The Road Ahead: "Drive with the Windows Down"

Transcript from the 2018 JMC Academy Graduation Ceremony

Alumnus speech by Amara Primero

JMC Academy, Class of 2018…

Drive with the windows down!

Open road, summers day, cool breeze, breathing in, breathing out. Ahhh, it feels good, right? Then, that dirty trucks pulls up beside you…

Diesel, fumes, dust, flies, more dust, more flies, trucks, noise, choking…it starts to rain. Roll the windows up!

Now there are flies in the car diesel and dust is trapped, arms are wet. This sucks! Why did I drive with the windows down? Why did I leave the house today? Maybe I’ll turn around and go back! Why is this happening to me?

Most people drive with the windows up, for fear of these encounters. They drown out the noise, the dust and the fumes – however, if you never drive with the windows down, the air becomes stale and you become drowsy!

When you drive with the windows down in your life, you open yourself up to inviting the good and the bad into your life; but also you learn to let go. You expose yourself and become vulnerable! Being vulnerable is necessary to move forward.    

Force yourself to drive through that cloud of diesel smoke and through that dust storm. Think back to those moments in class before you performed or presented; you felt exposed and vulnerable. The late nights and the self-doubts! None of those moments felt comfortable and that’s why you are here tonight! The satisfaction you feel now has been worth the discomfort!

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

Your actions now, are investments…make them good ones. Make them positive ones. Make them powerful ones! In the words of Oprah Winfrey, "Do the work and be prepared, so that when THE MOMENT comes, you are ready!"

Minimum input = minimum output

Maximum input = maximum output!

There is no other combination!!

I hope you take from you days as JMC Academy student, some of the same lessons I took from my days here – that nothing good happens after the 10th tequila shot! The tutors and lecturers at JMC are experts in their industries. Value what they taught you, value the advice they gave you and value the conversations you had. I look back and realise that the conversations I casually had with the teachers, outside of the classroom, in the corridors or on the street – these were in fact where the real lessons happened.

Listen more than you talk. Allow people’s words to influence you…

and drive with the windows down!

Look around you at the people who you've spent the last two years with. You've shared in their successes and you've lifted each other up. You sang together, wrote together, composed and presented together. You've laughed, cried, cursed and what you probably haven't realised until this moment is that you have learnt from each other!

I attended this college with a young, humble and ever so talented singer – we wrote songs and shared stories, her heart was generous, her compliments sincere. One day she came into the studio where I was writing music, she graciously and without ego, made a suggestion – it was brilliant! We stayed in contact for a while after college, but soon lost touch. Last year I heard that the world lost that beautiful human, a life and talent, ended abruptly. Learn from each other, stay in connected. Life is precious! 

Teach.

By helping others, you too will grow. By inspiring others, you too will be inspired. Find someone to mentor, find someone to compliment. Comedian, Jim Carey once said, “the effect you have on others, is the most valuable currency you have”. You have knowledge - share it! Pay it forward - give! Give without expecting anything in return,

and, drive with the windows down!

I am so fortunate to be doing what I love – I write music for Film and TV. Every day I get to write music and they pay me for it!!! This was always a dream of mine and every day I feel so blessed!! But like so many, there was a time prior to my current career where I fell into the auto-pilot ways and did what society not just expected me to do, but PRAISED me for doing - I got a stable job.

One day, I announced that I was leaving to pursue my career as a composer. Somehow people weren’t convinced. They were polite, but my announcement was met with “It’s good that you’re GIVING IT A GO"

and

“You can always come back if it doesn’t work out!”

or

“It’s a tough industry, I know someone who’s been trying for years.”

It’s hard when people around you don’t acknowledge your choices. You see, we each carry our own ideals for what is ACHIEVABLE. I began to realise that the bar of expectations people had for me was set at the same height as their own bar.

And for some reason, there are always people who will want you to fail! We don't know why. Perhaps it reassures them that it’s ok that they didn’t or haven’t reached their own goals. All l know is that the higher you set the bar, the further you will go. You will experience more dust, rain, blizzards, winds than others, but you will come through tougher than ever before.

Allow the words and fears that others project on you to be set free. Let them come and go like dust on an open road. Do not trap these negative comments in your life,

so drive with the windows down! 

And, as much as this moment is about you, it is also about your parents. Your parents here tonight are more special than others, because when you said you were going to take an arts degree, they held in the need to advise you otherwise - or maybe they didn't! Maybe they gave you every possible worse case scenario there was; perhaps they showed you the busker, the Pitt-Street mall chalk artist or even encouraged you to watch more episodes of Suits in the hope that you might instead, decide to study law! Well, regardless of this, they are here. The moments captured on camera tonight will be the photos that will take new priority on their wall or mantelpiece; this is the night where we say, parents, congratulations YOU did a great job!!!

And parents, if there are still some of you who have doubts on your children’s career path, it’s ok. But may I ask that you replace those fears with faith. Something my mum has always taught me, is to have faith! She had faith in me, even when I didn’t and by being strong in her faith, she leads by example!

Have faith in knowing that YOU HAVE done a great job as a parent and because of that, they will go on to succeed!

There is a scene in the 2011 film, The Social Network, where the President of Harvard says, “Harvard undergraduates believe that creating a job is better than finding a job.” Most of you here will want to reply to a job advertisement on seek.com – but, I dare you to create a job! Don’t keep LOOKING for work, CREATE it! At some point in your life, create a business.

Start conversations! Go up to people and introduce yourself. Show interest in them. If you admire someone, tell them! If you enjoyed a film, contact the director and tell her or him. If you loved a book, tell the author! If you like somebody’s hair, tell them! Reach out and talk to the people who inspire you! Tonight after the ceremony, go up to someone, a friend, a teacher or parent and tell them something you admire about them. Thank them for their lessons.

Your time at JMC Academy has been one where it nurtured a safe environment for you to forget the lyrics, press the wrong button, and deliver the wrong line. You may have heard that the world is unforgiving - that the entertainment industry is a cut-throat business. I understand what people mean by this, and yes, it's highly competitive and you must be tenacious and strong, but there is encouragement out there and it’s ok to make mistakes.

Adele stopped and started over at last year’s Grammy’s – did we forgive her!? Ah, yeah we did! The monumental blunder when LaLa Land was announced as Best Picture instead of Moonlight and Mariah Carey looking lost and be-wildered at the Times Square New Years Performance - rest assured, YOUR stumbles aren’t looking so bad after all!

In those slipped moments, the world was harsh and cruel – these artists were scorched and criticised. Did any of them dwell on the attacks? Did they wallow in self-pity and hide their faces in shame? Absolutely Not! Adele redeemed herself dozens of times over, the Oscars presenters were welcomed back to the stage this year with, a standing ovation and Mariah Carey reclaimed herself as the princess of pop.

So, tonight, if you take nothing else from my metaphor for life at the very least, take it literally and as you embark on your next journey, feel every moment!

JMC Academy graduates of 2018…

drive with the windows down!

Thank you all, very much!