With all the attention given to the electric automobiles, the likes of Tesla and Nissan, I am very happy to have my third guest blogger Stacy Zoern. Using a wheelchair because of having a congenial neuromuscular disease Stacy felt trapped not having a replacement vehicle after her specialized $80,000 van was crashed. Being an attorney in Austin Texas she needed her four hundred pound wheel chair to stopped being an anchor but a support for the Kenguru, an electric automobile for those in wheel chairs, just simpl  wheel themselves into their new motorized body. The Kenguru is the new electric feet that fits the road.
     After viewing the Kenguru, I would love to have an electric car for under $25,000.00 that will travel sixty miles(up to 25mph) on an eight hour charge. I wonder if Tesla would like to help the
other kids on the block(Kenguru-electric automobile)? Right now Stacy is trying to raise the funds to get the manufacturing in full bloom. Please visit the www.kenguru.com and www.kengurucars.com web sites. Be sure to her Kenguru Facebook page. Hopefully within 12-18 months we will seeing hundreds or maybe even thousands Kenguries happily traveling to places like the grocery stores, their health clubs, and places of worship which were once places
of nightmares to get to, and now they can train their old mares to be a Kenguru stallion.
    I can see myself now with my own Kenguru traveling the shores of Maui, why not I am in the land of howiemaui.com Spread the word, and lets give Stacy Zoern the financial help she needs.

    This week a Chicago Photo store institution, Calumet Photographic shut it’s doors in the United States after having an incredible seventy-five year run. For me my four decade journey ended on New Years Eve, 2011. It was not the way I wanted to begin my 2012, but I knew I had no choice,
I was sixty five years old and I was petty scared that I suddenly found myself being a Has Been,
and perhaps had to come to the realization that I wasted my time in college majoring in my hobby.

     As I looked at my cup of coffee(many more to come), I knew I needed more than another job, but a new journey that would make all of my past experiences a reason why I should go on and be proud of myself. I finally realized that I had a brand new life ahead of me and I have  so much to give of myself. Wow, it’s like being born again. Nobody forced me to work at one place for nineteen years, I met many photographers, be with great co-workers, and who knows, maybe my path might cross Calumet again, so here goes, I wish somebody would had given me a list of what I needed to help me for my new journey, (I cannot be responsible if this list does not work for you).

1. I can’t change what happened, be grateful that I had good heath and dental insurance, started a 401k, brought a house, many cars, took a lot of vacations, something I now regret, brought too much photographic equipment.

2. Respect your co-workers. They feel terrible about my plight, but they have to worry about their situation, It’s like getting “Unemploymentitis”, Who is going to be the next one to get fired?

3. Get a good computer, it made my life a lot easier, whether it’s new or used, it has made a big difference in my journey. Never realized that I would be spending so much time on my my computer, oh yeah, wish I knew how to type.

4. I was very grateful that I have a new boss, my wife. She has been my main supporter and she has a lot more pressure now that I am not working. Making the bed correctly and washing the dishes will certainly make a big difference in my marriage, believe there were plenty of times I was glad I was using paper plates. Be prepared to have many periods of frustrations, and I had to keep my mouth SHUT.

5. Money,money and money. Not having the income I had be fore I was canned, I never gave it any thought what would this day mean. I never exactly knew how much money I needed each month, I hate to say this, I wish I never had a credit card card, yet alone some fifteen cards. I am glad that I got an equity line of credit on my house to lower my credit card bills. I wouldn’t of been able to do this now after losing my job.

6. Tell the world who you are and how to get a hold of you. There many times I wanted to get a hold of my former co-workers and their phone numbers were unlisted.

7. It’s been a long time since I went to the unemployment office. Be prepared to be with some very pissed off people. I must say that the people working there are just doing there jobs and don’t expect them to cry on your shoulders. Just bring a copy of your social security number(w-2) and a good pen.

8. Don’t spend a lot of money or time on your resume, just go to as many interviews, job fairs, church job support groups as you can, and after awhile a few prayers might help.

9. Once you are on unemployment benefits, you have to keep a record of all the jobs you have visited. This is where having a good computer is needed. I found myself with 10,000 job emails.Thank you monster, indeed, snagajob, and ziprecruiter.com.

10 I discovered the world of LINKEDIN. It was my opportunity to tell the world that I am now unemployed, retired or in my case I was fortunate to be a volunteer for Dennis Manarchy in helping him get awareness and funds for his now www.butterfliesandbuffalo.com photography project, Dennis just finished building his 35′ film camera that will be using a six foot film negative.

11 Linkedin discussion groups and inMails. I learned that it’s not what you know but who you know that might get you the right job. Upgrading my Linkedin to a business account gave more inMails to send, and I was able to see who was looking at my profile. The 1000 connections and the fifty discussion groups I belong to also made me the proud owner of over 20,000 emails. At least I had something to show the state of Illinois that I was trying to find a job.

12 Health insurance and staying in good health. Why do so many people put them selves at risk by thinking that they have to celebrate and over eat to have a good time. Sickness can be worst than being unemployed, I tried to take care of myself, but now that I am unemployed it’s a must to be in the best of shape. I am lucky to be on my wife’s insurance, but for those who find themselves without insurance, be glad that there is Obama Care.

13 Know how much money you need each month and start figuring out what you can start giving up. Don’t need to go out to eat as much, and start using the car less. Go to thrift shops and stay away from the malls. Oh yeah, I hate to say this one, all those 99cnts I spent playing Candy Saga has to stop. This is a big one, the bomb, I played the lotto for over thirty years, and wish I repeat the $15000.00 I  pissed away.

14 Don’t be ashamed that you are unemployed, let people people help you. The best customer is when you are someone else customer. In fact there has been many times I found myself calling my fellow unemployed friends that I found a great job posting.

15 In the old days baby sitting and having a newspaper route were some of our first jobs, now we have eBay, Uber, and trying to get a job at Walmart, Cosco, or Aldis. Don’t be picky.

16 Don’t be ashamed to get help from your parents, or even better, just like your parents helped you with everything, maybe you can have mom or dad live with you.

17  Alumni associations, or paternal organizations, and going to church or synagogue. The more people you meet and network the better chance you will have finding a job. Going to a few baseball games might be another way of getting the word out.

18 Be aware of those so call schools that will soon follow you. For me I thought it might be a good idea to go back to school and be a medical coder. Going to school for just ten months at night seemed cool, but the $14,000.00 tuition was certainly a lot more I could afford. Besides I was not allowed to go back to school and still be able to collect unemployment.

19 Telephone calls, be prepared to make hours of them, if you don’t have unlimited calls on your cell phone, having a Skype phone  can save you a fortune.

20 Make a calling card like a business card to give people. The more people you talk to the better chance you have landing a job. Like I said before, recruiters have seen thousand of resumes, they are trying to find the right person for their company, one who looks and sounds good. Always be yourself. Don’t get discouraged.

21 Find out from your state’s unemployment office if there is a certain amount of compensation you can earn and still receive your full unemployment benefits.

22 Being a camera salesman fr some four decades, I never gave it much thought about being on the other side of the camera. Get a some photos and maybe there might be some extra money to be made in modeling, performing or comedy. No matter what I think your next job recruiter will find it refreshing having your photos on file, and it won’t hurt to offer your services to him, a family portrait, or a good head shot for his next job interview.

23 This is a tough one to swallow, and a long shot, try to find out if there is any remote chance that any other company might be able to take over your company. Just like in the case of Chicago’s Dominick’s stores, many of them are being converted to other food stores.

24 Photography is not the only visual profession in town, I wish I pursued the motion picture industry instead of photography. One of my Linkedin discussion groups talks and share ideas pertaining to The American Society of Cinematographers.

25 Make a list of the products and services you like, and see if you can get a job for them. Just like I loved selling cameras, I would love to be a salesman at a Sprint store selling cell phones.

26 When filling out a job application look for key words, experienced, friendly, and hard working are words that the computer uses to sort out job applications to the next level in your job process. USE some of these words in making a new resume. I really think with all of the applications companies receives, its the computer who makes the final decision on who the company should consider.

27 just received this from Doug Brooks along with his wife Debbie owns Van Kirk Photography. This is very important for those who found themselves without having health insurance. Howie..

It’s really sad the news about Calumet.  We can only hope someone comes to the rescue and many of the employees are rehired.

Got to stop now, and I will keep adding to this list, please email me your ideas at [email protected], hoping we can get at least 50 ideas and be instrumental in helping our friends in their times of need. I found out that the people who fired you are also being fired. What comes around goes around. Good night and keep the faith.

    I am very pleased to have my second guest blogger, Mym Tuma. Her story reflects on how when we are students, we feel that it is very important to reach
out to our icons(heroes) that we look up to. In her case it was a matter of  being
a young innocent student who was just too creative and gifted.
   Her story reflects that we can be mentors to our mentors, however  nothing is sacred, be prepared for the unexpected, and cherished the moment.
                                          O’Keefe and Me
                                          Abstracts of Our Letter
     Preface How It All Started.

     This is the fortieth year since I met Georgia O’Keeffe, a  compelling woman, both
 in her art and her persona. She is certainly the foremost woman artist of the century, and some would say the century’s foremost American artist. That’s a remarkable  statement. Given my age at the time of twenty-four, I had an interaction
with an absolutely, almost goddess-like kind of figure, though she didn’t appear that way.
     There were almost no books in print documenting her life. There was a selective
amount of information I had on her at the time, and being excited about the things I
was doing, I knew my approach to nature’s energy was different from hers. And we both shared an interest in minimalism, although I was involved with science at the
time, she took the mystic’s approach.
      Although Georgia O’Keefe was legendary, I was not necessarily aware of that,
on a conscious level anyway. There was much curiosity about her particularly her
decision to isolate herself at that point. While that year, in 1965 I enrolled in NYU’s
graduate program to study with Irving Sandler in his modern art seminar. He commented, “O’Keefe would be interesting to talk about, why don’t you look her up,
since you’ve already met her? She’s a hermit. I never her. I’m curious  about her image as  she has fallen out of popularity in New York, after 1946-into the 50’s.”
Later in 1970 her reemergence caused quite a stir.
     These letters are to be seen as a dialogue between a younger and older artist
and approached from the view that they are not involved with the kind of scholar-
ship that an art historian is but rather as involved in a relationship that existed that had it’s own dynamic.
       You can venture with Mym Tuma on her Georgia O’Keefffe & Me  web site,
www.mymtuma.com . Ms. Tuma just like first guest blogger, Ronald G. Wayne, that life
is a journey that we must share, and never look back. Hopefully others will judge us for
just the starting and ending points of our destination, and certainly not on the time and distance it took.
         I welcome other guest bloggers, and together we can make a difference for
others who need to start their new journey. Please email me at [email protected]
for your story.