Paying One's Dues is How One Earns Self-Respect, and the Respect of Others

Payment comes in different forms. Time, energy, intellectual attention and patience are all legal tender; most dues are paid in combinations of those items. And rarely do we figure the love of doing something into the equation, but love and passion are powerful in finding the resources to make the payment.

Many of my dues have been paid in areas other than design. I paid many, many dues in church. When one comes from a schismatic family (dad raised Catholic and mom Evangelical-although a backslider), you either never see the inside of a house of worship or you spend half of your young life there. I fell into the latter group. Mass at eight on Sunday, and then Southern Baptist Sunday School followed by the church service and later a social. Wednesday was prayer meeting and Friday a dance sponsored by St. Mary's Teen Center. You get the picture. I know my bible history.

I also paid my dues driving a truck, as a florist's assistant, working as a dig manager on archeological sites and traveling with little or no money, making it up as I went. What I learned making those payments I am thankful for every day. In design, my dues paying began in my seventh grade print shop where Mr. Tallerico ruled his kingdom of thirteen year olds like a stern pontiff. Unlocking the mysteries of the intaglio process, and drilling us on the order of type in the California job cases, he provided both ethos and pathos, along with lore and nomenclature and process. He loved the history of printing, and I'm sure delighted in describing to us what would happen if we ever caught our little hands under the chase of the press. He earned my respect and taught me mine.

Twenty-five years ago, I spent two years as a designer in Michael Manwaring's office. While his technique for instilling important information was less dramatic than my print teacher's, the lessons were nonetheless sublime. Michael has a profound talent and a subtle and deep sense of humor. He made hard work a pleasure through his passion for the process. I had the opportunity to do big projects and work internationally. But most importantly, he showed me how design can be a rewarding personal journey. Paying ones dues is not about a price of admission to some guild or institution either official or unofficial. It is not for the edification of other people. It does not prove to anyone else that you are qualified. Paying dues is all about, and for, the payer. The payments go to that internal respect account in your head and heart.

Michael Patrick Cronan
cronandesign, Berkley, CA