“I went to Yale to earn a law degree. But that first year at Yale taught me most of all that I didn’t know how the world of the American elite works.” – J.D. Vance
Walking around Interlochen Center for the Arts last September made me reminisce about my childhood dreams.
The faded wood sign in front of the Writing House stopped me. “In this place, you find a home in the story you always wanted to tell.”
I was actually there to do some scouting before a job interview. Any good reporter knows to do your homework and visit a place in person to capture the best story.
But I thought I would also make it my artist date for the week. As I walked among the hardwoods and the pines, it made me feel sad for the young author inside of me. I ached for the young girl who carried so much because she came from a broken family plagued by generational trauma.
The young Marla who worked hard, played by the rules, and excelled in school wanted to cry. But I was in a public place, so I stuffed the tears down like I have done my entire life.
Interlochen offers music, arts education
Despite writing about some of Interlochen’s events, it is another one of those places that I had never visited. The 1,200-acre campus really does feel like another world – a world where the realities of life disappear and you can find solace in solitude and nature.
Founded in 1928, Interlochen Center for the Arts started as primarily an orchestra camp to encourage the growing interest in school music programs. You can learn about the history here.
The campus has more than 400 buildings, facilities, and venues tucked away in a wooded setting about 15 miles southwest of Traverse City. Interlochen State Park, established as Michigan’s first state park in 1917, is the art school’s neighbor and has frontage on Duck Lake.
Today, Interlochen serves students in grades 3-12, as well as adults of all ages. The arts camp offers classes in music, performing arts, visual arts, dance, creative writing, and filmmaking.
Programs include:
- Interlochen Arts Academy
- Interlochen Public Radio
- Interlochen Summer Arts Camp
- Interlochen Arts Festival
- Interlochen College of Creative Arts
Cultural hub in northern Michigan
For tourists and many locals, Interlochen Arts Festival is probably the main reason to visit. The Arts Festival brings national touring musical acts to northern Michigan. The open-side amphitheater Kresge Auditorium serves as a scenic concert venue on the shores of Green Lake.
Beyond that, the internationally acclaimed arts camp hosts visiting faculty and artists. Interlochen provides arts education to students and adults online and on-site.
During the school year, Interlochen has an arts academy for high school students. This is a boarding school where they live on campus and study art, music, theater, film, and creative writing.
In the summer, Interlochen welcomes campers for shorter sessions to live and network with like-minded students and faculty. They practice in a serene setting, hone their artistic talents, and perform for family and the community.
You could say it’s a hub of arts and culture in northern Michigan. Interlochen also hosts a variety of recitals, concerts, plays, art exhibits, author talks, and other programming that is open to the public. Many events are free and showcase the work of students and faculty throughout the year.
The Traverse City National Writers Series also brings in many nationally acclaimed authors who have a connection to Interlochen.
Flashback to childhood dreams
I always wanted to go away to summer camp. But I didn’t come from one of those families.
Well, sure, I went to a church camp a few times with my best friend. But I never went to those camps you read about in books, or places like Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp near Montague or Interlochen Center for the Arts.
So, I wrote a story about summer camp, titled Silverstone Camp, in the fifth grade for the Young Authors program. I still have the story, and I even illustrated the cover. I typed the story on a typewriter and used the Oxford comma before I even knew what the Oxford comma was.
How does it end? “When we pulled out of camp, I had a feeling inside me I never had before. I had the best two weeks I’d ever had in my life.”
I saved another Young Authors short story, A Dream Come True, written about my early childhood dreams of becoming a competitive ice skater.
Reality strikes, job hunting bites
After getting laid off a year ago, I applied for a philanthropy writer position at Interlochen Center for the Arts. It sounded like a dream job, combining my experience covering arts and education with my degree and background in nonprofit leadership and philanthropy.
Initially, I had high hopes that I would quickly land on my feet after losing my job. The economy was supposedly good; unemployment was supposedly low. I had been working a full-time job, proving I was ready to join a team and that I have valuable transferable skills.
But my preliminary screening at Interlochen – a one-way video interview with a preset time to respond – was my first indication that the rules of job hunting had changed.
Before the Internet, you mailed or emailed your resume, did an interview in person, shook your future employer’s hand, and got to work. You know, when your degree and experience counted for something, before it became a game of trying to beat applicant tracking software and online application systems.
An accidental rejection email should have been my second warning sign. But when I was invited to do a Zoom panel interview, I kept my hopes up. I did my best to prepare.
A walk among the pines
As any good reporter knows, it’s always better to visit a place in person when you can. So, I planned a trip to Interlochen Center for the Arts to walk around the campus. When I pulled up and talked to the security guard, he had an upbeat attitude and spoke like I’d be coming back as an employee.
Obviously, I didn’t get the job. It would be the first of many rejections to come over the last year. But I made my visit to the arts school a semi-artist date, which is simply solo time to reconnect with yourself and your inner child.
I spent an hour or two walking around the outdoor spaces of Interlochen, walking past employees exercising at lunch, a student shooting hoops, and another student playing violin near the shores of Green Lake. I sat down and took in the scenery. I thought a lot about my life and those Young Authors stories. I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, this is what it’s like to grow up with a good family, money, and opportunity.”
In one way, I guess I have succeeded in that I have used my God-given writing talents to earn a living. But in another way, I feel pigeonholed as a writer when I really have a desire to do other things. I haven’t been able to crack the code and transition into a new career.
Life lessons
As we enter the month of Back-to-School, I reflect on my own life as a first-generation college student who made good grades in high school. I actually graduated third in my high school class with an Academic Honors Diploma. My high school counselor helped me enroll in this special program at Indiana University for low-income, first-generation college students.
A few weeks after my high school graduation, I headed to Indiana University about a four-hour drive from my hometown. We spent the summer living in the dorms on campus to adjust to college life and get a head start on classes and credits.
I completed my freshman year at Indiana University and then made the foolish decision to move to Florida and marry my high school boyfriend. Somehow despite a divorce two years later, I still managed to attend three different colleges, work full time, and graduate on time.
Dreams deferred
Even thirty years ago there were all these special programs to help disadvantaged kids like me. Looking back on my college experience, I realize that no one emphasized the importance of networking, volunteering, and making connections during college.
I see it with my Gen Z niece and so many others who live off campus and work full time. You’re just trying to survive. You think if you follow the rules, earn good grades, and graduate that life will magically get better. You’ll be able to achieve the American dream.
But hillbilly kids, inner city kids, and first-generation college students don’t know that it’s largely about your network, about those people who can help move you to the next level. Ken Coleman wrote a book about it called The Proximity Principle. I am sure there are countless others.
Author and Trump’s vice-presidential pick J.D. Vance has many critics, but I learned that reading his book Hillbilly Elegy. He selected Yale Law School for the connections he would make, and he said he felt out of place there. He transcended socioeconomic classes, schmoozing with Ivy League people.
And he talks about this disconnect in his memoir.
“Successful people are playing an entirely different game,” Vance writes. “They don’t flood the job market with résumés, hoping that some employer will grace them with an interview. They network. They email a friend of a friend to make sure their name gets the look it deserves. They have their uncles call old college buddies. They have their school’s career service office set up interviews months in advance on their behalf. They have parents tell them how to dress, what to say, and whom to schmooze.”
Throwing good money after bad
You see, hillbilly kids grow up in survival mode. They encounter abuse, neglect, and trauma. They experience multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences, known as ACEs. Their parents don’t network. Often, their parents wreak havoc in their lives. Their parents are struggling with drug addiction, collecting government checks, or working in factories.
During my layoff, I watched many webinars including two offered through HealthWest on Trauma and ACEs.
People with high ACEs scores are more likely to experience:
- Mental health issues
- Risky behaviors
- Illegal drug use/drug addiction
- Alcoholism
- Suicide attempts
- Depression and anxiety
- Chronic health problems
- Learning and behavioral problems
So, what’s the lesson? While everyone continues to throw money at the problem – the government, nonprofits, and philanthropists – no one addresses the root cause.
Free, free, free isn’t going to fix early childhood trauma. It isn’t going to fix being saddled with family dysfunction, drug-addicted relatives, or raising younger siblings. It isn’t magically going to give someone self-confidence or stable housing.
I’m a perfect example. I did everything right other than I don’t know the right people… and the American dream has continued to elude me. But that young author still stirs inside of me, and she’s tired of being quiet.
Marla R. Miller is an award-winning journalist, travel writer, and content marketing writer who lives in West Michigan. Please “like” or follow me on Facebook, X, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Let me help grow your business. Check out my Writing Services or Read My Work.
