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There is Hope

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Joshua Swenson, a musician located in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been playing the guitar and writing songs since the age of twelve. Songwriting and art is a keystone to Joshua’s personality, he uses music as a form of expression.  “I don’t express myself with words, so it’s nice to have those things,” Swenson said while discussing his relationship with art. Finding his passion for songwriting took some time. While he resisted lessons and time consuming practice his mom’s persistence kept him going. After awhile he began writing his own songs and fell in love with creating music. He hasn’t stopped since. When Josh describes his relationship with music, you can see the passion radiate from him. He describes music as a form of expression, worship, and spreading light. “I’ve always connected with music because it’s a really personal experience, it’s like you just put some headphones in and you can be in a different world,” Josh said. Josh recently got married to a lovely woman named Ky
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Happy to Announce

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FollowMyGig is happy to announce that we have gained two new media correspondents! Introducing: Faith AnnMarie Johnson Faith is a freshman at UVU. She has been extremely involved in the arts throughout all of high school and hopes to find a career supporting artists. Currently Faith is undecided in her major and hopes to serve a LDS mission in the near future. Introducing: Jackson Beutler Jackson Beutler is a senior at BYU majoring in Political Science and minoring in Nonprofit Management. He is also working on the Ballard Scholar for Social Innovation program. Working in the nonprofit sector is one of many passions he has discovered in college. Not only has it offered numerous opportunities to improve the world around him, but it has also helped refine & acquire valuable skills. From blogging to data analysis, and from recruiting to grant writing, he has learned much as a volunteer in the social sector. He looks forward to the chance to put those skills to use fo
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Finding Spades

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Every hero has an origin story, Spades is no different.  Spades, born Mitch, has been doing magic since he was seven years old, his specialty is card tricks.  When he first began magic, it was a hobby doing simple things for his own and others entertainment.  Mitch loved magic, but his life wasn’t centered on it. That changed when he was living in Cedar City and found his best friend had taken his own life. After that contretemps Mitch found himself in sea of stress, pressure, and despair. Because of his close relationship with his friend he was asked to be the closing speaker at his friend's funeral, the family of his friend began confiding in him, and he was experiencing anxiety attacks with seizure like symptoms. This situation was extremely trying on Mitch and he found himself in a very dark place.  He found safety and peace in his magic. “I needed it to be an obsession, it was what kept me alive.” Mitch divulged. As he delved deeper into his magic, he began performing on th
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#MeToo

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#MeToo I have been struggling to share this for quite sometime and adding my story to the #metoo movement.  Up until now only a handful of people have heard it. I am choosing to share it publicly at this time so that other women who are still silent and unable to share their experience may gain hope knowing they are not alone.  I am an advocate and willing to listen to their stories too.  I will engage in the difficult conversations necessary in order to empower them to reclaim their lives and direct them to available resources so the healing process can begin.   I am leaning heavily on Brené Brown's research and choosing to believe that by refusing to feel shame for the actions taken against me I can regain control over my own life and story.   I hope to bring about change and evolution in our community; to end the rape culture; a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse. T her
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Laughter is the Music of the Soul

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I had the pleasure of meeting Travis Tate during the Golden Spike Comedy and Podcast Festival last month. He was hosting the open mic event and graciously accepted my invitation to be interviewed for the FollowMyGig: Your Voice Matters blog. I am excited to share with you our conversation and the first stand up comedian to join the FollowMyGig network.  FMG:  How did you get started in stand up? TRAVIS:  Stand up is something that  I always knew I wanted to do. Even from a young age I had a bit of an addiction to getting laughs. I feel that making someone belly laugh is one of the truest reactions that you can get from another human. I love it! I didn't get started until 2011 when I was 34, which is pretty late to get started. I feel that getting started that late has actually been a great thing for me though because I've had so much life experience to draw on.  My wife really encouraged me to do stand up because I had talked about doing it for years without ev
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Introducing: James Mauri

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I am accepting articles from musicians that have been written by other sources for the blog.  If you have an article you would like me to share please submit it to info@followmygig.com  Thanks to James Mauri and B. Blake for this entry. James Mauri - A Modern Day Musical Prophet? James is decidedly a loner and his writing speaks to the loner in us all . His snide delivery along side pulsating folk and rock grooves barely disguise where he is coming from . Look at the release date and lyrical content of 'On the Vine' ,  11/11  - 3 days after the election and his subsequent release 'Revolution Around the Sun' on the first of the year . Numerology and timing , he's got . 'I don't need a bag for these stones' he snarls - as if to turn away the handouts from those who then weigh him down with burden. Exclaiming that - now , he's 'in the cold' - 'a day of reckoning is upon us' and that 'we will overcome' as a people . Ser
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The Adventurous Journey

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The Adventurous Journey At the beginning of 2017 I dubbed this year " The Year of the Adventurous Journey". I planned to push outside my comfort zone, lean into the pain of transformation and live presently.  I had no idea how many obstacles I would soon be faced with.  The universe responded with "Game on girl!" as if I had challenged it to test every ounce of my resolve to achieve my goal of posting to this blog once a week and many other goals that I have set for this year.  The following are just the highlights or low points, as it were, for each month in the first quarter of 2017.    December 2016 - I was let go as the Director of Operations but was kept on as a vendor - FollowMyGig for the event center I was working for; which moving forward, will be a non-paid position (of course)   January - Job hunt ensues February - House burns down one week after I land a new job - move in with family (THANK YOU KAREN!) and the hunt for a permanent pla
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