This is a reaction to "Why Women Still Can't Have it All", written by Anne-Marie Slaughter. What Anne describes as "Having it all" in modern America is the combination of the classic old timey homemaker and the business professional. Both of these positions have their benefits, and many argue that it is possible to succeed at both. The homemaker has family time, she gets to see her children and play a large role in their childhood. The professional earns her own money and commands respect from her peers.

Anne has experience mostly with being a professional. She was a law professor at Princeton University and spent two years in Washington D.C. working with top government officials on foreign affairs. However, she left her job in D.C. primarily to help raise her two teenage sons, of whom her husband had been doing the majority of parenting. She did return, however to work in academia as a dean at Princeton.

Anne's argument on why women can't have it all mainly stems from the fact that there just isn't enough time. Being a homemaker is a full time job, and being a top government or educational professional is often more than full time. She explains that many of the women who have careers as successful as her's rely on full time nannies in order to raise their children, if they have any.

Many top female government officials choose not to have families because of these challenges. High level professionals have schedules that aren't flexible and necessary travel, and all of this disrupts family time. CEO's don't work 9-5, many work from 5-9. The only time available for necessary obligations such as grocery shopping is on the weekends, conflicting with time that is usually spent with family.

I agree with Anne on the issue of time preventing women from having it all. Everybody has busy schedules. I find it hard enough to balance schoolwork and club sports, I can't imagine balancing a successful career and raising a family.

Question: Do you think it is possible for women to have it all?

Like Father Like Son

Ever since I was a little kid, I always liked working with my dad. Yard work, painting or electrical work, it didn't matter. Whatever my dad was working on, I wanted to help. Despite this, we will most likely never work in the same career field, let alone for the same business. My dad is a salesman and I am majoring in mechanical engineering. However, I can share many of the feelings that Dave Stribling, from Studs Terkell's Working, has about working at the garage with his father.

First I remember the resentment for my father's old fashioned ways of doing things. While snowblowers exist, and are very popular where I live (Cleveland right in the middle of the snowbelt), we still shoveled the driveway through my senior year of high school. He did get one after I left for college and couldn't help out anymore, but that makes sense with him getting older so I'm happy he finally got over his stubbornness. This seemed exactly Dave's sentiments about Glenn using hand tools instead of power tools.

Next I remember his need to do chores that I found completely useless. We had two large cottonwood trees in our front yard which lost a lot of small sticks in the fall. Every day it was necessary for him to make sure all the sticks were clear from the yard before he could go to sleep, despite more sticks always ending up in the yard the next day. I hated picking up sticks but still did it every day in the fall, because that's what he wanted. This memory came on page 551 when Dave was talking about how he does most of the work but his father thinks that he does all of it because I remember having that exact feeling as a kid.

I really liked hearing Dave's opinions of working with his dad and it kind of made me miss working with mine.

Questions:

Does anybody else have cool stories of working with a parent?

Entertainment Work

The entertainment industry is the industry most dependent on other people for success. Getting and keeping work completely depends on an audience enjoying the performance. If people don't like an entertainer, they won't stay an entertainer for long. 

If entertainment is going to be rewarding for someone they will need to really enjoy it despite the long hours that must be put in to succeed. Stephen Colbert is a great example of this. He wakes up around 7 every day and immediately begins going over the news. He receives news reports as well as does research on his own. By 9am he is already on his way to the studio, still working during the car ride. This dedication is necessary to produce entertaining content every night. The hours don't go unrewarded, Stephen makes a remarkable six million dollars each year.

Entertaining people can be rewarding even if someone is only entertaining small audiences. Hots Michaels, from Working by Studs Terkell, says of his work at a piano bar, "Over the years I get to know people. They'll hit the piano bar and we'll talk back and forth" (250). This part of Hots's work is rewarding because he gets to meet new people and share his piano playing with them.

Some entertainers work in the industry because they simply cannot see themselves doing anything else. Jazz musician Bud Freeman says, "I knew when I was eight years old that I wouldn't amount to anything in the business world. I wanted my life to have something to do with adventure" (258). This feeling of spontaneity, of really enjoying what you are doing, is a rare thing to find in a job.

Not every entertainer chooses this industry for the same reason. Some do it for the money, some for the fame, and others who just enjoy meeting people. Whatever the reason people have for entertaining others, It can't really be argued that this work isn't rewarding.

Craftsmanship and Consumerism

In Matthew B. Crawford's "Shop Class as Soulcraft", Crawford writes of craftsmanship and consumerism, and how the latter is causing the former to degrade. He says that people in this day in age are more likely to buy new, rather than replace something old. This is cause either by lack of interest or lack of skill when it comes to building and repairing useful items. He says, "The craftsman is more possessive, more tied to what is present, the dead incarnation of past labor; the consumer is more free, more imaginative, and so more valorous according to those who would sell us things" (3).

In slate.com's podcast, Working, hosted by David Plotz; David interviews John Lefever, an appliance repair man. John repairs all types of large home appliances such as refridgerators and washing machines. To a point, John would agree that repairing is important. If a customer liked an item and John could get it working again, he would fix it. However, John also sees the importance of consumerism. Efficiency is important to him, and if it will save a customer money by replacing an old machine, then he will recommend buying a new one.

In Working, by Studs Terkel, Lincoln James tells about his job as a factory mechanic in a glue and rendering factory. He takes pride in what he does despite having gross working conditions. His pride shows when he tells his friends all the products that they use that come from the factory where he works. His craftsmanship shows with his ability to fix machines when they break.

Questions:

Why does Lincoln still like his job despite conditions being gross

Flight Paramedic

In slate.com's podcast on working, David Plotz interviews flight paramedic Jeff Ennis. Jeff is part of a three member team also including a pilot and a nurse. He works interesting shifts, 24 hours on then 24 off, then 24 on again followed by 5 days off. He says a lot of prep work goes into all of his shifts, both personally and professionally. Personally he prepares meals and gets a lot of sleep so he will be able to function fully during his time on the job, Professionally the crew checks everything about the aircraft before each shift. It is a very high stress job, but he seems to perform it well. He said that after receiving a call it takes the crew about eight minutes to get in the air. He mostly deals with very sick and very injured people. One patient he told about was suffering from cardiac arrest and would continually lose his pulse randomly throughout his trip to the cardiac specialists. Regardless of this, the crew was still able to get the patient stable and in the air in only 18 minutes.

This definitely seems like a job that someone would have to love in order to do it. The shifts are long and very high stress. I don't believe that I could do this job mostly because I couldn't be on call for 24 hours. Also it would be tough work to deal with only the most seriously injured and ill patients.

Questions:

Are there any limits on what he can do during his time off?

Can he sleep at all during his shifts?

How does he feel about the patients he can't save?

Work as an Educator

This is a reaction to the podcast "How Does a Principal Work?" as well as the readings "Rose Hoffman, Public School Teacher" and "Pat Zimmerman, Alternative School Teacher" from the book "Working" by Studs Terkel. These three passages all describe the jobs of different people working as educators at different levels.

In the podcast on slate.com "How Does a Principal Work" David Plotz interviews middle school principal Andrew Rubin, who runs a charter school for low income students in Texas. He takes a lot of pride in his job and identifies himself as an educator completely. He said that even when the day is over, he works from 7am-6:30pm, he goes home and returns parents phone calls and grades papers. It is evident that his life revolves around his job but he does not seem to mind that.

In the chapter "Rose Hoffman, Public School Teacher", Terkel writes from the perspective of a fourth grade teacher named Rose. Rose has been teaching for 33 years and has been in her current school for 20. She complains of how the neighborhood has changed since she started working there. Originally most of the students were Polish and she thought they were polite and good students. Now the school is mostly Puerto Rican and she believes them to be lazy and rude. She says about the parents: "They watch their kids eat free breakfasts and lunches. There isn't any shame, there isn't any pride." (p.485). She also dislikes how the Spanish speaking students speak Spanish in school. "As long as they're in this country, English should be the first language" (p.484) Throughout the passage it is clear that she favors the white, English speaking students. This seems unfair and could be a big problem if it effects how she educates them.

"Pat Zimmerman, Alternative School Teacher" is about how Pat runs an alternative school for troubled children outside of Chicago. He also dedicates a huge amount of time to work even working weekends. He says "The people we work for- The National Institute for Mental Health- once wanted us to do an honest time sheet. After they saw our honest time sheet they said 'Just please put eight hours a day on the time sheet'" (p.491) However, he seems to enjoy working these long hours. "I'd rather die for my work life than for my personal life" he writes (p.491). Pat's dedication to teaching is amazing, Considering he has almost no connection to the kids outside of teaching.

Questions:

Why do all of these teachers give their free time to help kids they really don't know?

What is with Ruth's hostility towards immigrants?

This is a reaction to the podcast "Working" by David Plotz, the episode "How does a farmer work?" with guest fruit grower Eddie Rankin. He is a fruit grower in Pennsylvania who sells his fruit at farmers markets. His primary fruit for growing is apples. He really enjoys growing fruit and began his career because of his fascination with apple growing. He is extremely fascinated with different types of plants and really has a passion for fruit growing which makes his job fun.

The average day for Eddie starts with checking his email, figuring out the weather forecasts and which pests he will need to deal with. He then makes his commute to work, about 10 miles from his home. Insects are a big problem for Eddie, as if he doesn't deal with them correctly then he can lose his harvest. He also keeps traps in the trees to additionally take care of insects. Depending on the day he might also pick fruit. Despite being 65 years old he still does a lot of physical work on the farm.

The unpredictability of work on the farm makes it difficult. Depending on the weather plants might not grow right or might not grow at all which can cost tons of money. Despite some large successes that make farming worthwhile, he still sometimes struggles to get by.