True Resumés - give up the charade, you're so much more

For me there is no greater repository of collective deception than the resumé. Of course there is the obvious embellishment of “accomplishments”, the stretching of employment times to fill in gaps, and often there is outright lying about employment, skills, and education. But there is another level of deception too. The simple act of submitting to this formulaic evaluation of self, displaying data about oneself that fits someone else’s standards, rather than your own… this is the greater deception.

To get hyperbolic about it just for a second… creating a resumé can diminish the truth of the dynamic and exceptional nature of your existence and experience. These documents need a thorough cleansing, and it’s gonna take a lot of sage!

So I have made my own “soul resume” my “native-self resume” which is, after all, limited, but infinitely more expansive than the humdrum. Truth be told, thinking about things, events, and abilities I feel joyfully connected to actually made me feel great! So I recommend you give it a try. Make a resumé for “things” you are really proud of, stuff that feels real, meaningful, and wonderful. We can shuck the husk of a severely stunted goal/production oriented world-view. Burn your old resumé and let this phoenix rise from the ashes.

My new resume is here (as a PDF) and reconstructed in text below. Anyone hiring?

[Follow up assignment: Send your new resumé to an organization/person/company you’ve always wanted to work for but don’t feel qualified to. OR send it to the CEO of a terrible company, just for fun.]

_____________________________________

FLETCHER TUM TUCKER

address: Dodge Mini Van, Big Sur, CA ||| phone: limited ||| email: fletcher@birdbysnow.com

SPIRIT ANIMAL(S): Sea Otter / Pine Martin / Bobcat /

California Condor / Red-tailed Hawk / Brown Pelican

MINERAL: Petrified Wood / Amber / Obsidian

SHELL: Abalone

ALLY: Mushroom / Ayahuasca

NONCORPOREAL FAMILIAR: Gnome

MYTHIC HERO: Robin Hood / Merlin

SUN SIGN: Aires

MOON SIGN: Gemini

RISING SIGN: Leo

NATIVE GREETING: Hug / High-five

EDUCATION

27 years drawing breath – 22 years wilderness contemplation – 10 years serious consciousness contemplation – 8 years traditional Japanese Jujitsu practice/training – 9 years mature art practice – 6 years of musical engagement & song questing – 6 years of tutelage with my Allies – 6 years of world travel

• 1996 Achieve 1^st degree black belt in Jujitsu – Seibukan Dojo – Monterey, CA
• 2005 Graduate from UCSC, high honors – Santa Cruz, CA
• 2005-2011 Seven musical tours through eleven countries – US & Europe
• 2007 Meeting with Ayahuasca – Oslo, Norway
• 2008 Discover the works of Gary Snyder – Pacific Grove, CA
• 2010 Natural Building Intensive – Boonville, CA

APPLICABLE SKILLS

• Pine-needle basketry
• Reading
• Writing
• Thinking
• Waiting
• Web design
• Adobe Photoshop
• Information stores focusing on: zoology & life sciences, music, art history, pop culture, eastern thought/esoterica, poetry, jokes
• Tide pooling / finding abalone shells
• Building fires
• Recording, arranging, designing & producing records
• Advanced knowledge of: guitar, jews harps, dulcimer, looping pedal
• Cursory knowledge of: banjo, piano, percussion, over-tone singing
• Oil painting, printmaking (intaglio, block, stone lithography), drawing, photography
• Regional botanical & geologic knowledge
• Building structures with earthen materials
• Silly noise expert

references furnished upon request