Working Girl

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Alright, I just got an e-mail from the editor of the paper, talking about Training Week!  I feel so nervous right now.  It's one of those moments when I start to think maybe this wasn't my best idea ever.  Ah!  And we have to come early, probably 3 days for me, being a columnist, so I have to get info. to him soon so I can move in early! Man I feel like a fish out of water - I've never done this before.  But, trying not to feel alarmed.  Oh yeah, and I have to do something online if it's a paid position, but I don't know if it is!  How awkward is it going to be to shoot him an e-mail like, "hey, yeah, I was just wondering, are you paying me for this?"  Well, I guess change is always scary.  It never seems as scary when you're hoping for it or planning for it or whatever.  It's scary when it gets down to it and you actually have responsibilities!  But I will be strong and I will look to the bright side of this.  I'm so excited to be a columnist!  And it won't look bad on my resume.  ; )

Summer Goings-on: an Update

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Okay, so I wrote an entire post a couple of days ago and right when I went to post it, I got an error message saying that it had tried to post it at the same time, or something ridiculous like that.  Anyway, the entire post somehow got deleted, even though this site saves my posts every couple of minutes or so as I type.  Weirdness. Anyway, I wrote some stuff about respect and junk, which I'm sure to rewrite at some later point but which I haven't the energy to rewrite at the moment.  


News:  we have a cat.  Her name is Katie and she is super friendly.  She's black and gray and must be kind of young still because she's kind of tiny.  My dad told me she was the runt in the litter, though, so she may stay small.  She was my cousin's but she had to give her up because of allergies.  I worry about her a little because she doesn't seem to eat a lot, unless you give her canned food, of course.  But we seem to be out of that for now.  We'll see.  I have to remember to call and have someone go check on her tomorrow as I am currently at James' house.  We still don't have internet at home and I have yet to visit the library in town.  However, I plan on going there soon to get a card and check out a few books.  


I have no idea how the job thing is going to work out.  I didn't get the secretary job at the rehab place near Jamie's house.  But there's a Save-a-lot opening near our house, so I might have a chance there.  Unfortunately, both of us live in small towns with few places to find jobs.  We'll see.  If I can't get a job, I'll have to start a book or something.  I've been meaning to do it for ever, so I might as well do it now when I have nothing else to do.  I also think I'll head down to the library most days to read the newspaper and probably update the blog.  And check my facebook because I am addicted, unfortunately.  


I'm just hoping to stave off that summer feeling of uselessness and lethargy that seems to overcome me every year.  I can't wait until I no longer have to spend the summers lazing about at home and I can actually get a real job - all year round!  Actually, when I (hopefully) get into grad school, I'll have classes year-round and you're actually not supposed to get a job while in the program so you can focus on it.  Plus, you have so much to do, there really isn't any time.  There's clinic hours, classes, research projects, a thesis, and a dissertation to keep you busy.  No one needs a job on top of that!  Plus you get a tuition waiver and usually get a stipend in Ph.D. programs.


Well, it's late.  This has been just a post about my life, I suppose.  I guess I should write more of these.  The opinion pieces are more interesting and more my preferred posting style, but I think it's nice to get some of the real-life everyday stuff in here, too.  Well, adieu for now.  Until tomorrow, or perhaps a later date.  


And I almost forgot!  I got the job on the paper, so as of Fall 2011 I shall be a real life Columnist!  I'm so excited.  I think it's going to be a real adventure. 

Pick a Job, any Job

Today I feel like I hit a wall.  I feel like I've known for a while now what I want to do with my life.  At least, I knew I wanted to do something in psychology.  Before it was counseling, then it was clinical, and now what?  Well, I've become so passionate about women's issues that I realized I need to incorporate this and other social issues into my career.  But psychology is focused mostly on the individual and I'm talking massive social change here.  Is there a way to incorporate the two?


I'm going to come back to my personal career struggle later.  I think this is a problem for a lot of young people in college.  We go through high school, putzing around, maybe trying to get good grades, but with little direction.  Suddenly, in college, we have to pick a major - out of thin air sometimes.  Then, if we want a higher degree, we have to specialize even more, which can be a nightmare if you have ill-defined interests or very general ones.  So if you have broad interests, how do you pick a specialty?  The career world, at least from my perspective, seems a lot more specialized and specific than I ever imagined before college.  


Really, I think most kids are ill-prepared for making these decisions.  It's like going from a kid with no cares, to suddenly being a full-fledged adult who has to make life-altering decisions with little help (like career decisions!) and who is responsible for those decisions and all of their actions (many of which had few consequences for them as a kid).


College is a beautiful thing.  We grow and change, open our minds up to new ideas and ways of thinking about the world.  But in the midst of the bombardment of new ideas and developing interests, we have to figure out a very narrow set of interests which we will pursue for the rest of our lives!  No pressure, though.  It drives me a bit crazy some times, honestly.


So what do I want to do?  I want to be a part of social change for the poor, for women, and for minorities.  I want to work with people in therapy.  I want to give tests, do interviews, get creative in therapy with writing, art, and a bajillion other things.  Is there any way I can put all these things together?  


Earlier I was thinking of other jobs I could do regarding my social interests - politician, sociologist, social worker, experimental psychologist, journalist, professional writer.  But I have this hesitancy to leave the field that I've come to know and have fallen in love with.  Do I really want to start over in a completely new field?  I don't think I do.  Because I really do love psychology.  And a search earlier today has given me some hope.  There's a program at BGSU for clinical-community psychology, the description of which perfectly describes me.  


I feel excited about the thought of this program, but these Ph.D. programs are ridiculously hard to get into.  What if I don't make the cut?  I'll have to keep searching for other programs that fit.  And trust my decision, and my abilities, in the end.


Songs/ albums I listened to while writing this:  Haunted by Holly Brook, Death Cab for Cutie (Plans)

A New Mystique?

Alright everyone! Here's the sample column I submitted with my application.  Let me know what you think of it!  And wish me luck!!

Last semester, my RA gave everyone on my hall a survey to fill out and post next to our doors. It had the standard get-to-know you type questions, but it also asked, “What are your hopes for the future?” I gave this a lot of thought and answered, “To become a Clinical Psychologist, run my own business, and publish my writing.”

Over the next few weeks, I noticed that most other girls wrote variations of “I hope to marry a hot guy and have kids.” I was amazed that the majority of the 60 girls on my hall seemed to have no hopes for the future besides marriage and children. I’m not saying that these are unworthy aspirations for a young woman – but they are certainly not ambitions.

This trend makes me a little dubious. Are many young women still coming to college just to find a husband? This is the 21^st century! We are way past the tight-laced Victorian era, the fight for women’s suffrage, the “Holly Homemakers” of the 50’s, the era of the Feminine Mystique! Yet many young women still don’t have well-defined ambitions for the future.

Maybe I’m wrong that their only wish is to get married and have kids, but this trend at least brings to light a surprising lack of goals for the future among young college girls. After all those years of fighting for women’s rights as equals in the workplace and in the political arena, a lot of women still show ambivalence at best toward the idea of committing to a career. And this commitment plays a vital role in forming our identities as individuals moving in the larger world.

Feminism is becoming a dirty word again, but ladies, we still have a long way to go. When I attended Susan Faludi’s talk on feminism earlier this semester, she explained that women today still earn 15% less than men doing the same work, and they still work the same top 10 jobs as 30 years ago, most of which are not full-commitment careers.

I want to see more young women aspiring to be doctors, lawyers, scientists, businesswomen. I want to see more women breaking into male-dominated fields. I want to see more women pushing themselves to stretch their boundaries and test their intelligence through challenging careers. Yes, more and more women are achieving this, but many people today ignore the fact that we still have more progress to make.

We live in a time in which having a family and investing ourselves into challenging careers don’t have to be mutually exclusive. So let’s break free of the stereotypes and let ourselves become immersed in an exciting and fulfilling career, too.

Let’s cast aside the fear of failure, ignore the people who say we can’t, and take hold of our futures, push our boundaries, expand our minds, and enter that crazy, scary, exciting world of work with our heads held high – because we are women, and nothing can stop us, not even ourselves.