Hello, everyone! I have breaking news for you!
Due to a surprisingly chaotic work schedule where days stretch into nights and sometimes into the weekends, I haven’t given much thought to the altrockchick and only got around to reading Alicia’s piece a few days ago. Her arguments in favor of keeping the site open came as no surprise, but I will admit that after reading her contribution, I began to reconsider my decision to close the site.
Then I read Philip Baird’s comment, which transformed reconsideration into reality:
Still hoping that there’s a change of heart and the site continues, even if the posts are less frequent. It’s a magnificent body of rock reviews and it would be a shame to lose it.
I hereby announce that altrockhick.com will remain open for the foreseeable future. I have given my heart and soul to writing about music and I don’t want my efforts to go to waste. You won’t see much in the form of new reviews while I complete my commitment to the EU, but I should be back in full force in a few months.
Strangely enough, the thought of continuing my exploration of music history emerged before Alicia and Philip weighed in—largely because of my experience working for the EU. Though the job posting described a focus on human rights and gender issues, I spend half my time trying to get my colleagues to stop freaking out about Trump and the Muskrat and devote their energy to making the EU’s mission of promoting peace, positive values and the well-being of the citizenry a reality. Though it should be obvious that you can’t defeat chaos agents by letting them frighten you, the general mood in Europe is similar to pre-World War II, when many European nations began embracing the far right—an embrace that helped ignite the war. Recent Ipsos polling concludes that 75% of the worldwide population believes that the world is a more dangerous place, and if you google “when will World War III begin?” you’ll find articles like “What Countries Will Be in World War III?” and “10 Safest Countries to Seek Refuge if World War Breaks Out.”
Given this ugly environment and my sense that WWIII is a distinct possibility, I started to think about writing a piece on the music of World War II and the role music played in keeping up morale on battlefields and the homefront. I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind and spent my very limited free time researching the available compilations. I think we’re all going to need music that keeps our spirits up during the coming years and have chosen the compilation As Time Goes By: World War II Songs for this purpose.
Alicia was spot-on when she opined that I am unlikely to take a full-time job with the EU, but it has more to do with the undesirability of likely locations than the work itself. France is a mess; Brussels is where the bureaucracy thrives; Austria is leaning to the far-right; and the most exciting work is at the European Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius, Lithuania, which is too close to Putin for my comfort zone (and there are no openings anyway). My director told me that she knew of an upcoming opening in the French embassy in Washington, D.C. and if I was interested she could pull a few strings for me, but the look of horror on my face quashed that idea in a few seconds. Our most likely landing spot is Ireland, which is on the 10 safest countries list. Lucky for us, my father has hired a few stout Irishmen to help him expand the cottage where we have stayed during our visits, and work will begin when weather permits. I have no idea what I will do to earn money, but there is a slim possibility that I could work remotely for the EU and there are several NGOs in Cork County worth exploring. I am still committed to doing what I can to make the world a better and safer place.
My director has promised to shield me from the seemingly endless requests for my perspective on American motivations, so I should have more time to complete the Hendrix and Admiral Fallow rewrites and start work on my WWII piece. As Alicia noted, writing reviews was a shared experience and we both experienced the feeling, “Don’t it always seem to go/That you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone?” My deepest appreciation to all of you who encouraged me to keep the doors open.
Cheers!