Resume Old and New
This was an Old Resume from several years ago. I don't believe anyone in the California Legislature ever attempted to have a resume like this one before I showed up. I thought it was creative and inventive, nobody else did and it did not lead to a job offer.
With that said I refuse to give up an interest in government just because I have had about 12 years of rejection. Where there is a will there is a way. So I got into history quite a bit and turned my hobby of taking photographs into an art business.
My take on being a "Street Photographer" is to be unlike other "Street Photographers" who take photographs of people on the street to highlight some bigger idea.
Instead I like to take photographs of street signs to try to spread the "Word on the Street" about my business. Which is a similar practice I learned from working on campaigns. That interest morphed into art and learning as much public domain information I can. For example history and art go hand in hand with government because the business of government work is to create history and solve historical problems as they come up, as seen during this pandemic.
That got me into writing more and more and developing this website over the last several years. The literalness of this creative process works for my name which includes the initials D.C.C which is close to the initials everyone uses for the District of Columbia. But it also works with my first name Dylan meaning Sun of the Waves and taking photographs is the capturing of wave lengths of light.
It also sort of made me feel like I was living in a real life version of the fictional movie "National Treasure" because I kept noticing that street signs in certain cities and places in America were similar to each other. I learned that most street signs in a town are clues to the town's history and story. But in cities in the 21st century everyone is distracted on their phones and their lives to notice why this street is named a certain way vs a different one.
The more history I learned the more I realized I knew nothing about anything. There is just so much we do not know about our civic life it can be both depressing and exhilarating to learn something new about a place you've spent years living in.
These hidden stories and secrets are exciting to uncover and understand. As far as society goes I also realized learning history made me view our present times differently and changed my beliefs for the better. I developed a more literal ear to what our leaders say and began wondering if they are just saying things because they feel like its what their people want them to say or are they critically thinking about what they are saying and the implications of their words?
I remembered my first lesson in government from my local community college. The first day of class in 2004 I was asked to write in my bluebook answering two questions. The first was "What do you believe happened in the 2000 election." A lot of my classmates had a lot to write on that subject, some said that they believed the election was taken from them by the Supreme Court and given to Bush in an unconstitutional manner, and other beliefs around that similar line.
Having googled the events the night before unknowingly I was going to be given a surprise quiz the following morning. I had little to say about what I believed about the 2000 election. I believe I remember writing something like; "I believe the election was a free and fair election and the legal process played out the way it played out." 18 year old was also fairly logical in his thinking.
The next question my professor asked was "What do you Know what happened during the 2000 election." My classmates had little to write on this subject. But having lucked out and googled the timeline the night before because of my own interests in my major I had a lot to write on this subject. It was fresh in my mind.
The lesson Professor Burton was trying to give his students was that American Politics is mostly about beliefs and opinions and less about facts and knowledge. Weak societies tend to be ones that are based on beliefs and opinions. Opinions can be stubborn to change as well as beliefs. However, life is about changing and science is constantly assessing and re-evaluating their practices due to the facts and knowledge at hand. In "Political Science" the "Science" part should be constantly examining if our beliefs fit in line with the current data and numbers on the issue we are having an opinion on. If the data, facts, and numbers don't match our belief and opinion then we should consider changing our opinion and belief.
During this primary season politicians are trying to win the next election and they have segmented their potential voters into groups and have been and will continue to bombard them with targeted messages that have been focused grouped and discussed by so called "experts." I worked on a campaign in 2016 and we were confident that we were going to win our race but the thing I remember most about that day was this little story.
I was about to go drive around to polling places to see if the turn out was good or bad. As I was about to head out I asked the campaign manager if he felt good about our race. He responded with "Yea, but this is politics on Election Day, anything can happen."
Later that night in Napa as the results came in his words became true. Something happened that night that changed the course of American history.
But as they say "The Rest is History."
I have put together a three page resume that fits within this psychology.