mindpollution.org

If you’re a regular reader of my digital soapbox, you already know 2008 was a fairly tumultuous year for me on the professional side. I parted ways with Wizard in November ‘07 and kicked off 2008 unemployed. I found a new gig with ComicMix a few months into ‘08, then found myself looking for work again in August when ComicMix reconfigured its focus. In September, I took a position as Co-Editor of MTV’s Splash Page blog, but found myself wondering if I’d be in three-strike territory in December when MTV’s network mothership, Viacom, began a series of cost-cutting layoffs.

While I was fortunate to end 2008 fully employed, the crap-tastic economy wasn’t as kind to many of my colleagues. As another writer/editor mentioned to me recently, all of the layoffs and “restructuring” of companies these past few months has actually created a situation in which many of the most hardworking and phenomenally creative people we know have somehow become free agents in the job market.

To paraphrase her words — “It’s a shame there’s no money to start something new, because everyone I’d want to start it with is looking for work.”

. . . Which brings me to my next point, in fact.

Since so many of you came forward during my between-jobs period(s) to offer advice, support and leads, I want to make sure I’m getting the word out there from my own tiny corner of the ‘Net about a few editorial colleagues of mine who have earned far too much of my respect to be without a regular gig any longer than they choose to be.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I was hired as a co-editor of Splash Page. Unfortunately, my former partner at MTV, Casey Seijas, was one of the people cut loose during the Viacom layoffs. I enjoyed the last few months I worked with Casey immensely, and can vouch for his editorial savvy. Casey was the editor of Splash Page for quite a few months prior to my joining the team, and the momentum and attention the site earned in its first few months of existence had quite a bit to do with his presence. Like many of the people who recently departed MTV News — and many of the people who remain there, of course — Casey is a tremendously creative individual who I really can’t say enough good things about. He’s good people, and I encourage anyone looking for a full-time or freelance editorial contributor to check out his online resume.

One of the other individuals to which I can’t pay enough professional compliments — and who, in a just world, would never have to look for work — is my former staff writer at Wizard (and more recently, the marketing guru at Devil’s Due Publishing), Brian Warmoth. He’s one of the most dedicated, imaginative wordsmiths I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and is another victim of the mad, mad world we’re operating within these days. I advise anyone looking for a tech-friendly, talented writer knowledgeable about, well, just about everything, to look him up at Warmoth.org.

Finally, I just want to say that the point of this post wasn’t simply to pimp the work of these two individuals. In fact, calling them out was more of an afterthought. I started writing this post almost a month ago, and intended to write about the weird times that we’re living in these days — a time when some of the most talented and creative people I know are all looking for work and simultaneously experiencing the trials and tribulations of the job market. Whether it’s people swimming within the tiny fishbowl of the comics world or the executives, IT geeks, political aides and government staffers I’ve become friendly with over the years, some of the most motivated, intelligent people I know are not only unemployed — but worried about their employment prospects. And this just blows my mind.

So, after writing, rewriting and eventually back-burnering a post about how utterly mind-blowing the current professional climate is (paying special attention to the world of news and culture media), I decided that the best way to illustrate the insanity of it all was to mention two people whose work I respect immensely, and who would certainly have no problem finding regular gig(s) in an even slightly less insane world.

Here’s hoping the economy rights itself soon, but just in case the “right people” are reading this, enlisting the skills of either of the two individuals I’ve mentioned here (or any of the countless other between-jobs people I know) is probably a good way to get the world as we knew it on the road to recovery.

Yes, in a world that hasn’t gone mad, these should be the people who never need to look for work.