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The economy’s not just in a downturn. It’s in transition. The rules of the game are changing, industries are transforming, and many jobs don’t feel so secure anymore. This spring, WPLN’s Kim Green is collecting stories of Tennesseans who are learning to survive and adapt to an uncertain marketplace, and an economy in flux.

If you have a story of transition, tell us about it. We may post some of your experiences on our website or use them on the air. Send your emails to [email protected]

Renaissance Woman

DuBois’s portrait work

In a long and varied career, Cece DuBois has done a little bit of everything: she’s written songs and jingles, toured with a band, sung backup, painted commissioned portraits, and most recently, started her own interior design business.

People kept telling her to choose one skill and focus on it, she recalls. “I can’t pick one child and throw the rest away!” she laughs. “So I’m gonna do all that stuff, and I might not make a lot of money, but I’ll be the happiest person in the poorhouse…So here I sit in the poorhouse, and I’m happy!”

A Perfect Storm

A divorce years ago left her flying solo financially. And a serious auto accident in 2008, just as the housing bubble burst, created a perfect storm of income insecurity for the artist and entrepreneur. “The hospital bills were colossal,” she says.

Yes, she really is 64.

She found herself with mounting debt, barely able to keep her Murfreesboro home, and with very few options for making money using her artistic talents. People weren’t hiring portrait painters or home decorators anymore. And at 64 years old, DuBois says it isn’t easy to land a job. “Age is a big issue,” she says.

“I’ll probably be filing bankruptcy in the near future,” Dubois adds. “Because my unsecured debt, though I’ve really worked hard with a payment program, there’s simply no money to pay it. And it breaks my heart to say that. It’s embarrassing to even admit it.”

“Nobody’s too good to do anything.”

DuBois took a part-time job at a grocery store to make ends meet. She says the experience has been humbling. “When a five-year-old decides what they want to be when they grow up, a grocery store cashier is not on that list,” she says. “But I will tell you the truth. I valued that humility. Because nobody’s too good to do anything.”

She cobbles together a month-to-month living with her income from the store, from alimony and royalty checks, by giving voice lessons, and with the occasional portrait commission and design job.

DuBois preps her student Katie’s face and voice for “Phantom”

A Joyful Heart

DuBois says her secret to staving off bitterness is choosing to find joy in ordinary moments. She divides the world into dreamers and cynics. “The cynic is the traffic guy who’s standing there like a computer robot. The dreamer’s the one who’s making a dance out of it. And people love to see that guy. It’s contagious!”

DuBois does her best to make a dance out of her work, whether it’s the creative, arty jobs she’s done all her life or a day shift at Publix. “When I get to the grocery store in the mornings,” she says, “I clock in, and if anyone’s in there I go, ‘Showtime!’ And then I head out, and by golly we smile for the folks.” She says being present, interactive, and authentically funny at work lifts her up and helps her get through the days.

Even more than painting, music, or interior design, spreading her infectious ebullience seems to be DuBois’s life’s work. “I think we have a job on this planet to infect each other with incurable joy,” she says. “Regardless of our station in life, regardless of our financial situation, regardless of how many people are losing their homes.

“There’s no reason not to,” DuBois muses. “We can be joyful and own nothing. Because joy is its own thi

DuBois’s perpetual grin

ng.”

If you have a story of transition, tell us about it. We may post some of your experiences on our website or use them on the air. Send your emails to [email protected]

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