Today I am officially laid off; yesterday ended my extended furlough. The last few weeks I've been reflecting on the first time I was laid off. I was 21 years old, it was my first job ever. I was working for a large oil company. I had always wanted to have a job where I sat behind a desk and that miracle happened at 19. My title was accounting/purchasing file clerk. I handled files for both departments, as well as confidential files, which gave me a heads up that the lay offs were coming. I used to telefax documents to Qatar, Dubai and other locations overseas where there were drilling platforms. A telefax machine is like a fax machine except you stayed on the line until the other party received the document. From time to time my drafting and art skills would be used. I taught myself as much as I could beyond my daily duties. I learned to use the computers, microfish machines, etc. Eventually I would be doing errands, making bank deposits, whatever was needed.
I wasn't aware that I would get paid for not working. The idea of unemployment made me estatic. Luckily my parents were very understanding and supportive so I was able to save some money by them reducing my rent.
As I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, there were some opportunities that presented themselves. Before I was laid off, my supervisor had taken a polaroid of me at some company function. She had asked if I ever thought about modeling. Of course the thought never crossed my mind. Acting was still in the back of my mind, but that is another story.
My oldest brother was working for an insurance company and one of the clients was Paramount Pictures. Since my brother knew I liked movies he asked if I wanted to take his place on a few assignments. Soon it became a regular thing for a few months.
In the 80's there were movies that catered to black audiences and some movie theaters didn't want many blacks in the theater. When a theater received a movie there was a contract that the movie would stay in house for (X) amount of weeks. The only way a movie could be removed was if they could show it wasn't making money. So, when a black person purchased a ticket for a certain movie, the theater was counting it towards a different movie. My job was to count the tickets to make sure it matched the count that was sold. The perk was that I got to see any movie that Paramount was releasing. Over time I got to know management really well at a few theaters and I could bring along a few people and see any movie. I got to visit a lot of theaters I normally wouldn't go to for the reasons that I was always told blacks were not welcomed. It's hard to say with everything that is going on if people just tolerated me or if they really liked me or what? I would like to think it was the latter. I would like to believe that if someone didn't like me it wasn't because of the color of my skin. It was because they didn't like something else about me. That's the way I judge people. It had nothing to do with the color of their skin. It had to do with the attitude, the commonality, and sometimes I made a mistake. I believed in first impressions and sometimes people need to make a second impression. I have learned a lot over the years because I have experienced a lot. I know that experiences from our childhood, dicate how we are in our adult lives. Any type of traumatic experience can transfer over to everyday life without one knowing it. Depending on how your parents explained things to you, it put in motion how you would go through life.
I've heard many black people say the white man will keep you down. That was never my experience. I had more issues with black people then I did with white people. I didn't talk or act black enough. Being smart and experiencing life didn't always make me well liked; sometimes I would dumb it down. I learned from many people in my family that you do what you have to do to survive. I wasn't going to let anyone change my view on how I navigated the world. Of course I question things all the time. There was a point I questioned my blackness. What does it mean to be black and how do you get through it when your family is mixed? Are you supposed to hate them?
The other opportunity that presented itself was a chance to model. One of my cousins was working for a beautician and she was doing a hair and fashion show and I some how got involved. I came up with this idea to start my own modeling troupe. The lady who ran the beauty salon encouraged me to do it and that's what I did. I contacted everyone I knew who I thought might be interested. I had even recruited a few models from the hair/fashion show. There were so many supportive people in my life at that time. Family and friends. We started out modeling our own clothes and then I was asked to do a show for the boys at Milne Boys Home. Some of the boys actually modeled with one of the other modeling organizations.
It was a chance to get some exposure so we agreed to volunteer our services as everyone else was doing. I had 20 models for my first show. The opening sequence was some of my designs incorporated with the models own clothes and a boutique had allowed us to use the blouses for a few of the girls. The opening sequence was just amazing. I was so proud of what we had done. Of course because of our height we weren't going to make careers out of this, but it was a chance to meet people and to use it as a stepping stone to something else. We were all so young back then. Although I didn't know it at the time, we were on to something as one of the department stores decided to start petite models. As long as everyone was the same height on the runway things didn't look off balance.
Eventually I was getting tired of staying home after about 6 months and in January of 1983 I began work for an office supply company where I would be for 18 years. I continued to model and my photography was really taking off because the models needed pictures. I was modeling solo almost every weekend for a while. Then I started to branch out and decided to have models of industry height. I then became an agency and Dlonzo Models was formed. I sent out head shots and sent them on auditions and soon got into commercials and back into movies.
I didn't tell anyone I worked with that I was modeling until several years later. I found out it sort of made my boss reluctant to move me up, but we had a sit down and that all changed. I was doing customer service, inside sales and purchasing of office products. Years before I was laid off I would be the wholesale buyer. In 2001 I was laid off again after 18 years and I decided I would go ahead and retire. Of course I couldn't get any government benefits, but I was able to pull it off. I was eventually able to do the things I loved while taking care of my mother who was bedridden. My father had passed away the year before and although it was a big change, I was able to survive. I was able to pay everything off and there was nothing to worry about except take care of my mother. I learned so much about Medicare and Medicaid and Home health care and keeping my mother at home where she would be comfortable. A lot of what I did is virtually impossible for most of my friends who are now going through similar situations. The benefits just aren't there.
I realize that most people don't like certain people because they see themselves in that person. They are not ready to face that reality. They lash out not really knowing what is going on. All they know is that they are angry because someone is doing something they have always wanted to do. I didn't particularly like artists, but in 2001 I declared myself one. I had to accept that fact. As a child every apptitude test pointed me in that direction and I tried to fight it. I love creating things and have been fortunate enough to dable in many aspects, but writing, and photography are my main focus.
(Next up: My journey to Austin)
Thanks for stopping by; Keep an open mind. Do return to see where the journey leads.
www.dlonzo-OpenYourMind.blogspot.com
www.artbyDlonzo.blogspot.com
www.filmlover4pg@blogspot.com
www.psychedmaster.org
