Compiling the List of Yesteryear

I really enjoy making lists: to-do, check-lists, lists about things I enjoy, etc. etc. I'm a list girl. So, in keeping with my list satisfaction, I've decided to make a list chronicling all of the things I've done in the last year. My first year out of college went quickly at times and slowly at others, but now it's complete and I need to make sure I haven't wasted my time.

1. Graduated from the University of Iowa with Honors degree in Journalism & Mass Comm. and Distinction in English

2. Left Iowa City one week after graduation.

3. Went home for two weeks, began work at L. Marshall Inc. as an administrative assistant until my life caught up with me.

4. Turned 22, basically just 21 plus 1, no big thing.

5. Traveled to Rockford, IL for my good friend Meagan's wedding - was a bridesmaid

6. Applied to numerous positions, including one paid internship in San Francisco, California at Ode Magazine.

7. Took the editorial internship. Moved to California three weeks later. First day was July 6. Mommy Sheila flew out with me. We took a tour of SF to make sure I liked it enough to stay. Visited the Japanese Tea Garden, had sushi in the Richmond, met and fell in love with roommates Nancy and Drina.

8. Jumped headfirst into the job. Wrote dozens of articles for Ode, compiled special reports, edited, copywrote and lived.

9. Colleen visited SF. We went to Muir Woods, ate at Cha Cha Chas Tapas in the Haight, thrift shopped by Golden Gate, visited SF Museum of Modern Art's (MOMA) Frida Kahlo exhibit, drank California wines, and saw a movie about California wine making at Robert Redford's Sundance Theatre.

10. Brian visited SF. We wine tasted, went to a Giant's game, walked around the downtown, ate Mexican in the Mission, made homemade cookies, hit up a sweet Ryan Adams concert at the Fillmore (it was a surprise!) and went to the San Francisco Outside Lands Music Festival.

11. Roommate's Nancy and Drina, and I hit up Golden Gate Park for the Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass Festival. We watched Emmylou Harris, Odetta, Iron and Wine, Joe Purdy, and everyone great during a beautiful San Francisco Indian Summer October day.

12. I went back to Chicago for my cousin Maureen's wedding in October. Stayed for a little over a weekend. Colleen came back from LA too. Family bonding to the nth. Go back to SF to finish the internship and tie up loose ends for about a month and a half.

13. Squeezed in a trip to Las Vegas visiting then-Newly Weds Meagan and Dan Walsh with Brian. Went rock climbing at Red Rocks, hit up a few casinos, lost $20 to the locals, saw the Beatles Love Show at the Mirage, imagined myself as one of Ocean's 13, and jumped out of an airplane for a little mid-morning skydiving. Lived to tell the tale.

14. Kerstin squeezes in a visit to San Francisco while she's working in LA on an engineering job for the Nokia Club. We obviously go shoe shopping, travel to Alcatraz Island, go out to a fancy restaurant in the Marina and meet up with some of my friends for a comedy show downtown. Celebrate Nancy's birthday with a party in the backyard and an apple dessert bar!

15. Somehow now Californian's, yet Midwesterners, Brandon, Kelly and I manage to meet and hang out multiple times during all of this mayhem. Though we never made it into the SF Zoo together, we did do a wine tasting, hang at the beach, see movies, and go out to dinner.

16. Last day at Ode. Get a ride to work with managing editor, Marco, as per usual. We talk about nothing and writing and everything, and then have the last day, which is like any other. Eat cupcakes with the staff. I had a double chocolate Oreo: Hostess Mostess concoction. Wonderful goodbye treat.

17. I managed to get published in each Ode Magazine while interning and in the next four issues after said internship. Learned a ton about publishing, what it takes to really make it in magazines, and figured out I wanted to go to graduate school eventually for something.

18. Mommy Sheila flies to San Francisco on my last day at Ode. She hangs with Nancy, then meets me after work. We get tapas in the Mission. Next day we visit the San Francisco Zoo (finally!) with Drina. Brandon and Kelly can't make it. No bigs. We visit SF's de Young Art Museum. Then, we rent a car and drive 12 hours along the Pacific Coast Highway stopping in Monteray for lunch and Sea Lion sightings and then go to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon for two and a half hours. It was a long and beautiful dream.

19. Finally arrive in Los Angeles. Angry elves: Sheila and Brigid. Annoyed that the other exists at all. Get Italian food with Colleen. Visit with Graham, Charlie and Jordan, while Pat sleeps. Get an angry message from Pat that still hurts my feelings. Colleen and I decide we want to go to the Laugh Factory, we see John Lovitz after getting sushi with She-She. Mom and I take a tour of Hollywood. We go shopping in all the hot spots. I get a Michael Kors dress. I am in love with said dress. See Paramount studios. Visit with Elizabeth Steele, college roomie, who now lives in Hollywood. We get icecream, obviously. Visit to LA is too short. Sad.

20. Fly home. Graham is in the car with the three Marshall women. We apologize incessantly.

21. Get home just in time for Thanksgiving and Mommy's birthday.

22. Two weeks go by. Visit alma mater, Iowa, and all my friends there. Another week goes by. Christmas shopping, hanging with Brian and friends. Christmas arrives. Receive banjo from Brian. Go to Michigan for skiing with family. Get back New Years Eve. That night go out with Brian, his roommates and my friends. Have a good time, all said and done.

23. January, drive with cousin Colleen Quinlan to Georgetown for her final semester. Stay for 6 days. Visit National Archives, visit with friends Abby Bartine and Kyle Simpson. Want to move there. Still in my mind. We'll see. Visit the NEWseum, see a friend, who works there randomly, ask for a job. Drop off resume. No word. No bigs. Drop off more resumes. Visit American University's Journalism graduate program and their International Communications program. Really loved it. Plan on studying for GRE and LSAT. Higher education, here I come.

24. Get home. Meet with family friend to figure out job situation. Send out resumes, get recommended, fly to New York for three interviews. Find out there is no job at the end of the Yellow Brick Road, just informational interviews. Stay with childhood friend, Kate Hawes, yay no hotel fees!

25. Apply for more jobs. Valentine's Day happens. Hang with Brian. He makes delicious lobster and fillet dinner. :) Vow to learn banjo well. Start lessons. Get ready for a week in Florida with Grandpa Harry, Grandma Celeste, Mommy Sheila and my cousin Patrick with his wife Susie. Bonding!

26. Get a job as a regular substitute for St. Martin de Porres High School in Waukegan. It's a work4ed school for disadvantaged students. Good stuff. Get another job as a temp worker for 33 Personnel in Chicago. Get another job as a Sales Associate at J. Crew Inc. in Skokie. Finally am more busy, but still feel like I need something more.

27. Visit Iowa City again. Hang with Paul and baby Isaiah. Guest host for KRUI 89.7's 25th Anniversary Weekend. Woo! Catch up with friends finishing school, and figuring out lives. Go home in time for St. Patrick's Day: Southside Irish Parade with cousins.

28. April: Brian's Birthday & Anniversary. Woo! Celebrate with his family just a few hours after a wake. Sad. More sad for Brian though. Strange birthday. April was a big month. White Sox Opening Day happens.

29. Cassie's wedding shower. Buy a griddle. Experience what it's like to buy cutlery. Interesting. I will wait.

30. Erwin and Medina wed! May 16. Colleen's birthday too. Travel to Iowa City for John Wilmes, Sarah Burnett, Sara Stratton and Anne Lingwall's graduation. Continue driving on I-80 into Des Moines. Bachelorette Dinner Party and Wedding Shower with bestfriend Elizabeth. Get interesting advice for her from the marrieds in the group. Spend time with Elizabeth and her family. Get nails done, hang with Steele and Meagan. Rehearsal happens. We cry. Rehearsal dinner happens. We laugh. Meet Elizabeth's friend Lisa, all is well with the world. Next day. Brian drives in from Chicago. Wedding. Somehow Steele, Ekberg/Walsh and I are early. Like by an hour. Amazing. This never happens. Erwin is late. Wedding happens. She is now Medina. Reception. Beautiful. Wish it would have never ended. Jacob, Dance Monster, Erwin, Elizabeth's 4-year-old nephew, dances like a fiend and then invites Steele and I to his 5th birthday party. He let's us know there are extra beds in the basement. Nice. Was a bridesmaid.

31. Fly to New York again for a job interview. Meet up with Kate Hawes again. Hang in Central Park. Really pleasant. Enjoy a nice spring day. Wear new suit I bought from J. Crew. Don't get job. Sad. Fly home. Blackhawks get out of the Stanley Cup runnings. Sad. They fly home from Detroit. Sad.

32. Contact Teach For America people. Apply for a job. Get an interview. Interview is next week. Preparing now. Hope I get it. Doesn't start until August. Would be perfect.

34. Have a feeling I will be attending some sort of higher education in the near future. LSAT prep course and possible GRE prep course are in the works. I love to learn, an exciting thing I'm trying to convey to my sub students.

35. Wait. We'll see what happens next.

jim ward. post-graduates. holidays.

I usually forget about music in the morning. But it's a great way to rev up the day. So, today I woke up, read a few chapters in Nick Hornby's "Slam" and flipped on my iTunes. Jim Ward, didn't even realize I had the man on my computer, but wow, yeah me for putting this on. I'm sure it was a last minute snatch from KRUI before I headed out those doors into post-grad life. Post-grad life is kind of like being a Post-Op patient at a hospital. Everyone wants to know how you're life has or will change thanks to the operation/graduation, they want to know what you're up to, how and if they can help, maybe make a casserole to bear the brunt of the no-job front. Well, that last part's mostly for post-graduates. Anyway, my parents had a gathering at our home last night, so I caught up with all of their friends, filled them in on me, ask questions about them and theirs; it was good. I enjoy that sort of thing. Asking questions, learning about others, filling in the blanks. Perhaps that's why I like journalism and news. But these days I'm heading in all directions. Aiming for anything and everything, but not loosing sight of what I want myself to look like at the end of the day. So, we'll see how this all pans out. I'll fill in all the rest later.

A Nation of College Graduates

Sure, I'm a fan of higher education. I'm a college graduate myself. But these days, college degrees don't mean a whole lot. Unfortunately. Actually, education in the United States at least (prepare yourself for a sweeping generalization) doesn't mean that much. This afternoon I read this piece on The Star Ledger's website HERE. Well, it's nice to see that students are doing well on SATs and such, but standardized testing doesn't mean that much either. See. In the article the school touts the testing system as a valid form of measuring success. But from my perspective, having gone to a state school, gone through the motions of public elementary and secondary education, these tests only measure clearly commonplace status: "average."

"This year's SAT averages in themselves are not all that notable, as they were close to those in 2007 and typically change little from year to year.

Nationally, the averages didn't shift a single point from last year: 515 in math, 502 in reading, and 494 in writing, each out of a maximum 800."
-The Star Ledger

The article also makes mention that most if not all of the students from the particular school in New Jersey intend to go to college, and actually plan on going to instate colleges. The principal of the school had the audacity to say it might be that they don't want to travel too far or it "might" be that higher education is expensive. Of course that's why they're going to instate schools. College is extraordinarily expensive, especially when you measure the gains of going. Yes, you're more intelligent, but upon graduation, since so many people are going to colleges there literally aren't enough jobs to go around. And for how many seemingly blank checks students are filling out to no end, there should be jobs that pay more than the crippling dolla-dolla-bills that young graduates are might be getting out of college. Depending on which internship one accepts or not.

As a graduate with a liberal arts degrees in both Journalism and English, I can say with certainty that the education system in the United States cares more about the institution — those it employs and ever-increasing profit margins — than the students attending the school who are emptying out their piggy bank's worth of life savings just to be there. I went to the University of Iowa, and I worked hard. I enjoyed my college experience, but that's what it was, an experience. I worked all four years (yes, I finished in four years); I participated in clubs and organizations ranging from the Newman Center to University Choir; I wrote for The Daily Iowan, was Executive Editor, Managing Director and writer at Content Magazine and was a DJ at KRUI 89.7; I worked summers. I tried hard, all in the name of getting a career rolling. I did well.

Crossing the stage, shaking hands of the professors and various university officials (all making well into the $50k-$150k range, I thought of them at their graduation. I thought of who their terrible speaker was, of who they thought they were going to be 20, 40, 60 years from their meager 20-something days. Ten professors were honored for over two hours, the last hour was dedicated to the thousands of students that paid the most expensive price of admission to that basketball stadium. For a few seconds we were honored, but it didn't seem like it was about us at all.

Now I am living in California for a short stint interning for penny's (more than many of my peers are making as they intern for free, see Reality Bites below). As I attempt to flee working a dead end job that will at least give me health care, I'm here without any real cash — save for my piggy bank. I have to dig deeper into debt, because that seems to be the only way to get ahead in this world. You have to spend money to make it. And it's ridiculous. Everyone is trying to make money, but in their desire to gain a bonus they're essentially robbing the very people that make their company go-go-go. And, for the most part, company executives don't do this intentionally. Many people have mouths to feed and bills to pay, and to each his own, right? Take care of self first, right? The only way to sustain existence, right? As a 22-year-old University of Iowa graduate, Lake Forest High School graduate, Deerfield Junior High graduate, as a learned person, as someone worth employing, why does even a $35,000 job make it hard to make ends meet? By the time rent's spent, groceries bought, health care paid for, general appliances cashed out, and maybe a little tucked away for savings or a rainy day — why then, why is there still not much left? Most jobs are 40 hours a week, then another two hours in transportation time, so that's 10 hours a day, leaving between 4-5 hours left a day for life outside of sleeping and working. We're killing ourselves to get jobs that don't pay and steal our time. Our. Precious. Valuable. Time. Check out the October issue of Ode Magazine when it comes out for a peak into what a NYC schoolteacher thinks of the education institution post teaching days. I also put together a Q&A with the teacher to be put on the Web as well.

For those students graduating from high school, please head onto college, but know that even that won't be enough to get you the white picket fence, the brick house, the good neighborhood, the nice clothes. It will only get you average, and when you think of average, think nothing special. As individuals we need to think of ways to be special, to get what we want, but not at the expense of someone else. We need to be more conscious in our actions, and please, don't reward the status quo. That's a surefire way of rewarding no one.

"Everyone's special, Dash."
"Which is another way of saying no one is."
-The Incredibles

Classrooms to Social Class

So, I've often heard it said that life goes in cycles, but I never really believed it to be true.

Now that I seem to have loads of time on my hands, which for anyone who knows me in the slightest knows I do not enjoy, I've used some of it to reflect. [I'm more of a busy body who detests the silence, and revels in the quick-witted world of journalism.] Honestly, at this point I have no choice but to reflect.

You see, jobs are scarce. And yes, I am capable. Yes, I am intelligent. And yes, of course, I can deliver a beautifully crafted 500-5000+ word story for a vast readership. But no. There is no opportunity for that. I get it. I know I can't simply call up my buddy Sam Zell and actually receive a job chalk full of benefits and a company car. I knew that when I signed on as a journalism major, applied to the School, and subsequently graduated with honors. But this whole cycle business -- well, isn't it about time for it to cycle some more? I'm not advocating a mass withdrawal of babyboomers from the jobs that I desire to be mine, but I am advocating for some sort of position open specifically to post-students like myself, and not just one here and there.

Capable. Talented. Intelligent. And really, someone who is unwilling to ditch her dreams to become another desk-riding worker in some office somewhere. It's not even so much the dream of becoming a reputable reporter, but in all honesty, that's what I am trained to be. This is what I paid for, with not only money, but effort and long hours writing, reporting and studying.

As has become obvious with the Bush administration and multiple media outlets finally calling the "subtle beginnings" of what "may be" a recession, it is clear there are going to be a lot of layoffs and much more of what's already started in the job market. However, there should always be room for talented, hardworking people.

I am not living in a dream world -- unless I believed everyone is capable of attaining the American Dream, which I don't subscribe to. Failure happens. Social Mobility happens. Success happens.

The President has used the influx of students released from universities out into the disappearing workforce as a scapegoat for why jobs are seemingly evaporating into thin air, with all this summer heat around, and what not. But I do not buy it. The work force cycles, comes in waves just as everything else, but it probably won't go back this time. Not to how it used to be. We're living in a global economy. Jobs are outsourced, and it's more than just Qwest Internet connections forwarded to India. It's everywhere.

But where is journalism in all this? Should we be effected the same way? It's all that Internet, right? It's newspapers slashing newsrooms 19% like the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's competitive," they say. Or at least they say after we've walked out of the classroom for the last time.

Buckle Up for Safety

I've seriously got to buckle down and figure out the days before me. I need a job. A real one. Not just some side adventure in retail. I need one which involves dental and a health plan, something I love would be great. But really, I just want to go something worth while that also utilizes all of my attributes to the best of their ability. I'm having a difficult time feeling optimistic, but that's that. There's no choice in the matter. I need to find a career.

Disney World and Moving On

This weekend from Thursday, May 3 to Sunday, May 6 I was in Florida. One of my brothers, Sean, graduated from college. He went to Valparaiso in Indiana for a year to play soccer before transferring to Stetson University for the last three years to play on their soccer team. Anyway, it was really fun to go down there and hang out, see his school for the first and last time as well as go to Disney World and Daytona Beach. Most people after having the worst week of their college careers just take a really long nap, but I got to see Mickey Mouse and ride "A Small World." I'm ready to take on my last week as a junior and Sean's ready to take on the rest of his life. Weird.