer Coolidge’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. She’s not an actress I particularly love; when I was in college the film American Pie came out and I was unimpressed with… well, young men. Although she was indeed quite good in everything I’ve seen her in since, she’ll always be Stifler’s Mom to me.
But, that speech! It’s everything, everything you rarely see from anyone.
She was all dressed up and beautiful and freely admitted she doesn’t work out.
She was on a huge stage freely admitting that for 20 years she had “little jobs” that kept her career going, often realizing that “it”- a big break, a big role, a big film- probably wasn’t going to ever happen for her.
Like so many women of a certain age, regardless of industry, she was wondering if in fact her career was mostly over.
Isn’t that how most of us live? One little job/role/event here, one interesting phase over there, moving on from one seemingly small thing to the next small thing. It all adds up to an interesting life and often a meandering career path. Often people are hoping for a big break or at least to be recognized for our work, and so rarely does it happen. We move from one thing to the next, honing our skills and building a life along the way.
Most of our days are filled with the least sexy parts of our jobs- meetings, administration, mopping floors, supplies. Even in art, the daily grind is just that- lots of time spent on a piece that may/may not come out how you want, that others may not appreciate even if you love it, and so much cleaning (potters!). Artist who show or sell also spend more time than they want to admit on research, marketing, photography, networking.
Whatever the “it” is for each of us, we can’t do it for the recognition or big break. No, we’re in it for the daily ins and outs- the hours spent attempting to get a piece to where we want. High walls, perfect curve. Teaching a class on a nondescript Tuesday. Crisp lines. Dark shadows. The recognition so rarely comes, it’s the work- the building of a life out of small jobs and tasks that fill our hearts- that matters most.
Perhaps the best part of her speech was this: hardly a complete sentence was spoken in the whole thing. She certainly didn’t have a list in her hand, having carefully planned out who/what/when to thank. This speech was definitely on the fly and genuine and stream-of-consciousness, much like her career.
How magnificent it is to watch women work day in, day out, in the tedium of your average Wednesday, and know that those little jobs can one day build and authentic, unique, and very much our own fascinating lives. The off the cuff, thrilled speech is the best articulation of an average career with a surprising and late-won exclamation point.
In all probability, most of us wont get those big-stage exclamation points. So let’s be sure we’re enjoying all the little jobs, small roles and joys, the little pleasures as we build our own unique lives.
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New Mother’s 3 -week class! More info here.
January 29, February 5 & 12
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BPS February Break short classes are here!
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We’re in the planning process; I can tell you that we’ll have 10 weeks of camp, from June 26 - September 1. Ages 5 - 13, all summer long.
We’ll be posting sign-ups very soon here, so stay tuned!
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Friday Night Clay dates for January - March are posted!
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Empty Bowls 2023 is Coming Your Way!
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