Way back in my schooldays, the Internet was something the techno-geeks fooled around with in the computer center. It all seemed very science-fiction — emphasis on the fiction — to me. When I lucked into a sweet dream job in the editorial department at OPERA NEWS, the magazine didn’t have a website yet. As recently as the turn of the last century, the “blogosphere” was a realm I had hardly ever heard of, much less frequented myself, and I wouldn’t have known a Google “analytic” if I fell over one. Who’d have thunk in that prehistoric era that one day I’d be designing and christening a website of my very own?
The world has gotten both bigger and smaller over the years: while the scope of our cultural connections and experiences has continuously expanded, people, places and perhaps employers that once seemed distant — even out of reach — are now only a mouse-click away, and we can find long-lost old friends and connections, and happen into new ones, via a myriad of social-media sites.
Now that that first dream job has come to an end with the final issue of OPERA NEWS, the World Wide Web seems like a wondrous land of opportunity for a person in search of new directions. Any fresh beginning is a leap of faith, and I am keeping my fingers crossed, as I launch my first Internet venture with the help of my web coach and triplet David Friedman, that the next dream job is just around the corner. It’s pretty nifty to think that, theoretically at least, my portfolio could go viral, and that my clippings are now available to anybody, anywhere in the world, who might want to hire me, admire me or mock me into oblivion.
So friends and strangers, here I am, ready to work for you. Please feel free to browse through my clippings, peruse my resumé, and share my site with anyone you know who might have a use for a writer and editor with a deep working knowledge of the opera world and a yen to spread my love of it.
(Photo credit: Jim Chamberlain)
Louise T. Guinther 