From Shoutout LA’s interview with Meryl Meisler:
During my freshman college semester, I aced an Art for Non-Art Majors class. The professor asked, “Have you ever considered becoming an Art Major?” My heart literally pounded. I called my parents to ask their permission to major in art. “As long as you get a teaching degree so, you can always make a living”. I majored in Art Education but was scared to teach. When I moved to NYC in 1975, I was a freelance illustrator for a few years. I rarely had to get up early in the morning and was entirely free to frequent and photograph the clubs popping up all around me. I applied for a Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) Artists Grant and worked 1978-79 for the American Jewish Congress, photographing Jewish NY and researching my family’s roots. Nights were still my own, and I continued exploring the Disco scene that was growing raunchier and more outrageous.