I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown.

I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown.

Often I wonder how people discover their calling in life. A lot of this curiosity comes from a persistent disbelief in my own journey.

Writing books of poems, not even remotely on the radar as a kid. I teach in a

university to earn a living. I write out of a love of language. I enjoy both equally, which is to say I find a way to unite

my avocation and my vocation. Two eyes make one in sight, a famous poet once put in a poem.

This past spring, like every spring, many of my students graduated into the uncertainty of their

futures. Their lives can take so many directions. I am curious as to what ultimately launches us as human beings with a purpose, or not.

If ever we meet as new friends, I will likely ask what you do for a living.

In some scenarios, my inquisitiveness can sound like prying.

But what I'm really asking is what makes you happy to really live.

On airplanes, among many unique professionals, I have sat next to a comic and accordion player and a chef.

The chef fell into his job through a series of serendipitous events.

He helped a friend cater a small wedding

after being let go from a finance job.

The comic News Since High School that she loved to make people laugh.

She has pursued her passion for nearly two decades.

She's undeterred by sparsely attended shows.

She writes and performs jokes every weekend.

The accordionist emerged, well, from a family of accordion players.

My favorite is hearing of people who embark on a path after years of delaying a long-held dream.

One, a chocolatier, another a cabaret singer and landscape designer.

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