How The Feral Freelancer Got Its Name
A famous (and famously snarky) musicologist once likened the students in my Ph.D. program to “feral children.” He meant it as an insult, of course, but we loved it. In that moment, we scribbled gleeful notes to each other in the margins of our conference programs. Later, the moment inspired one of my peers to design commemorative mugs:
2004 was the year I entered the Ph.D. program at NYU.
In that musicologist’s estimation, we were feral because we blurred music’s subdisciplines—we were an assortment of musicologists, ethnomusicologists, music theorists, and composers who collaborated on projects and took classes together. And like stray cats following the scent of food, we followed our interests wherever they led us. In retrospect, I am sure many of us fit Emilie Wapnick’s description of “multipotentialites”—”people with many passions and creative pursuits.”
For me, being feral is about being hungry—for knowledge, for the thrill of trying something new, for discovering how things work. It is also about choosing less formal ways of moving in the world: to be a bit scruffy (metaphorically and perhaps literally!) is to be vulnerable in a way that is both productive and freeing.
But despite its generative delights, being feral is not always easy. We ferals struggle when we are in contexts where we are judged for our rough edges instead of appreciated for our curiosity, skills, and far-ranging knowledge. Worse, we often judge ourselves even more harshly.
The Feral Freelancer has grown from the work I’ve done to process and repurpose some of those harsh judgments I have received or perceived from myself and others. As a professor, my best days were devoted to helping fellow ferals manage internal and external critique and follow their noses toward the intellectual, social, or musical food that could feed them. Similarly, my approach to writing and editing is all about following a trail toward the right words in the right combination and sequence (I may be a bit scruffy, but my work with words is not!). Therefore, The Feral Freelancer combines who I am with what I do—I am a writer, editor, and writing/productivity coach who helps other ferals embrace and develop their particular skills and interests to produce their best work.
Now that I’ve introduced myself, please meet my assistants! Mirrim, once a stray on the cold streets of Orfordville, WI, reminds me not to romanticize literal ferality too much. Murph has always been a kittypet, but he fancies himself quite the explorer!
“I’ll stay on this side of the window, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”
“Here, let me terraform that Mars for you….”
