Showing posts with label careers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label careers. Show all posts
"Find ways to be unemployed, doing nothing, finding enough time on your hands, after you've met your basic needs, to wander into unknown realms of thought and imagination."
"You can't do it when you're busy working like everyone else, collecting a paycheck, keeping regular hours, depending on the goodwill and collegiality of customers, coworkers, bosses — if you choose employment in academia, it's no different, you still have clients and bosses to please. Avoid this gentle poison by figuring out ways you can mock the system by taking from it what it needs to give you to maintain your writing, and give it nothing back in return."
From Anis Shivani's "New Rules for Writers," specifically, Rule #4: "Seek Unemployment."
ADDED: I had a link to a book of Shivani's before. The link is corrected. There's a whole, very interesting article to read!
AND: Thanks to Instapundit for linking — "ADVICE TO WRITERS: Go John Galt?" — and getting me to notice my bad link. Perhaps the trend of the comments will change with the whole context of the quote and the cue from Glenn to think in Randian terms.
From Anis Shivani's "New Rules for Writers," specifically, Rule #4: "Seek Unemployment."
ADDED: I had a link to a book of Shivani's before. The link is corrected. There's a whole, very interesting article to read!
AND: Thanks to Instapundit for linking — "ADVICE TO WRITERS: Go John Galt?" — and getting me to notice my bad link. Perhaps the trend of the comments will change with the whole context of the quote and the cue from Glenn to think in Randian terms.
"There’s no news cycle anymore."
"You don’t want to be coming into the office at 8 a.m., and everyone is saying, 'Oh my God, can you believe what happened?' And you’re going, 'What happened?'"
Hmm. Do I need to get up really early in the morning to try to "win the day"? Or should I put stuff up at midnight to snag these creepy people who get up at 4 a.m.?
Hmm. Do I need to get up really early in the morning to try to "win the day"? Or should I put stuff up at midnight to snag these creepy people who get up at 4 a.m.?
"Some of the resumes that have come across my desk are from attorneys who have good skills and impressive work histories, and they are offering to work for free."
"Rather than sit at home with no salary and nothing to do, many of these attorneys are offering to work for free in exchange for something to put on their resumes. Their strategy is to keep their resumes fresh with the hopes of finding something long term."
Are you looking for a law job — facing competition like that?
Via Instapundit, who says: "It’s like there’s some kind of . . . higher education bubble . . . that’s bursting or something."
Are you looking for a law job — facing competition like that?
Via Instapundit, who says: "It’s like there’s some kind of . . . higher education bubble . . . that’s bursting or something."
Dean search!
Come on all you brilliant, underutilized lawprofs. You know you want to step up to the new level of bliss that is life among the lefties of Madison, Wisconsin.
"The worst thing I ever smelled was a 40-yard dumpster full of shrimp shells fermenting outside of a cannery in Kodiak."
"I came very close to losing my lunch. You could actually see a heavier-than-air fog of ammonia rolling out of the top of the bin, but I wasn't allowed to puke. I worked for the company that picked up all the cannery offal and recycled it into useful products. I actually deserve some kind of eco-medal."
Said Tyrone Slothrop at 8:33 PM in the comments on my post mocking the notion that it's romantic to roast lobster on a stick in your fireplace. That made me 1. wonder what's the worst thing I've ever smelled and 2. realize I'd never smelled anything truly awful. I remember one time, back in the 70s in NYC, we bought some expensive cheese at Dean & DeLuca, and it smelled exactly like shit. We thought we were sophisticated. At first. When we ate it. Then we thought we were stupid. And we stopped eating it. But if you want to compare notes with Tyrone Slothrop, you've obviously got to come up with something that smells worse than shit.
Don't criticize me for writing a blog post on this subject. Do you realize that I'm not allowed to work today? I'm literally forbidden by the state. There was something I wanted to do too!
IN THE COMMENTS: Irene says: "I think furlough day is tomorrow??" Oh, that's true! It's Wednesday. I keep thinking it's Thursday. Okay, then. I'm all about transforming the syllabus!
Said Tyrone Slothrop at 8:33 PM in the comments on my post mocking the notion that it's romantic to roast lobster on a stick in your fireplace. That made me 1. wonder what's the worst thing I've ever smelled and 2. realize I'd never smelled anything truly awful. I remember one time, back in the 70s in NYC, we bought some expensive cheese at Dean & DeLuca, and it smelled exactly like shit. We thought we were sophisticated. At first. When we ate it. Then we thought we were stupid. And we stopped eating it. But if you want to compare notes with Tyrone Slothrop, you've obviously got to come up with something that smells worse than shit.
***
Don't criticize me for writing a blog post on this subject. Do you realize that I'm not allowed to work today? I'm literally forbidden by the state. There was something I wanted to do too!
IN THE COMMENTS: Irene says: "I think furlough day is tomorrow??" Oh, that's true! It's Wednesday. I keep thinking it's Thursday. Okay, then. I'm all about transforming the syllabus!
"Manhattan, the world's most famous melting pot, is losing its rich ethnic and racial diversity."
The new census figures show:
Overall, Manhattan's population has swelled by 5% to 1.6 million since 2000, and educated whites appear to account for the influx...According to the article, Manhattan is becoming, more and more, a place where educated white people pay a lot so they can work a lot: "This is type-A culture... It's a work-oriented, achievement-oriented island. Because of that they want to be near their offices, it's a huge benefit to productivity."
The white population rose by an estimated 11% to around 928,000 in the past decade...
At the same time, the number of blacks dropped by 6% to less than 250,000...
Between 2000 and 2010, whites went from 2% of Harlem's population to 9.8%. The black population shrank from 61.2% to 54.4% in the same period...
"Women follow rules better than men do, so the women do better in school."
"But, there is no correlation between doing well in school and doing well in adult life. And there might be a reverse correlation, because school is about doing what you’re told, but strong performers in business make their own rules. Maybe this is why most big law firms have no women in their top 10 rainmakers. This is because it’s an ill-defined, outside-the-rules-of-what-you-learn-in-law-school kind of job. But these are the people who make the money and have the flexibility to have a lifestyle they want outside of work—one not so hours-bound. So for women to really get the kind of workplace they want – flexible, responsive, and engaging, the women are going to need to break some rules."
Says Penelope Trunk, who advises men to encourage women to break the rules, assuming men want to make work better for women... in which case they should also display their forearms... because women like to look at men's forearms. Wait! Forearms? Rule-breaking? I'm picturing intra-office sexual affairs. That might make going to work incredibly exciting, but it makes work much more difficult.
But forearms aside, I do think Trunk is right about women, rules, school, and work.
Says Penelope Trunk, who advises men to encourage women to break the rules, assuming men want to make work better for women... in which case they should also display their forearms... because women like to look at men's forearms. Wait! Forearms? Rule-breaking? I'm picturing intra-office sexual affairs. That might make going to work incredibly exciting, but it makes work much more difficult.
But forearms aside, I do think Trunk is right about women, rules, school, and work.
Standardized testing has embarrassed teachers into facing the fact that they've been grading kids for compliance and pleasing.
That's what I extract from this pretty garbled NYT op-ed. And by garbled I mean stuff like this:
ADDED: I'm told that the Week In Review pieces like this are properly referred to as news "analysis," and not "op-eds."
“Over time, we began to realize that many teachers had been grading kids for compliance — not for mastering the course material,” [middle school principal Katie] Berglund said. “A portion of our A and B students were not the ones who were gaining the most knowledge but the ones who had learned to do school the best.”....How did the word "exclusively" get into that last question? It seems obvious to me that schools should give achievement in learning the primary place it deserves and should also demand appropriate behavior. Students need to be decently well-behaved, diligent, and organized, but it's wrong to treat teacher's-pet-type students as if they are the best. That drives many smart kids into rebellion. And, frankly, it's likely to create unnecessary problems for lots of boys. And it doesn't do girls any favors either, since real careers aren't about handing in all the homework and pleasing the authority figure.
As test scores fast become the single and most powerful measurement by which educational outcomes are being judged, more schools might find themselves engaged in what has become a pivotal debate: Should students be rewarded for being friendly, prepared, compliant, a good school citizen, well organized and hard-working? Or should good grades represent exclusively a student’s mastery of the material?
ADDED: I'm told that the Week In Review pieces like this are properly referred to as news "analysis," and not "op-eds."
"Normally when we think of happiness, we think of money and status, but Denmark teaches us the opposite lesson."
"There, you have a place where you are taxed to the mean. A cultural norm reminds everybody that they are no better than everybody else, so you're not going to choose your career path based on status. You're in a place where a garbage man makes as much as a lawyer. So what you have are 4 million people who excel at things like furniture design and architecture."
More from NPR.
More from NPR.
President Obama's back to school speech contained blatant lies...
... and if there were any students not bright enough to notice that they were hearing lies, the lies, in their particular cases, were, ironically, bigger lies. Check it out:
Even young people with more modest dreams — like getting a decent law job after getting good grades at an excellent law school — are not getting what they want. To say "nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is beyond your reach" is a blatant lie, and Barack Obama knows that very well. The assertion "I believe that" is on the level of Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar, adding "Yeahhh! That's the ticket!"
And even if economic times were not so miserable, Barack Obama's political philosophy would not be "Your future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it." That's the sort of thing Rush Limbaugh likes to say. If Obama believed that, he'd be all about reducing the role of government and unleashing private enterprise. He'd be a big right winger. Does he look at a poor person and say, his life is what he made it? Of course not.
Nobody gets to write your destiny but you. Your future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it. And nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is beyond your reach, so long as you’re willing to dream big, so long as you’re willing to work hard. So long as you’re willing to stay focused on your education, there is not a single thing that any of you cannot accomplish, not a single thing. I believe that.If you believe that, you are so dumb that your chances of controlling your own destiny are especially small. But it's absurd to tell kids that if only they dream big, work hard, and get an education, they can have anything they want. Do you know what kind of dream job kids today have? A recent Marist poll showed that 32% would like to be an actor/actress. 29% want to be a professional athlete. 13% want to be President of the United States. That's not going to happen.
Even young people with more modest dreams — like getting a decent law job after getting good grades at an excellent law school — are not getting what they want. To say "nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is beyond your reach" is a blatant lie, and Barack Obama knows that very well. The assertion "I believe that" is on the level of Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar, adding "Yeahhh! That's the ticket!"
And even if economic times were not so miserable, Barack Obama's political philosophy would not be "Your future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it." That's the sort of thing Rush Limbaugh likes to say. If Obama believed that, he'd be all about reducing the role of government and unleashing private enterprise. He'd be a big right winger. Does he look at a poor person and say, his life is what he made it? Of course not.
"At what point should you give up on your dream of becoming a lawyer?"
"It’s a question on many people’s minds lately. Whether they were laid off during the recession and haven’t been able to get back in, or if they’ve just graduated law school to the triumphant sounds of crickets, people are wondering when it’s time to stop throwing good money (and effort) after bad."
Above the Law, via Instapundit.
Above the Law, via Instapundit.
"Looking for confidential minded person that is a people person and well manicured."
"We do some work with the adult entertainment business so it is not for everyone. Looking for the classic super manicured secretary at a younger progressive firm."
A Craigslist ad... in need of interpretation.
What's with the double use of "manicured"? Are we to think of something like this (SFW!)?
A Craigslist ad... in need of interpretation.
What's with the double use of "manicured"? Are we to think of something like this (SFW!)?
"JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater emerges from jail, basks in new status as celebrity."
Americans, embrace the Celebrity of the Summer — the man who just couldn't take it anymore and got mad as hell. But please, do not attempt this path to celebrity. Everybody wants to be famous — except you, I know you, the reader who is about to post the indignant assertion that you don't want to be famous — and we can't have everybody freaking out all at once. That could get ugly. But Steven Slater, you have passed through the portal that separates ordinary life from the life of a celebrity. Dramatically, with the release of that jet plane escape slide, Slater has slid into our hearts.
So what does this say about us, that Slater is the man of the moment?
JetBlue suspended Slater even as Facebook fans began raising money for his legal defense and demanding he get his job back.The linked Daily News article includes a poll, which is running strongly in Slater's favor, with only 17% of respondents picking the negative option. 9% would even like to see him on a TV reality show. And if you cast your eyes to the right-hand margin to the top-10 "Most Read" list, you'll find stories about Slater ranking at #1 ("Carry-ons were JetBlue flight attendant's biggest turnoffs"), #2 ("JetBlue flight attendant basks in celebrity status"), #3 ("JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater is the toast of the online community"), #6 ("Molloy: Flight attendant does what we dream of doing"), #7 ("Molloy: Slater isn't first to pull one-finger salute"), and #8 ("Move over Sully! Workers unite around Steven Slater").
He has quickly become a global sensation. MySpace photos of him posing on planes - one with a Bud Light in his hand - hit the Internet.
So what does this say about us, that Slater is the man of the moment?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
