A Semester of Growth

This semester I expanded my writing skills in numerous ways.  I think the most important skill I learned was how to correctly write in MLA format.  I slowly picked up on different aspects of the format through reading They Say, I Say and the multiple drafts of different papers I got back from Dr. Boyle.  In a way MLA formatting is like a foreign language, and this semester I mastered it.

I think the most effective way to improve my writing is, as I have had the chance to do many times in this class, to allow for several days to write and write multiple drafts of a paper.  Having a period of time over several days to write allows me to write, leave and reflect on the paper, then write some more without hitting the dreaded writer's block.  Writing multiple drafts allows me to catch mistakes and awkward sentences and rewrite when an idea doesn't fully compute with the audience.

My career plans have not really changed after studying work for one semester.  If anything they were strengthened after reading about so many people burnt out in jobs they were not helping others in.  I want to work in the nonprofit sector, and possibly be a social worker within that sector.  I would be helping others daily and I believe this would allow me to achieve a sense of pursuing a calling.  Which I've come to realize through this class and reading the Dalai Lama is something one should strive for.

Source: The World of Sociology

The World of Sociology is an online encyclopedia source, whose purpose is to define sociological terms and concepts.  There are multiple entries that apply to my subject for writing project 3 and 4, the glass ceiling in the 21st century.  The definitions of the terms "Glass ceiling," "gendered division of labor," and "discrimination"  will be very useful to my essay.  All these terms are interrelated and help further define each other.  For instance, the glass ceiling is a form of discrimination and the gendered division of labor creates an atmosphere that makes it difficult for women to gain upwards mobility in fields where there are not many women working.  According to The World of Sociology, "The current GDOL (gendered division of labor) in the United States gives men more status and power and disadvantages women financially and politically. It is a structural way of maintaining women’s subordination."  I will use this quote specifically to further define the glass ceiling.

gender in the work place

For Writing Project 3, I'd like to explore the topic of discrimination and prejudice based on gender in the workplace.  Two terms I would focus on are "Glass Ceiling," "The limited advancement of a qualified individual (a woman) within the hierarchy of an organization because of discrimination"(Glenn 94) and "Mom Bomb," "The effect of motherhood on the pay of female managers" (Glenn 121).   The two lenses I would approach this subject from are the sociological and historical lenses.  I want to do research and then argue whether or not these terms (because they were terms coined over thirty years ago) and the discrimination of females in the workforce are still relevant in the 21st century.

Writing Project 2

Can the Dalai Lama's theory on work be applied in present day America especially pertaining to minimum wage jobs?  I want to attempt to answer this question for my second writing project.  My thesis will be based on the "yes, but" answer, where I will both agree and disagree with the Dalai Lama.  I will use examples from the book Gig and my own personal experience.

Jobs that don't have the glamour, but have their benifits

Alienation in the workforce is common in every level and type of work.  However alienation is not always present in the blue collar jobs some would assume cause estrangement because of their repetitiveness.   Denise Barber, a steelworker, echos the Dalai Lama in the book Gig: "this job is no more meaningful than any other job except it means something to me." (Barber, 43)  Through Barber's involvement in the union and taking college classes at work she is not alienated from her work.  She speaks of the need "to organize to have a good work environment" (Barber, 41)   She feels challenged and has good friendships with many of her co-workers.  Barber asserts "So this is a good job.  I don't hate my job now."  (Barber, 41)

 Natasha Werther, a Kinko's "co-worker," is quick to claim that her company spends a lot of time "indoctrinating you into the Kinko's philosophy." (Werther, 72) While she recognizes this, she also admits she gets swept up in the excitement herself.  "I do it too sometimes. It really works-I think its amazing"  (Werther, 73)  She admits " It's very, very dull.  But that's kind of what I like about it." (Werther, 74)  Clearly she is not alienated from her job, despite its simplicity.  I think this is the case because she deals with the same customers over and over again and likes them.  She defines them as the type of people "that just want them to be nice to them...its so sweet." (Werther, 75)  I believe Alienation is dependent on the individual's thinking, much like the determination that a job is a calling.  I am finding myself agreeing with the Dalai Lama more and more.

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies.  My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness." -The Dalai Lama

Alienation

Ring, wrap, ring, ring, wrap, ring.  When I worked at a toy store I would get into this rhythm, it always varied, but it consisted of the same parts.  Ring, wrap, ring, wrap, wrap, ring, ring.  I would spend hours completing the most mundane tasks for minimum wage.  Never was I challenged or able to work creatively for long periods of time, this something Karl Marx would point to in discussing the division of labor in the workforce.  Marx believed the amount of creativity one was able to use in their jobs the more satisfied they were with their work.

Marx and Blauner each had their own theories on alienation in the workforce, and out of the two I most identify with Blauner in terms of having "a sense of meaninglessness."  I never benefited from particular good sales, or felt invested in the store.   I did not feel as though I was doing work that was all that worthwhile, for I was serving rich yuppies and their snotty children.  It can be argued that by Dalai Lama standards I should have been able to find some sort of meaning in my work, but it was overflowing with stupid trivialities I could not get past.  I have always wanted to help people and some how change the world in a positive way and working at a toy store could never satisfy this dream.  I along with people through the ages have felt alienation at work, its nothing new but I feel it can be changed and avoided.

Second grade teacher: loves those little boogers and her job!

In Gig, a collection of interviews with contemporary American workers, Katy Bracken claims she fell into teaching.  When she graduated from college she had no idea what she wanted to do.  So she moved to Chicago to dance and work as a waitress.  She asserts "That sobered me up quick" (Bracken, 480) and decided to start looking for a "real job" (Bracken, 480).  That "real job" was a teaching assistant position.  Over the years she has risen through the ranks and now has had a classroom of her own for many years. I think, even though it was not a dream of hers to be a teacher for her entire life, it is something she would now call a calling.

She teaches what she loves to kids that love her.  She confesses "I really get along with the kids this age.  And it feels a little weird, but I love their love...and sometimes I think I'm being duped, because I experience such mutual adoration-me towards them and them towards me-and that I get, like, the adult world where people don't do it it anymore" (Bracken, 483) She is helping the kids learn and finds it very rewarding.  She even goes on to say "I've been, like, redeemed by teaching.  Like was the right thing for me.  I'm a person that should be a teacher."  (Bracken, 484) She has found her calling, and even though it can be challenging and stressful at times she loves it.