As a millennial, it's admittedly much harder to get what you want out of life. The job market isn't doing well, the housing market isn't something we even want to think about. And don't even get me started on what's going on with the government right now. However, this is not a millennial article. I'm not here to tell you how our parents and grandparents "ruined" everything for us. I'm not going to complain that our minimum wage isn't a living wage, and why it should change.

I'm here to talk about the stigma behind the arts.

More specifically, how theater apparently isn't a real job.

I'm a theater major, and I've been acting for almost 10 years now. I've been Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare), Pheobe in As You Like It (Shakespeare), Olive, very briefly, in The Odd Couple (Neil Simon) and Becca in Rabbit Hole (David Lindsay-Abaire) just to name a few.

As a theater major, I get a lot of "So when are you going to get a real job?" and let me tell you, I am so sick of it. When I was a junior in high school, I was a criminal justice major at GVEP (Genesee Valley Educational Partnership). I loved it. I really did. My instructor, James Kettle, was always engaging, and I was constantly challenged. He pushed me to do good work, and him, combined with the material I was learning kept me very present...well except for the ONE time I fell asleep in class and blamed it on a headache. Okay Mr. Kettle, you caught me.

Then I continued on into Legal Careers Academy, which I dreaded. And then, reluctantly, to please my parents, I joined the Criminal Justice program when I started at SUNY Brockport in the fall of 2015. Some of you reading this may be wondering why I would do something that didn't make me happy, or why I would major in something just for my parents. Well, all throughout high school, though I was in 7 shows total (there were 2 a year), I wasn't really acting. I was a background character. "Mission Doll" in Guys and Dolls, "A Teacher" in Grease, "Nubian" in Aida, "Wall" in A Midsummer Night's Dream, or "Mrs. Pugh" in Annie, etc. You get the point. You guys, I wasn't even Grace in Annie my senior year of high school, and in case you didn't realize, I'm literally Grace. As in Grace Judge.

I started to think that I wasn't talented enough. And all of that thinking led me to believe it. So much so, that when I auditioned for As You Like It, I decided the day of. I went into and left my audition feeling the same way. That there was no way I was going to get cast, because talentless, criminal justice major me, just auditioned for a college show. If I couldn't even make it in high school, how was I going to make it in college? But then something happened. I got cast. As Pheobe. Sure, it wasn't a lead, but I was just cast in a college show, with actual lines, and monologues, and dancing, and so much more! My wilted spirit had been watered, and once As You Like It was over, I auditioned for The Odd Couple and got cast again! And this time as a lead! Granted, we never actually made it to the show due to various reasons, but just knowing that maybe there actually was some talent in me was all I needed.

I joined a great club called Harlequins which I will be the president of this upcoming 2017-2018 year, I met some really great people, I worked in the scene shop, and I ended up stage managing a senior project for Heather Leary. That was the ultimate decision maker. After a whole year of miserable classes, but amazing extracurricular experiences, I decided to change majors, and starting in the fall of 2016, I was officially a theater major.

However, I noticed something strange happen. When I would tell people that I was a criminal justice major, I would hear responses like "Oh cool! So do you want to be a cop?" "That's awesome! Do you want to go more legal, or more law enforcement?" "Hey, you could be Judge Judge!" Now when I tell people that I'm a theater major, I hear "Oh, good luck with that." "So do you just not want to do anything?" "So, when are you going to get a real job?"

It's as if suddenly, making myself happy wasn't good enough for people. If I were still a criminal justice major, my future is perfectly mapped out for me, but now that I'm a theater major, my future is a big question mark. You wouldn't ever hear someone ask a math major when they're getting a real job, so why ask me? I have learned some of the best people skills, and they've actually helped me in my job. Yes, my real, live job. Which I actually have. I have to read an announcement over the loudspeaker every twenty minutes, and by being a theater major, not only do I have the announcement memorized, but I know how to make it lively and something worth listening to.

Do I want to be able to act in my future, and to do that for the rest of my life? Of course, I do. People like Danielle Brooks, Angelina Jolie, and Ben Platt are doing it right now, so it's not entirely impossible. But that doesn't mean I have no possibility of doing something else. My mom thinks I'll be a best-selling author rather than a famous actress, so there's always that. And I really love working with kids, so I could be an acting coach or a camp counselor.

"So, when are you getting a real job?" shouldn't even be a question, and quite frankly, it's kind of rude. You're basically saying that my dreams won't get me anywhere and that I should allow myself to be unhappy in order to have what you deem a "real job." Well, guess what, none of your sideways glances, super phony "Oh...cool"s, or complete lack of support is going to deter me from doing what I love. You can go back to your real job, and I'll stay here in the land of make believe. I kind of really love it.