You don't understand a bad job market until you're in it

I felt that my grasp of economics wasn't good enough, so I read articles, took econ class, talked to people, and did general research. I learned all about the history of panics, depressions, boom and bust cycles, laissez faire, Keynesian economics, Reaganomics, and more. I read op-eds blaming the Tea Party movement on the lack of jobs. I was no expert, but I knew about economics and the job market and something of how it all worked.

And then I tried to get a job for the summer. An internship, even. Something to get me on a schedule and out of the house. Make a tiny bit of money. Something to do- anything. My standards dropped lower and lower. I wrote query letters and heard nothing. Went to interviews where I was bluntly told that all the jobs had been filled but they could try to find me a little work to do. Went to interviews where they seemed to like me and never got back to me again.

Yes, I knew something before about economics and the job market. But now I feel what a bad job market means, for me and for my friends and individual citizens.

Testing your knowledge...?

Finals are boring me. I have overestimated my powers of concentration. That is all. There is only so long the human brain can remain focused on something that never really interested all that much in the first place. But it will all turn out okay in the end, I know, its just that the process is so dreadful. There has to be a better way of doing this. There has to.

I overheard someone in the dining hall tonight saying, "But it all turns out all right in the end, doesn't it? I mean, have you actually ever failed a class?"

No comment.

Good night to all (who are not taking finals) and to all a good night.

Dawn of the Vermin

This is just a quick post about a phenomenon I've noticed lately. After a relatively calm winter and early spring, the last two weeks have been absolutely infested. I've seen and heard about cases of cockroaches (two dead ones in the hall) mice, spiders, giant flying unidentified buggy-thing, and suchlike. Why all at once? What is the message in all this? What is the frequency of so-called little visitors trying to tell us?

Perhaps I should clean my room...

A Mouse's Schedule

A mentsch tracht und der Eibeshter lacht. Man plans and God laughs. An apt expression for what happened to me this morning. Not that I can spell in German or Yiddish or whatever language that is. (My friend, E, used to say it a lot.) Or, "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley," if you prefer. (I always liked that Robert Burns poem- can do part of it by heart in fact.)

So what's the laughing and the mice got to do with my first day of classes this semester? My schedule- my busy plan- it was full. But I liked it and was excited for all of my classes. And then I walk up to the door of the first one and get told I'm in the wrong section, I should be in a later class, which conflicts with my next class and basically half my plan just fell apart in a rude awakening.

So I told myself, "Get used to disappointment." (Ooh, Princess Bride, I am full of quotes today!) Better than anger or denial or whatever, acceptance is best, right? And I am sure it's for the best ultimately- my schedule was too hard before.

Now I think I'll go eat lunch and make an even better schedule this evening. One setback does not a disaster make. A schedule with any other class can be as sweet. Happiness is where you look for it. I'll have a great semester regardless, I hope.

The Smile Domino Effect

I walk down the main walk on my college's campus, and people look up, smile, wave if they know me. My aunt went to this college many years ago- and when I tried to tell her how people are so friendly here, she snorted in disbelief. "NO way. Not the same college as I went to." How did it change? Is it just the particular students in my year?

What gives a group its character? Who is the first person to smile at someone else, who then smiles at someone else, so on and so forth until everyone is actually nice to each other? If I had scowled at someone the first day, and that put them in a bad mood and they scowled at someone else...could that have broken the chain and now I would be living in a scowly, unfriendly enviroment? One of my own (unconcious) making?

How responsible are we for the enviroment we live in? And how much of it is out of our power?

A Flood of One's Own

This is a post inspired by showers. Showers designed by stupid people. Who wants to sit around all day designing showers, anyway? Someone has to, I guess, and the unfortunate people stuck with the task take out their frustration in petty vindictiveness.

The shower in my dorm reflects this. It has nothing to block a flood, so there is always a puddle on the floor after anyone uses it. Not to mention, the floor has a slope that would make a skier cry.
And the shower head brings to mind a diehard Republican in an election year: that is, although it would be better for it to be centered, it slides slowly and inexorably to the right. The curtain mostly- but not entirely- stays closed, so whenever someone opens the door you feel a blast of cold air and you have to double check to make sure the curtain stayed put. What's wrong with a door? A proper drain? Sorry, I shouldn't ask for such unreasonable things.

But any politician who wants to raise the pay of shower designers gets my vote. Or possibly lower it. I need to get back to studying Econ to figure that out.

What do we want? Reasonable Prices!

And when do we want them? Now!
Why are college textbooks so expensive? I don't understand why this gigantic rip-off has been allowed to go on. Constant "new and improved editions" with a few chapters shuffled around are being released, forcing used editions to become worthless to the student.
My extremely overpriced Economics textbook itself suggests that if textbooks were included in the price of tuition, colleges would negotiate with textbook publishers and prices would go down to better market rates.
Students who need the book for class at, eventually, any price, have no leverage to bargain with. I think the system needs reform. Drastic, extreme, and immediate. I'm tired of paying far more than the pathetic things are worth. And any reform should be before I graduate, preferably. But how to go about pushing for this?

Exactitude

I don't like vague answers, or history revisionists. If something is true, say it as such. Do not alter the facts to make your point, you will only confuse, annoy, or anger your students.

Case in point: When trying to show, as an example of leaders who go to war for defensive reasons, to protect their own borders, don't name, of all people, Hitler! And don't go specifically stating that "Hitler wanted to take over Europe, right? And eventually the world. This was to ensure the protection of Germany's security."

Taking over the world is in self defense. Oh, of course. Not insane overblown nationalistic megalomania, xenophobic racist hatred for anything "other", even a messed up childhood or something- no, no, certainly not. How could anyone ever think otherwise.

I never imagined anyone could say anything like that while conscious! Needless to say this is no longer a class that I'm taking.

A Million Others

So every other blog and its cousin begins by saying, wow, this is so exciting, I have a blog, I'm sure I'll fill it up with all sorts of exciting things!

Except then they never do.

So I make no promises, tell no lies, except I shall use this as I see fit. How's that?

And to introduce myself:

I am a new college student, with lots to say that I keep thinking I would have liked to blog about. So now I'm giving it a try.

*breaks champagne bottle over blog's prow*

And we're off!