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["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

Bev; I sure can relate, even though my life is, in some ways, opposite of 
yours. When I got my MLS, Drexel's  School of Library Science was becoming 
the School of Library and Information Studies (today I think they've dropped 
the Library part entirely)...my studies were actually in information storage 
and retrieval, research, and technical writing. This was pre Internet 
browsers...computer searches were tedious to say the least, requiring 
logging in to specific databases and using Boolean arguments, and 
programming  classes used punch cards.

I worked in the field of technical writing, and specialized in 
manufacturing control systems (software that controls inventory, scheduling, 
capacity control, CAD, etc.)...I took classes and got industry 
certifications and everything. I edited a newsletter for McGraw Hill, and 
wrote editorials and reviews...I was an "industry expert" (gag).  A lot of 
my work was reviewing manufacturing control systems for the Aerospace 
industry, and I could barely keep up with the regulations when I did it 
full-time; now I'm hopelessly out of touch.  Then I quit to freelance for a 
couple years, then the kids came (my first was when I was 37, my second at 
40), then we moved to the country.

No one here wants/needs technical writers. Even the simplest technical 
writing jobs are sent overseas (read any instruction manuals lately; they 
are barely in English, but nobody cares)

I feel like the 'career' part of my life is done, and I've moved on. It was 
rewarding, but stressful, and I don't want to go back. The 'mothering' part 
of my life has eased up a lot...the kids don't need me until they need a 
ride to/from somewhere (or need money). The 'farmer' phase of my life didn't 
really pan out, so I'm sort of at loose ends right now. Sitting home raising 
vegetables, while nice, isn't enough. I need money and I need to be involved 
in something bigger than my farm. I just haven't found it yet. If I had 
non-technical writing skills, I could sit and bang out romance novels or 
something....I've never had any trouble filling page after page with any 
kind of nonsense required, but I don't have a good style for fiction.

By the way, I find that I don't 'retain knowledge' as well as I used to, but 
I think better than I used to. I problem solve and think things through 
better. I can always go back and find the bit of information that I can't 
remember.

Lynn Wigglesworth
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, October 02, 2009 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Farm Update


> Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:
> > I can't find a job. I have a Master of Library Science but the
> > library won't even interview me anymore (I've applied for 4 different
> > positions in the past 2-3 years); they tell me that I'm
> > over-qualified for an entry-level job (I think it's that I have a
> > better degree from a better school than the library director...she
> > thinks I'm after her job), <snip>
> >
> > But I worry less about that all the time (senility maybe?). I'm
> > ridiculously satisfied with what I have.
> >
> > Lynn Wigglesworth Tioga Co. PA
>
> I was ridiculously satisfied with my life, too, even though we are in
> debt and the house is falling apart in some ways.  Then, out of the
> blue, a job offer came my way.  As you know, I start work on Monday, but
> I am bittersweet about it because it means I must leave my current
> lifestyle behind.
> I'm five years younger than you, but we are of the same generation.  We
> both went to school prior to "The Information Age".  I don't know when
> you got your Master's Degree-if it was immediately after your Bachelor's
> or later, but did you think about the outlook for those types of jobs
> before you got your Masters?
> I don't mean to sound critical.  I am in the same boat.  When I decided
> Medicine wasn't for me, in 1983, I thought I'd be okay with just a
> chemistry degree.  I was very 'green', as we say today, and I dreamed of
>  working as an environmental chemist.  Because I married and started a
> family quickly, I never worked as a chemist right after school.  I did
> not get my first chemistry related job until 12 years later, so I
> started my "career" late, in my mid-thirties.  It hasn't been contiguous
> employment, either.  I felt like a dinosaur most of the time, even on
> the job, because Science, by it's very definition, changes.  We are
> always gaining more knowledge, adding to, replacing old assumptions,
> refining hypotheses.    When I went to school, there were 103 elements
> on the Periodic Table and maybe 2 experimental ones that I remember-but
> they were not on the table.  Now, there are 118+ elements, 115 of which
> have names and places on the table, a table has been rearranged and
> 'simplified'...no longer are there subgroups, just numbered groups.  I
> took a facebook quiz the other day and almost missed one because I was
> 'thrown off' by Group 17.  You see, on my personal, trusty Periodic
> Table, Group 17 is known as Group VII A, which in my opinion, is a more
> descriptive name since the 7 signifies the number of valence electrons.
>  I guess someone wanted to simplify the nomenclature and just number the
> groups/columns across from left to right.
> Adhesives are based on polymers.  When I was in school, polymer
> chemistry was handled as a chapter in my Organic book and pretty much
> only dealt with natural polymers and the simplest synthetics like rayon,
> neoprene, PTFE (Teflon), Nomex, etc.  It was only base knowledge at that
> time, or at least that was all that was covered in my undergraduate
> textbook.   Today, you can actually obtain degrees in polymer science,
> and it, like environmental chemistry, is a specialty.  That really
> handicaps someone like me who is twice the age of recent grads to begin
> with.  I found myself not just working, but studying and teaching myself
>  to think creatively about the physical arrangement of polymers and what
> characteristics they would have based on that arrangement. That's it in
> a nutshell, but the possibilities are endless and I often feel too old
> to think about it anymore.  I simply don't retain knowledge the way I
> did when I was younger.  It sucks.
> My point is, Lynn, who knew that it would be like this?  I believed that
> chemistry would change and grow, of course, but not to the extent that
> it has.  Biology and the Natural Sciences might have seen fewer changes.
>  Physics and the Engineering fields seems to change with the wind.
> Karen, if you are reading this, I'd be interested in your thoughts on 
> this.
> I honestly thought, when I chose my major, that I was making the best
> choice, choosing a field that would grow and provide lots of
> opportunity.  I never envisioned that it would grow and leave me behind.
>  Maybe Lynn can relate to that or maybe you have a similar but opposite
> problem.  I don't know.  I feel for you, though.
>
> Bev
> --
> Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is
> protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed
> somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go Navy!
> EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA
>
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