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Everything You Want to Be—All at Once

Isaac Richards used to feel pulled in different directions. Now he pursues almost every passion he has.

Photo of Brimhall Essay Winner Isaac James Richards.
Photo by Bradley Slade

Can you really get paid to do what you love? Especially for a creative person pursuing a degree in the humanities, you may have been told you won’t be able to find a career that feeds your soul and puts bread on the table. However, alumnus Isaac Richards (English MA ’24) disagrees. Richards grew up in what he deems the “English world,” with both parents teaching in the English Department at BYU-Idaho. He says that he put pressure on himself to pursue a path that would make him a good amount of money and decided to major in public relations as an undergrad. However, he eventually returned to his roots and pursued a master’s in English when he realized that what he truly loved was exploring the world through writing. After spending the last two years immersed in his studies, Richards will soon have the chance to be part of a New York City residency, an opportunity he knows will only deepen his love for the humanities and for his craft.

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Photo by Janko Ferlic on Unsplash

The residency—produced by the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts—will be filled to the brim with a variety of seasoned artists come October 2024. The Center describes itself as existing at the “. . . intersection of cultural relevance and divine creativity,” and it seeks out diverse Latter-day Saint creators to help them connect to a broader audience. Richards was first introduced to the residency through one of his friends who participated in 2023. He says that he wanted to do the residency because it looked “fun and cool.” After looking into it more, he realized that not only was it fun and cool, it would also give him the chance to hone his writing skills and further his career. So, he applied.

Applicants for the residency program write a series of essays, explaining themselves as artists and outlining the projects they expect to work on while at the Center. Richards plans to work on an essay collection exploring what he calls “the posthumous aesthetic”: the phenomenon of some authors only receiving notoriety after death.

Those, like Richards, who are accepted, work with artists from different backgrounds—such as choreographers, painters, and poets, as well as the Center’s staff for a year while they work on various art projects. Even though Richards says he has “never considered [himself] an artist,” he feels that this new outlook will push him to become better. He says, “Thinking of myself as [not just] a poet or an essayist [but] as someone who writes art is new for me and exciting. I think this will be a good next step in [my] journey.”

I understand and believe in the value of specialization, but I’ve tried to resist specializing for as long as possible.

Richards very carefully considers labels before he attaches them to his person, and even then, he is wary. He simply refers to himself as a writer—but in the broadest sense that exists. He says, “I understand and believe in the value of specialization, but I’ve tried to resist specializing for as long as possible.” Instead of focusing on one particular area of English, Richards focuses on many. He writes poetry, essays, books—whatever format will best work with an idea or concept.

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Photo by VD Photography on Unsplash

Richards says this mindset of being a “generalist” has allowed him to find many different opportunities, simply because they seem interesting and not because they fit within the narrow scope of what could be considered his professional identity. This has led him from digging on an excavation site in Jerusalem to becoming a viral sensation on YouTube for his ability to speak an uncommon Indian dialect called Telugu. He says, “I think you can tell from my very scattered career experience that I’m kind of an opportunist. Whatever opportunities come your way, you might as well shoot your shot.”

Richards says that he could not be more excited to work with the other artists and the staff that will be present during the residency and expressed how rewarding it has been for him to follow his passions in his career. He says, “The two criteria for a good career are one, do you love it? And two, will someone pay you to do it? So far, I have found that people will pay me to make YouTube videos and to travel to New York and to write poetry, and people will pay me to teach classes—and I love doing all of those things.”

To see more of Isaac Richards’s work, click here.

To learn more about the Center of Latter-day Saint Arts and the other residency attendees, click here.