60 SECONDS LATER
This time last year I was writing letters to Susan Brandt, CEO of Seuss Enterprises, asking for an internship. I spent weeks composing letters for an opportunity that did not even exist. I spent midnights reading and rereading the letter I would send the next day over sleep. I already knew what I was doing was practically impossible. Seuss Enterprises offers no internships and for all I knew each letter was being tossed in the mail- only they weren’t. The CEO of a multi million dollar enterprise called me, Susan Brandt responded to my letters. It was hardly in the way that I hoped or expected, and the phone call lasted a mere 60 seconds. A lot can happen in a minute, can’t it? A lot can be undone and a lot can begin. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, I had no control over those 60 seconds. I had no control over what was said to me or the final response. But when the phone clicked and the 60 second conversation was over? Well, they may not have been mine, but the 60 seconds after were. There are a lot of 60 seconds we can’t control, but the 60 seconds after are always ours.
Today would have been Dr. Seuss’ 114th birthday.
Today is 60 seconds later.
A world of whimsy and wonder we all know because of one man’s imagination. Countless moments created around ridiculous rhymes and colorful truffulas trees. Not only did he create classics for both children and adults, he completely revolutionized the children’s publishing industry. Overloading it with creative and practical books with simple, repetitive words capable of teaching young children to read. Today is a day to celebrate Horton hearing a who. To celebrate when the star bellied sneetches gave up their differences to welcome the other sneetches. It’s a day to remember the dangers of a Thing 1 and a Thing 2 and the courage of a young turtle named Yertle- and let’s not forget that cat in the hat or what we saw on mulberry street. Seuss created worlds of wonder for us all to enjoy.
Before he was Dr. Seuss he was known as Theodore Seuss Geisel, Seuss being his mother’s maiden name. He started signing his contributions to his college newspaper as Seuss after the school threatened to kick him off the editorial staff when he was caught drinking with his friends. Which during the prohibition was more than socializing, it was scandalous. ‘Seuss’ was the perfect balance, the newspaper could still print his articles and cartoons while preserving their reputation. The PhD of his name came after graduating college with an english degree and applying for the doctorate program at Oxford. Before acceptance he told his dad he had won a scholarship to attend, news which his dad promptly shared with his entire hometown in the Springfield newspaper. Only it was 60 seconds too soon, Seuss did not receive the scholarship but his father was too embarrassed to tell the truth so he sent Seuss away to Oxford anyways.
He only made it through a year of school there, he was constantly doodling in class and rarely paying attention. Finally one of his classmates, Helen Palmer, looked at him in the middle of class and point blank asked him, ‘Why are you even here?’. He didn’t have an answer so he quit school. 60 seconds later he married that girl from class and they moved to New York where he began working in advertising and as an editorial cartoonist. He added 'Dr.' to compensate for the doctorate he should have gotten.
He wasn’t trained to make children laugh or create whimsical memories. He didn’t have a degree to teach him or define the rules. He simply had a story to tell. Only it didn’t fit any of the publishing standards at the time. It was too out there, too different, unlike anything that was on the market. Which is why 27 publishers rejected it. Twenty seven 60 second moments he had no control over, and twenty six 60 second moments where he chose to try again. It takes guts and gumption to stand by your dream for that long and through that much rejection, but 27 was his limit. After the last rejection he was heading home to burn, ‘And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street’, when he ran into an old college friend who had just become the editor at a publishing house. It only took another 60 second moment for that yes.
60 seconds later he was an up and coming children’s author and illustrator. His first book followed by the 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins was successful, he had made it, right? Until his third book, ‘The Seven Lady Godivas’, was a complete and utter flop. It was such a failure that articles and even his own books don’t list it as one of his publications at all anymore and most people don't even know it exists.
What if he had stopped there?
Sam I Am would have never tried those green eggs and ham. Would the cat have ever had a hat? Oh, would there have been places for us to go?
What if he hadn’t claimed the 60 seconds later?
He may not have, but at that point in his career- after 27 rejections, a failed oxford scholarship, and a newspaper that didn’t want to claim him- he had developed a habit of 60 seconds later.
Of not giving up, of trying again.
Maybe it’s not so much the moments or the rejections we can’t determine, but the 60 seconds after that count the most. The 60 seconds that we spend developing habits of persistence. The 60 seconds that we spend trying again. It’s our decision, it’s our 60 seconds.
These days, it’s my 60 seconds. Not Susan Brandt’s, not the college I never got a degree from, not what the publishing industry tells me I am unqualified to do. Those moments have certainly happened, but 60 seconds later I am still dreaming.
60 seconds later, what are you doing?