Alyssaland

I am engaged in an intense course of study called FUNDAMENTALS OF TRANSACTION offered by INFLUENCE ECOLOGY. At the midway point of the six-month endeavor we are shifting from gathering knowledge to applying it in our offerings. When the FOT began I did not have an offering. A month in, after reading Fernando Flores and Michael Graves “Notes for Ontology of Career,” I hesitantly declared myself a writer. I then enlisted a person to hold me accountable to actually sit down and work as I was suffering from creative resistance.


Influenced by Jennifer Lancaster’s Bitter is the New Black, Valerie Frankel’s Thin is the New Pretty, Steve Dublanica’s Waiter Rant and Are you There, Vodka? It’s me. Chelsea I choose the popular genre of memoir with a chick lit flair.

Monday through Friday from 10-12:30 I sit at my laptop and do the work of writing. Sometimes it flows and sometimes it is torture. Five weeks into the process—having given up my attachment to the story I want to tell and embracing the story that demands to be told—I am getting into a groove.

Yesterday, inspired, I decided on a title.

Adventures in Alyssaland

Countless times I have rehashed an occurrence to my mom and her only response is, “only you.” Often she relays my adventures and exploits to her co-workers who respond with, “only Alyssa.” In fact, I had a coworker who would entertain her mother with “Alyssa Stories.”

Once, I was meeting a few friends at a gay bar called Big Chicks on the Northside of Chicago. After driving up and down Clark Street, I went into another establishment flying the rainbow flag—The Eagle--to ask for directions. It was a bathhouse.

Another time, two days before my college graduation, on my way to pay my phone bill a man randomly punched me in the face and I ended up in the ER. Upon my release I went to work at the Barnes and Noble at Webster Place. My roommate found me high on Motrin wandering Lincoln Park in a summer thunderstorm.

In many ways I am crazy, my life is crazy. Welcome to Alyssaland. Such a nice place to visit you just might wanna stay.

One of the homework questions in FUNDAMENTALS OF TRANSACTION inquires, “If you had to describe yourself as a “brand” how would you express it?” The definition of brand being “A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect" - Al Ries. I still don’t have the answer but I am thinking Alyssaland is something I can own. Let me know your thoughts or any alternative answers to the question. Also, how would you express yourself as a brand?


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