My Mission Statement

One Month has passed since I've landed on planet CalArts..The most free-spirited, collaborative, inspirational place in the universe .

A huge part of this program is to create a space in this world where your passions and dreams come true, and are not just crazy thoughts and idea s you never act on. This is the place where all of your inhibitions and aspirations in life start---nothing is unreasonable or over the top. You can have anything, do anything, be anyone, and dream big-very big.

I'd like to share a recent assignment with my community and support group because, I felt while writing this ..a HUGE shift started in my world. I realized things about myself I knew that I felt and thought, but always had ...a fear to act on it, or say out loud because I felt that maybe it was selfish for me to dream so big. I felt a fear that my dreams and passions could hurt my family and loved ones around me because these dreams would take me all over the world and on an open-ended adventure. into the unknown..

But if those are indeed the things that make me feel alive, complete and feel like my life is mine I'm living freely--then how can I stop self from spreading all my love and art to impact other people's lives, and make me, a stronger and more fulfilled person?

I shared these feelings with a few of my loved ones back home, and am happy to say I have support and love given back to me---fear and feelings of missing one another of course are over-powering..but if you love me, and if you believe in my cause and desire to live an artistic path--how can you want me not to fly... Here is a recent quote someone dear to me, wrote, in a correspondence about my recent choices to be in California...and in regards to my mission statement you will soon read..

"You are a wonderful person, and what you are doing is beautiful and inspirational, and frankly, it’s what life is all about. I would never try to hold you back any more than I would try to stop the sun from shining or a bird from flying..."

Below is my first draft of my mission statement project. We were asked to answer lots of questions on a stream of consciousness/pen to paper/not stopping/just writing and writing and writing freely...Some questions were.Who are you? What do you do? Why do you do it? Who do you do it for? How are you perceived?How do you WANT to be perceived?What is your purpose? What is your motto? What makes you feel happiness? What do you want to be known for? What do you want? What do you REALLY want?....

We had to present a timed 4 minute presentation in class of our mission statement.. I dressed up in my " Cambio" Latin-dancing red red gown that was custom made for me at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare festival. Tiara on my head...I sat on a Russian gypsy tapestry that belonged to my dear Aunt Anya....and surrounded myself with photos of my family, friends, and important objects that have been passed down to me or I've collected over the years. I started my presentation singing an old Russian folk song " Krutzezya Vertzezya Shar Galuboy" ( The spinning and turning of the blue ballom) ( My Babushka Fania taught me this song while were were berry picking upstate. I was 5/6 years old. I remember this very vividly because it felt like the first time we ever bonded. She was depressed for many years after coming to America, and I didn't feel alot of warmness from her compared to all my other family members...when she taught me this song I saw patience in her eyes and delicate words from her mouth. I saw her pain and her memories. Even as a little girl-I told myself to remember this moment that my Baba and I bonded for the first time.We were staying in a summer bungaloo colony in upstate New York...full of tons of Brooklynite Russian seniors. It was for their talent show. Every old little Babushka cried when I sang this song...and I'll never forget it) I sang one verse of this special song to begin my presentation in class....then I read my mission statement to my classmates as follows....

I am Sandy Simona. I am an artist, actor, dancer, singer, writer and lover of the human expression. I do this work for my soul, my mind, my blood, and my heart…most importantly I do this work for my health and a constant reminder I was given a chance to live freely and will do so living my life on the path that I’ve dreamed of. I do this work to fulfill the American dream and all the sacrifices my family made so that I could have the opportunity to live in a free world and make decisions with my life on my own terms. I do this work because it makes me feel alive. I feel the most free, powerful, peaceful, and healthy when I’m involved in a creative process that is meaningful and will make an impact on people’s lives for the moments they go on my artistic adventure with me, whether it be a viewer, colleague or director. My mission in life is to dance, and listen to sounds around me that fill up my blood with excitement and let me be the most free with movement and expression through my body.

My mission is to bring intimacy and healing power and passion to my work. My sensitivity and raw emotion I give freely to audiences—and I want to gain the skills to do this safely and powerfully, and to always find innovative and inspiring ways to create and live through my art.

My mission is to create my own work, rich with my Russian-Jewish upbringing and incorporate my culture into creative pieces where I can sing, act, dance and direct, and maintain the stories of my family.

My mission is to create a one woman show playing all the characters of my eccentric Russian family, write plays and screenplays all of which are based off of short stories I’ve written about my familiy’s immigration to the US, as well as their life in the Soviet Union. ( Specific topics are my grandparents love story, both maternal and paternal side. As well as my Grandfather Misha’s arrest and detainment in the Soviet Union for ten years, my parents story, my families voyage to America, my Actress Aunt’s rebellion to run away with a poet and a theatre company—leading to her young death of cancer on my sixteenth birthday, another really important create a piece of work I am committed to creating is about my own recent battle with cancer---which opened my eyes to LIFE and took the fog away from my vision of waiting for life to happen..

My missions is to love and respect myself, make time for my family and close friends. To share my love and admiration for the people in my life, and stay away from negative thoughts or jealousy. To learn how to communicate my thoughts, ideas and emotions in way that is clear and makes sense.

My mission is to make time for the things that bring me joy and peace, and not lose myself or lose sight of my mission and purpose in life.

My mission is to be filled with passion that fuels my soul mentally, sexually, emotionally, and physically and surround myself openly and with integrity and honesty about what truly adds colorful light, support, and possibility to my being.

My mission is to be a successful artist and make a living off of my work and live successfully, financially. To make a living off my art and have a comfortable life. My mission is to have a network of work all over the world, and to travel with my art. I want work seriously all over Europe/South America and everything in between.... and spend a couple years creating and networking as a world traveler.I’m extremely eager to work internationally in as many languages as possible.

My mission is rebuild the gap between Lviv,Ukraine and my family. I'm dedicated to visit their childhood homes, schools, lives from the past and finding art and beauty to create for them with the memories they left behind---to help heal the pain that was caused there for them..by turning their stories into a legacy of art that can be remembered and cherished forever.

My mission is to be in love with my partner who can fuel my work and whose life, purpose and vision is aligned with mine so that I can live my life with a soul mate who can go on my voyage with me, and experience my mission with me as well as I experience their artistic , powerful and colorful voyage with them, and not grow a part because of my dedication and passion for my life goals, but to grow together and have a lifetime of passion,support, and unconditional love.

Love very much fuels me and I want to be surrounded by love and unconditional support, that keeps me living, breathing, creating, and feeling.

My mission is to be cancer free, make healthy choices, to be grateful, peaceful, mindful, confident, loving, and open-minded, know my self-worth and never lose track of my mission in life.

What is your mission in life? I hope you can share it with me..