In the words of Norma Rae, “Union! Union!”
I’m a proud member of two unions – (Actors’ Equity – for over 5 years, baby!, and IATSE (Local 700).)
I’ve gotten notices to walk in picket lines before, and I’ve always wanted to do it – to not just be some member of my unions, but a member who’s trying to look out for other members, even if it’s just in small ways here and there… a member who’s giving back to the unions that give her so many nice benefits.
Yet, I’ve never done it. But the stars kind of aligned on this one.
I worked on season 3 of Shahs of Sunset, and still know some of the editors there.
In fact, the person who’d been our lead assistant editor moved up to being a big time editor for season 4! (He’s incredibly awesome – a spectacular AE/editor/and more, plus a great friend to boot.) So, with all the help he’d given me in growing as an AE, the least I could do for him was march in the picket line as the editors were trying to achieve collective bargaining.
Also, I’d been working super long days on Living with the Jacksons (coming soon on Reelz) – which would usually prohibit me from having a weekday field trip. But alas, I happened to get two weekdays off while the strike was happening.
And bonus – I was training for my Spartan trifecta-in-a-day. I know I practically never tire of the gym, but I was ready to get some miles under my belt walking around outside with people. (Weird to hear me say I wanted to be outside, right? But we were in the shade most of the time – ah, precious shade!)
So, the stars aligned a bit, and I thought, “I gotta go, baby!” And we’ll talk all about the super fun time I had tomorrow.
Side note: Originally, I wasn’t even going to count this volunteer activity, because I hadn’t sought it out as something to fit into my 52.
But, then I thought it was this nice serendipitous thing when it sort of dawned on me – volunteer activities don’t have to be things you seek out. I think I’ve maybe gotten so focused on getting the numbers that I almost didn’t realize when in my daily life I did something I wanted to do, but it also happens to fit the criteria of helping something bigger than yourself. So, yay, serendipity. 🙂
And we’ll get into the actual event tomorrow!