Creativity that Builds Community

全球网赌十大网站中的大多数人永远不会面临约书亚·麦基在2023年秋天面临的困境——团聚还是红毯?

“It was more than just the red carpet,” Mackey explained. “I’d been invited to be a judge in the short films category at NewFest, a film festival in New York dedicated to highlighting LGBTQ+ films. 和我在勒努瓦-莱恩的十年同学会是同一天晚上，那是我帮忙策划的. I didn’t make the decision lightly, but I had to be at the festival — it was just such a great honor, and I got it because people were actually reading my work.”

目前, most of Mackey’s work appears in the digital magazine Into, 一份自称为“酷儿群体公开谈论全球网赌十大网站生活的空间”的出版物, 激情, 奋斗和想法.2022年4月, 麦基以助理编辑的身份加入《全球赌博十大网站》，之前他花了两年时间撰写了大量关于流行文化、政治和社会问题的评论和分析.

“I’m still finding new ways in which I can express myself. 我很幸运，因为我也可以帮助别人表达自己——这对我来说同样重要,麦基说。. “任何工作, it helps if you can make it your own, 所以我试着为自己做到这一点，同时也向我的同事和读者展示如何为自己找到价值.”

成为一只熊

在谢尔比长大, 北卡罗莱纳, and traveling frequently to visit family in New Jersey, 麦基从小就在父母的大力鼓励下接受了自己的创造力.

“I was a very reserved child, and art was the one thing that allowed for me to express myself freely, so my parents put me into different activities and camps — visual arts, 乐队, 合唱, 剧院, 写作.”

Influence from his grandparents moved Mackey’s focus toward reading and 写作.

“My grandparents ran a print shop at the Jersey Shore, and they would make notebooks for me, and then I learned how to work on the printing jobs — notebooks, 程序和诸如此类的东西——仅仅是看到那些成品就让我对写作产生了兴趣,麦基回忆道. “Then both my grandmothers made me an avid reader. I loved the book "Harriet the Spy" because who doesn’t like to be an observer? 所以，我喜欢认为所有这些片段汇集在一起，启发了我现在的职业轨迹.”

By the time Mackey got to high school, his confidence had grown considerably, 但当他的母亲劝他申请勒努瓦-雷恩大学时，他正打算进入一所大型州立大学. She had seen a brochure for LR and thought it might be a good fit for her son.

“最终吸引我来到LR的是资金——我获得了很多奖学金——但我一生中只去过两次Hickory. 我很怀疑, even when I signed on to come here, but by the time I got through orientation, 那是家,麦基分享道。. “I truly believe of all the schools I could have gone to, LR是最好的选择, 最好的体验, 手了.”

Even though they were enthusiastic about him attending Lenoir-Rhyne, 麦基的父母告诫他，大一的时候不要让自己的活动和课程负担过重，但麦基高兴地忽略了这些建议.

“There was so much happening on campus, I had to check it out,” he explained. “I had a scholarship for 乐队 and A Cappella Choir. Then I heard the Nu Generation Gospel Choir perform, and I had to join. 通过Nu Generation，我认识了黑人学生联盟(Black Student Alliance，简称BSA)的成员，所以我也加入了他们. 这变成了滚雪球效应.”

麦基后来加入了Theta Xi兄弟会，并成为了一名住宿助理。. 他还担任过招生办公室的杰出熊(BoD)和图书馆的助理. 他加入了学生会(SGA)，并担任秘书和副主席. He was also named Homecoming King and Spring Fling King during his senior year.

作为一个黑人, 酷儿的学生, 我加入的组织帮助我在LR找到并建立了自己的社区,麦基说。. “我想呆在一个全球网赌十大网站不只是为了追求学业而在一起的地方, but where we could support each other through the college experience. I think that’s something that still drives me as a writer. 我仍然在帮助建立那些安全的支持空间和社区，只是以一种不同的形式.”

开始传播消息

麦基在勒努瓦-莱恩发现的一个社区成员对他的未来产生了最深远的影响——他的丈夫克里夫顿·加蒙.

“We met on the first day, moving day. He was just as involved on campus as I was, if not more so,麦基分享道。. “We got to do a lot of great work together in SGA and BSA. We made great friends we’re still in contact with today, and we have all these core memories of LR together that we’ve brought with us.”

这对夫妇带着这些回忆和他们对LR和彼此的爱，在毕业后搬到了纽约. Garmon pursued a master of social work (MSW) at Columbia University. 他说服了麦基, who had majored in management, that graduate school would be good for him as well.

“我喜欢纽约大学, 所以我申请了音乐商业和人力资源的研究生课程，因为它们都符合我的学术背景. I was accepted to the HR program, so that was where I enrolled,麦基说。.

After completing his graduate program, Mackey spent several years working in human resources, first as an ADP contractor for Goldman Sachs, 然后在NBC. 而他喜欢在人力资源部门工作, it didn’t feel like the perfect fit, 于是麦基转向了高等教育，接受了哥伦比亚大学专业研究学院(Columbia School of Professional Studies)负责住宿和全球网赌十大网站的助理主任一职.

“这是一段完整的旅程. 当我搬到纽约的时候，我正在读研究生，打算在人力资源部门工作. 然后我进入了高等教育领域，我认为现在我的生活就是高等教育，”麦基说. “I’ve always had a tendency to dive into things full force, 但我一直在学习，我的工作是我存在的一部分，但不是我的全部. 在哥伦比亚大学工作期间，我在很大程度上借鉴了我所有的经历——从LR的注册会计师到人力资源部门的工作. 这是一个多方面的职位，但我仍然觉得我没有按照我想要的方式成长.”

So, 麦基回到了从童年起就给他带来如此多快乐的创作渠道，开始写诗来处理他的想法和感受.

“It evolved into me 写作 articles, and I got involved with a website called Blavity, which is a Black-centered tech company. 我提交了一篇专栏文章, not expecting it to be published, about former NBA star Dwyane Wade supporting his daughter, 谁是变性人?. 

“看到一个黑人直男(认同出生时的性别)父亲爱着自己的酷儿孩子，对我来说意义重大, and I knew it meant something for other Black queer people to see that as well,麦基分享道。. “Then it got published, and I thought ‘Oh! People care about my 写作. 这是野生的.’”

麦基继续在Blavity上发表了更多的作品，并将他的作品扩展到流行文化网站Nerdist和Geeks of Color.

“I started talking about Marvel, how Black representation is there, how queer representation is there. Then I started talking about representation in cartoons,他说. “I got to interview some really interesting people. 这是超现实的. There was one morning, it was 6 a.m., and I was interviewing Antonio Banderas from my living room.”

随着麦基投资组合的增长, 他接受了文案工作和其他项目，这让他成为了自由写作的职业. He completed studies at the Poynter Institute to refine his craft. Then his work caught the attention of editors at INTO and its parent company Q. 数字.

“作为助理编辑, 我是确保全球网赌十大网站在Z世代和千禧一代LGBTQ+读者中留下印记的团队的一员, 但同时，全球网赌十大网站也在呼吁任何感到被边缘化的人——全球网赌十大网站在这里放大这些声音，给他们一个平台,麦基说。.

Since finding and sharing his voice, 麦基反思了他所经历的一切，以及到目前为止他所有的工作和学习如何继续影响着他的日常生活.

“I’ve been fortunate to have so many opportunities, 但我希望其他人可以看看我的例子，看看特定的学位或经历是如何限制这些机会的,他说. “You use what you know in ways you don’t always expect.”

Mackey is also looking to his future as a writer, 我想他可能想要在小说或非小说类作品中进行更有创造性的尝试.

“Writing has always represented freedom for me. When I was young and super shy and reserved, 我用写作作为一种方式来表达我想说的话，而不用担心别人看着我或评判我,他分享道. “Writing is also a way to create community. When you share a favorite author or have a conversation over a story or article, 你正在形成联系, creating community at that point in time.”