Indie Mom in Vegas on Life, Art, Parenting, And The Pursuit of Enlightenment

After my husband was unexpectedly laid off from a contracting company here in Vegas called Teledata, (he was not the only one..the entire company was let go for un-disclosed reasons by the owner) we have been struggling to make ends meet.

As I am a new blogger here on today.com I should mention that I did have a baby in October and have been working as an online publisher from home since then and hold a B.A. in Design/Technology from UNLV here in the city. Even with these credentials, finding steady gigs and writing projects has been a challenge (as most of you more than well know), but have found some stability in companies such as Demand Media, Constant Content, as well as other odd jobs and freelancing gigs.

Without going into great detail of our situation, we had our baby in a very odd and unexpected manner and was amazed at the charity and support I have received from the community. If you are struggling or are in need of material items (especially baby items) a great resource is FreeCycle.org . This is a great community group that is both good for the environment as well as good for others in your area.

The concept is simple, if you have items that you do not want or need anymore, instead of throwing them away you can simply place them up in the community group forum and if there is someone who wants or needs what you have, they can email you directly and you make arrangements to pick up or drop off the item. This keeps items out of landfills, promotes recycling, and at the same time gives you a face to face personal contact in your area at your discretion.

As thankful as we have been for the help with baby items we have kept using the system and “free-cycled” our items to other people in need because in honesty, without the charity of these people we would have had nothing for her as we were caught completely un-aware.

The other frustration I have is the seemingly non-existent job market. While I know that there are many people moving to the valley and there are new places going up like weeds, how come it is so incredibly hard to get hired in this city?

With his resume experience and management credentials, we finally resorted to him applying to drive a cab, which while is immediately hiring, there are a lot of fees and other costs and hassles associated with actually starting to work.

While we have been out of the “public scene” for a while due to the baby, as a mom and a long time member of the Las Vegas community, where are the jobs available, and how do you get hired? I assume that it’s the “know somebody” mentality for the most part, but honestly that can’t be true everywhere can it?

I’d also like to make a brief statement about the enormous number of writer inquiries that I have sent out and have received no answer back from. I have a proven track record, many writing samples, a college degree, and a plethora of other skills and am still being turned down or ignored as far as getting “on” for a steady writing job. Thanks to Today.com for the invite, by the by, it was a bright spot in a very steep uphill battle I know we are all fighting.

While nobody wants to use the “R” word, we all know that we are in a recession. Any comments on this or other suggestions on how you are making your ends meet? I take comfort knowing that most of us are in the same boat, I just pray that we all don’t sink as a country like the Titanic.

But instead of thinking of things in such a morbid light, let’s all just think of our happy place for a minute and work together to avoid having to hear that horrid Celine Dion song ever again. Good luck!

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