My Strange Tale as a DigiComArts Creator Encountering the ABCs of Affordable Housing in Manhattan, NY, in an Era of Covid

DigiComArts Creators are a New Breed of Media Artists Who Have Nowhere to Live

Unfortunately, choosing as your career of something as arcane as being a DigiComArts Creator is not always the best choice, mostly because there is not money in it, unless you put your talent and abilities towards a match, which in most instances these days is Digital Marketing. If you do not want to manage a businesses’ social media accounts and buy search and social ads for them, you are signing up instead to poverty row.

DigiComArts and Home Sweet Home

The only other choice is to be a media professor at a community college if you have a graduate degree as I do. Not selecting either of these paths is tantamount to be poor, and poor and did I mention, poor. So, needless to say, facing things like trying to get decent and affordable housing is virtually impossible.

The Real-Life Panic of Finding Housing in New York City

If you are like many New Yorkers then you know that, unless you have won the NYC Housing Lottery golden ticket, it is very frustrating and challenging to get an affordable home here. This includes both renting and owning. Years ago, when I was panicked about finding a decent long-term place to live in NYC, I took course taught by someone who had achieved the housing miracle of being selected to purchase her own home-sweet-home the Big Apple.

How to Get the Golden Ticket?

It was several years ago when I took the apartment seeking class, and at that time I had been on the various NYC Housing Lottery websites so often that I had practically memorized the info they had. Subsequently, there was not much new that I learned from the teacher. Our teacher had somehow magically won the golden ticket of housing.

Mind Blowing Secret Step

Our teacher then announced that at the end of class she was going to unveil the short and effortless thing that she did that she believed was what made all the difference her being noticed. She went on to say, or rather I took as being implied, that her top-secret methodology unlocked the treasure chest.

Daydreaming that the Teacher had ABC Steps to Secure the Real Estate

I was having a hard time waiting until the end of class when our instructor was going to divulge to all of us her mysterious technique for hypnotic real estate acquisition. I started to daydream a guess at the of the ABCs of her method.

A. Stand Out Amid the others by Being a Kind of Applicant Celebrity

So, it seemed to me that I would need “Celebify” myself. In this context meaning to somehow, much like a celebrity, I needed to draw in the crowd. In this instance I mean magnetize the attention of those who had the power to decide the lucky people chosen receive housing. stand out and catch the eye of the decision maker.

B. Hypnotize the Apartment Selection Committee to Choose Me to Get the Pad

As someone who has been doing various aspects of the DigiComArts I knew how powerful commercials can be. So, to exert a kind of mind control, I needed to make my application be a commercial that resonates with them. Also, as writer about mentalism, I knew the tricks of the mentalist’s trade. I they were not real magic but were tricks.

C. Win the Lottery as if by Magic

And finally, I needed to further debunk psychists further by positioning myself the winner “As if by magic.” You will note that I did not say “By Magic,” but instead put an “As if.” Needless to say, this is a pretty differentiated. Maybe if I got to to the point where I was called to come in in-person or virtually to be interviewed I could leverage my magic skills. Even though I no longer do magic professionally, I still have tricks up my sleeve. People usually react favorabley to conjuring and it would definitely make the interview memorable.

And the Drum Roll Please for the Grand Finale

I of course did not really believe that the apartment teacher teaching the apartment class was going to take us into her confidence to disclose an ABC procedure. I had made all of that up in my head. What she did say she did to nab her apartment. It was something super simple indeed. And once she said it, I knew everyone else in class was going to do it. And that it would not take long, like Covid, to quickly multiply exponentially. With each time it was done it would gradually lose its value because if it was seen again and again by the committees vetting, it would become common place. Ordinary. And potentially even annoying.

The Disappointing Secret to Winning the NYC Housing Lottery

Our instructor told us that when she sent in her application, she had used crayons and magic (pun intended) markers, to doodle all over the envelope she sent her application in so it would stand out among other plain envelopes. That’s it. That’s the secret to getting noticed if you are seeking affordable housing. Again, this took place a long time ago. I doubt a doodled envelope would do much these days and applications are mostly done online now. But truth be told I did do some doodling and at least got a call, but ultimately not the apartment. I guess the moral of the story is “The greasy wheel gets the oil.” No, that’s in the ballpark, but not a home run (says someone who knows nothing about sports). Maybe there a shorter and more succinct way to say it. Possibly “Be different.” Oh, and if you are interested in getting a degree in DigiComArts or related, just say no, that is, unless you want to do digital marketing or teach.