So, it’s been forever since I last wrote…
Classes have begun…ipso facto my brain hurts. I remember being a freshman and loving the first week of classes, they were so easy. Twenty minute long classes, the teacher reads the syllabus and you blow the whole day off. This time around…as a senior it’s a far different approach. A huge part of me was super excited about the prospect of new work and the enlightenment result of a successful course. However, the other part of me dreaded the aspect of returning from my workaholic comatose, which quite obviously kept me from academic thought.
This is an interesting switch of approach to me. While at home (on break) and working (as hard as people make it out to be) it doesn’t require much of us. Basic skills such as driving, smiling, using a calculator, organizing etc… Day in and day out people work retail in the same monotonous motions. Not until today have I realized that has a large part to do with why I choose a creative outlet for my future career. While this “academic process” of continually developing/creating will probably kill me eventually…Id rather be dead by my passions, than by the uniformity of anything that stifles our natural ingenuity.
END. Give me feedback.
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Dear J. Flagg,
ReplyDeleteLet me apologize now for the the ensuing rant.
I'm curious/interested/nervous about growing up.
They (What an interesting term. Who are "they?" Society? Can "we" really refer to "them" that way? Aren't we "them?" Do "we" think we're deserving of a different label; everyone else is responsible--black, white, men, women, democrats, republicans--but we're not like "them." "We're" the only ones who see past the hegemony and we want no part of it...but everyone refers to "them." To everyone else, you are "them.") always tell us that we're preparing for something. Pre-school prepares us for school, school prepares us for "the real word," "the real word" prepares us for the afterlife and there are infinite preparations in between. But here I sit, trying to pay my credit card, balance my check book, make dinner, and clean my apartment--the same things I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life (unless, unforeseen to me, I will be lucky enough to have a young, overeducated, underpaid assistant take care of all that)--and I worry that I won't be able to handle the monotony of everyday life. If and when kids and a husband enter the equation, there will be even more scheduled events in my life. That's not to say there won't be surprises along the way. I know there will be, but I also know I won't be able to see the South of France, the ruins of Rome, take an impromptu trip to Montreal or go for a walk without having to call a babysitter. I'm afraid that a humdrum job isn't the only thing I have to be afraid of.
They say travel while you're young, but let's be serious, they're also telling you to think about your future. Prepare your resume, prepare yourself for a job, prepare yourself while you enter the working world in this economy. How can we travel when we have to work all summer to ensure a good job? How can we have it all? Can we have it all?
I consider myself lucky. I've seen some places and I know I'll have the opportunity to see at least a few more but I also know others aren't so fortunate. I think becoming a worldly person and experiencing other cultures is an important part of one's personal growth. If I'm afraid of a future of monotony and not being well travelled enough, I can only imagine how other's must feel. It's actually even scarier to think that they may see no problem with any of that. But maybe it's just me. Maybe all they want to know is the continental United States, one man or woman, 2.5 children, and a 9 to 5 job. To each his own I suppose.
I guess what I'm trying to say is there is more to worry about than a boring career. We can make life interesting, sure, but we can't escape the redundancy of some of life's mandatories and we won't know if it'll be too much for us until it's too late to do anything about it.
To quote Brand New, "Back at school they never taught us what we needed to know." Maybe, in order to prepare us for "the real world" colleges should offer the classes the likes of which I've only ever seen on T.V.--those classes where you need to start a family, manage finances, take care of a baby...Maybe before I learn first hand whether married life is more like "Married With Children" than "7th Heaven" I should see how I might handle it. I won't even request compensation from the colleges that charge $1,500 per credit for my brain child course--let's call it encouragement. I'm sure it will be more useful than "The History of Germanic Tribes" to many students.
Maybe I'm exaggerating and I should suck it up. No one in past years knew what they were getting into so why should the future be any different? I guess I just thought it might prevent a few cases of dumpster babies or divorces or tax evasion cases. Oh well.
Once again, I apologize for the rant.
Lynn Marie Burke.