"The experimentation with downward social mobility continues." That is a really shallow and arrogant way of starting an entry, but it was the first thing to come to mind. I don't mean to be arrogant with respect to those who work hard to move up (or stay afloat). You can read my whole mobility quandary in the entry before, but I mean that opening sentence in the least offensive way possible.
I still work close to full-time hours at my current position, and it's nice to see faces I haven't seen, play a little catch-up. It's a bit of a grind, where everything becomes routine: Greeting, Ask Questions, Make Conversation, Type in some stuff, Goodbyes. It becomes standardized, automatic.
So I really enjoy it when a thoroughly organic conversation arises. I ask people about their apparel, their books, their first week back, usually standard conversation-openers. But then, every now and then, a stimulating exchange occurs and for a brief minute, I'm reminded of the spontaneity of dialogue.
(Random intermission: Blogger apparently does not recognize "dialogue" as a word because whenever I type it in, the red squiggly lines that indicate a misspelling appear. Which is ironic because...well, isn't the point of blogs to increase dialogue? To foment exchange among individuals?)
I feel more confident as a result of this job, partly because of the fulfillment derived from any sort of positive production (money), but also because of the unique satisfaction I gain from this particular job, where I have to constantly interact with people and challenge myself, put myself out there. It's really a great mini-ethnography, where you observe people, pick up hints, and take into account everything. Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong, but it's strangely stimulating...if I'm not too much in "computer mode" where I automatically regurgitate lines, usually at the end of the day when I'm on a blood-sugar low.
Sigh, a strong part of me feels like I'd ALMOST take this job for free, just from all of the social cues and interaction and experience I am gaining (and probably should have gained five years ago) but I'm definitely in this for the money, and I just got my first paycheck, so I am happy about that.
Wednesdays and Fridays are my only days off, so I want to do some work then, but I just end up lazing about because I want to recharge my batteries. But I have an internship with a magazine coming up! Which...well, takes up my Wednesdays and Fridays. So I could be going 9:30-5:30 every day. This could get interesting...
The more career-oriented job hunt goes on. I have an interview next week which I'm excited about, and I have a couple of places whom I'm still waiting to hear from. I still have AsianWeek and Hyphen articles in the work, and I'm still doing stuff for the SFBG.
Clips for this week's issue of the Guardian, which includes previews of Keak da Sneak, Doin' It In The Park, and DJ Funk. I'm excited about DJ Funk, a Sunday show, I'm going to see if I can make it to the other events, but I still have some typing to do, and I still have Cal v. Tennessee to attend. Packed Labor Day weekend ahead.
Until next time...
Friday, August 31, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
My feet are wrought of balsa
First, a preview in the Guardian of
lyricist MF Doom and
comedian Lewis Black (scroll down). Both aren't my best work, and to be honest, I did like the preview of Doom's show in The Onion, San Francisco edition. But I was tired and busy and yada yada yada.
Speaking of busy, it's tough trying to look for a career-oriented job while working a pay-the-bills job at the same time. In a sense, I asked for it. I wanted to know more about working nearly 40 hours a week, while trying to work late nights, while seeking a career. Part of me, sick as it may sound, wanted to deliberately struggle, to have aches and mental fatigue from a long day at work. I think to myself that I've been kind of spoiled, I don't really appreciate how hard my parents work. So I'm trying to re-create that sort of atmosphere...it's hard to describe. I want to make ends meet, but I also want to see what it's like when I don't have the luxury of waking up at noon, taking 2 classes, then falling back asleep. My mom thinks I'm insane, because I'm going backwards from what many kids seem to want, to either perpetuate or improve upon their current lifestyle. This holds especially true for children of immigrants. Upon arriving here, many newcomers have little, and try to stress the importance of hard work and school to their kids. The kids, in turn, attempt to gain some sort of upward social mobility.
Yet, in a sense, I am going "backwards." Why? Well, part of it is out of necessity as I do need some money. But there is also a strange curiosity for me in working a 12-hour day. It's as if I am really earning my money, and my body could not agree with me more. My entire lower body pulsates with soreness.
What's weird is that I can feel a transformation taking place, I am becoming more confident and battle-tested, I spark conversations, I weather difficulties. Even as I wear and tear my body, physically and mentally, I feel myself getting stronger. It's kind of like mental football practice, the constant, intense grind builds and builds and builds muscles that you didn't even know you had. I can almost feel new muscles forming, tightening, bulging.
The problem is, what's the cost? I'm dead tired, but have to leave my apartment at 7:30 tomorrow morning. I had no weekend to speak of (work on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so working on weekend nighs is not highly recommended).
I plan on trying this out for a little bit of time (fist job= temp). Hope I can parlay some of the money and job skills to something bigger and better.
lyricist MF Doom and
comedian Lewis Black (scroll down). Both aren't my best work, and to be honest, I did like the preview of Doom's show in The Onion, San Francisco edition. But I was tired and busy and yada yada yada.
Speaking of busy, it's tough trying to look for a career-oriented job while working a pay-the-bills job at the same time. In a sense, I asked for it. I wanted to know more about working nearly 40 hours a week, while trying to work late nights, while seeking a career. Part of me, sick as it may sound, wanted to deliberately struggle, to have aches and mental fatigue from a long day at work. I think to myself that I've been kind of spoiled, I don't really appreciate how hard my parents work. So I'm trying to re-create that sort of atmosphere...it's hard to describe. I want to make ends meet, but I also want to see what it's like when I don't have the luxury of waking up at noon, taking 2 classes, then falling back asleep. My mom thinks I'm insane, because I'm going backwards from what many kids seem to want, to either perpetuate or improve upon their current lifestyle. This holds especially true for children of immigrants. Upon arriving here, many newcomers have little, and try to stress the importance of hard work and school to their kids. The kids, in turn, attempt to gain some sort of upward social mobility.
Yet, in a sense, I am going "backwards." Why? Well, part of it is out of necessity as I do need some money. But there is also a strange curiosity for me in working a 12-hour day. It's as if I am really earning my money, and my body could not agree with me more. My entire lower body pulsates with soreness.
What's weird is that I can feel a transformation taking place, I am becoming more confident and battle-tested, I spark conversations, I weather difficulties. Even as I wear and tear my body, physically and mentally, I feel myself getting stronger. It's kind of like mental football practice, the constant, intense grind builds and builds and builds muscles that you didn't even know you had. I can almost feel new muscles forming, tightening, bulging.
The problem is, what's the cost? I'm dead tired, but have to leave my apartment at 7:30 tomorrow morning. I had no weekend to speak of (work on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so working on weekend nighs is not highly recommended).
I plan on trying this out for a little bit of time (fist job= temp). Hope I can parlay some of the money and job skills to something bigger and better.
Monday, August 6, 2007
What I'm Reading...
Sports Illustrated's Peter King. The guy writes about training camps and how much he loves traveling and meeting people; this edition of Monday Morning QB might as well been a travel profile about middle America. He even mentions how he gets paid doing what he loves. What a job.
An illuminating article on one woman's hustle by Novella Carpenter . Can you think of a better name for a writer? In her blog, she experiments with consuming only food produced in her "mini-farm"...in Oakland. Farming must be hard enough in a natural landscape, but to produce food in an urban environment? An insightful experience.
For California magazine, author Pico Iyer profiles Cuba, vibrant and rife with contradictions in this modern day. Something about the prose really appeals to me. Perhaps it is the article's subject, an "exotic" country. Perhaps it is how Iyer "humanizes" Cuba, endows the country with personality through its citizens, its people (he helps an individual gain political asylum in the US, only to see him delve into underground elements here). I'm not really sure, but something about how Iyer travels, how he manages to pick up things here and there, is really enticing. I hope to pick up his other works to see if he maintains this prose in longer works.
Oh, Silly Newspaper Websites...
Corporations and moguls continue to cripple our great newspapers. Consolidation and resource-sharing have stripped newsrooms and newsprint of their uniqueness, leaving them standardized and predictable. The desire to meet specific and immovable profit margins overrides the demand for well-trained professionals who offer nuanced reporting and editing.
Nowhere is this more evident than a newspaper's website. All I want to do is find an internship deadline and an application at some of the nation's leading dailies. And yet, wave after wave of fruitless links frustrate me to no end. My fist rolled in a ball, I resist launching a flurry of hooks at the mocking computer screen.
See, newspapers aren't going to offer crappy-paying internships up front. They're going to hide them, seclude them, surround them with links on news, then weather, then local, then business, then sports, then classifieds. Ho oh, the classifieds. You think that would be the place to find a job at your desired newspaper, but STAY YOUR TYPING FINGER, my friend. The "Jobs" link only leads to a forum for local jobs THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH JOURNALISM. Tricky, my elusive editing employers.
Instead, one must wade into the muck of the "Contact Us" or "About Us" sections, where a library of information awaits on various editors, columnists, reporters, or on the history, values, and direction of the paper. Don't click on "JOBS"!!!...Persist, and you will find that loving, alluring phrase: "Employment Opportunities (at the Fill-in-Newspaper)."
There is what you seek! But wait, more distractions! Do not heed the call for a newspaper delivery boy, those unsung heroes who rise at some godforsaken hour. Your goal awaits!
There! Internships!!! Arrrrgh, but more frustrations! Snail mail contact only?!! No phone? No e-mail! Surely a ploy!!!
Re-route to google, type in name, find some info, cross-check information...Voila! Contact information updated for the 21st century!
NOW to send in that preliminary interest e-mail to the corresponding editor...only to wait a probable month for a response.
Like they say,it's not what you know, it's who you don't bludgeon as you search for a newspaper internship.
Some tips on my journey:
Look up college sites on internships or entry-level jobs. I found some stuff on UC Berkeley's Journalism School website, but also found some good info. on NYU's and Columbia's schools of journalism.
Be persistent. Many newspapers have similar layouts, since they're owned by the same big company. Use that to your advantage. Look for familiar phrases like "About us" (code for Human Resources).
Make a list. Keep the newspapers you're interested in on some nice, handy, easy-to-refer-to list. Make a checklist to ensure you're checking up on these publications every so often.
Nowhere is this more evident than a newspaper's website. All I want to do is find an internship deadline and an application at some of the nation's leading dailies. And yet, wave after wave of fruitless links frustrate me to no end. My fist rolled in a ball, I resist launching a flurry of hooks at the mocking computer screen.
See, newspapers aren't going to offer crappy-paying internships up front. They're going to hide them, seclude them, surround them with links on news, then weather, then local, then business, then sports, then classifieds. Ho oh, the classifieds. You think that would be the place to find a job at your desired newspaper, but STAY YOUR TYPING FINGER, my friend. The "Jobs" link only leads to a forum for local jobs THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH JOURNALISM. Tricky, my elusive editing employers.
Instead, one must wade into the muck of the "Contact Us" or "About Us" sections, where a library of information awaits on various editors, columnists, reporters, or on the history, values, and direction of the paper. Don't click on "JOBS"!!!...Persist, and you will find that loving, alluring phrase: "Employment Opportunities (at the Fill-in-Newspaper)."
There is what you seek! But wait, more distractions! Do not heed the call for a newspaper delivery boy, those unsung heroes who rise at some godforsaken hour. Your goal awaits!
There! Internships!!! Arrrrgh, but more frustrations! Snail mail contact only?!! No phone? No e-mail! Surely a ploy!!!
Re-route to google, type in name, find some info, cross-check information...Voila! Contact information updated for the 21st century!
NOW to send in that preliminary interest e-mail to the corresponding editor...only to wait a probable month for a response.
Like they say,it's not what you know, it's who you don't bludgeon as you search for a newspaper internship.
Some tips on my journey:
Look up college sites on internships or entry-level jobs. I found some stuff on UC Berkeley's Journalism School website, but also found some good info. on NYU's and Columbia's schools of journalism.
Be persistent. Many newspapers have similar layouts, since they're owned by the same big company. Use that to your advantage. Look for familiar phrases like "About us" (code for Human Resources).
Make a list. Keep the newspapers you're interested in on some nice, handy, easy-to-refer-to list. Make a checklist to ensure you're checking up on these publications every so often.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Nihonmachi and Pistahan
Check out my previews of Nihonmachi and Pistahan as published on AsianWeek.
I'm grateful to AsianWeek for giving me the opportunity to write about two premier cultural events in the Bay Area. My thanks to Marsha Nunotani and Grace Horikiri of Nihonmachi and Luz de Leon of Pistahan for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk to me.
I'm grateful to AsianWeek for giving me the opportunity to write about two premier cultural events in the Bay Area. My thanks to Marsha Nunotani and Grace Horikiri of Nihonmachi and Luz de Leon of Pistahan for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk to me.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Hey, I'm published!
Ok, so it's a couple 100 words, but it counts right?
A preview of DJ Icey's show at Mighty in SF
Author and Washingotn Post correspondent Thomas Ricks talks about his new book, Fiasco
I haven't checked out this week's version of AsianWeek yet, but my article on two Asian American festivals should be in there. Nihonmanchi and Pistahan are coming up on the weekend of August 11-12, and the coordinators whom I talked to could not be nicer. Cultural immersion, fun activities, free food, it's all there, so I recommend that anyone and everyone go.
I had an interview last Friday that I thought went well, but I have not heard a call back from them. Lesson: Never overestimate. Be realistic. I'm going to call and check out what's up.
Off to Fresno for some family stuff this weekend, but I have an interview coming up and a Hyphen meeting coming up, so I'm looking forward to that. Look for me to start ranting and raving on their blog. Plus, I just finished this gigantic application process for a big journalism program, so I'm stoked about that.
Until next time.
A preview of DJ Icey's show at Mighty in SF
Author and Washingotn Post correspondent Thomas Ricks talks about his new book, Fiasco
I haven't checked out this week's version of AsianWeek yet, but my article on two Asian American festivals should be in there. Nihonmanchi and Pistahan are coming up on the weekend of August 11-12, and the coordinators whom I talked to could not be nicer. Cultural immersion, fun activities, free food, it's all there, so I recommend that anyone and everyone go.
I had an interview last Friday that I thought went well, but I have not heard a call back from them. Lesson: Never overestimate. Be realistic. I'm going to call and check out what's up.
Off to Fresno for some family stuff this weekend, but I have an interview coming up and a Hyphen meeting coming up, so I'm looking forward to that. Look for me to start ranting and raving on their blog. Plus, I just finished this gigantic application process for a big journalism program, so I'm stoked about that.
Until next time.
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