Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["David R. Matusiak" <dave AT matusiak.org>]

Paula -- i loved your post!  probably the best i've read all year.  :)

i have several lawyer friends, including TaB.  most of them dislike 
one, several, or all of the aspects of practicing - long hours, high 
stress, lack of family time, etc, etc.  complaints as unique as the 
person.  so, one bit of advice before delving into the legal realm is 
to make certain that you want to spend 80 plus hours per week for the 
rest of your life (both in school and in practice).  and some of that 
time could wind up frustrated by setbacks, failures, unforseens, etc.

note: the above description could easily be applied to a variety of 
fields, web developer, policy wonk, or anything profitable for that 
matter.  people work hard in the pursuit of making "money."  it has 
never amazed me to see people forfeit much of what they believe in 
simply for pursuit of a buck - or several bucks.

most people don't rack up $100K in student loans while at law school 
either, but in some cases that is realistic.  speaking of which, if 
anyone knows of a firm or group of attorneys that need an Intellectual 
Property (IP) and Patent lawyer let me know, 'cause my friend Thomas in 
Portland, OR is tired of sitting on his couch faxing out resumes.

as you said, until more focus and energy is applied to "the work" 
itself we will continue to see such economic frustrations as massive 
layoffs, $2 Billion annual bonuses for CEOs, govt. cutting unemployment 
benefits, you name it.

now i'm not necessarily against putting pegs in holes, but i think we 
do need to encourage people to follow career pursuits that closely 
align with their intuitive abilities and interests.  and we have to do 
so at a young age - in order to prevent many from wasting huge portions 
of their life (not)devoted to doing so many rote tasks.

self actualization is an interesting concept and worthy of examination; 
perhaps one that could help workers worldwide.  how much of it is being 
accomplished i cannot comment on.  but i think now that everything you 
do electronically is being tracked by the US govt. there will be a lot 
of "mandatory alignment" which could change a lot of peoples' 
perspectives.

- most manufacturing occurs in mexico, china, indonesia, taiwan, etc.
- a lot of tech work is being shipped off to india, pakistan, china, 
etc.
- many foreigners are being locked up for being foreign.

when there are no more people to manage, what happens to the managers?

soon we're back to the CEO/President sitting in the glass overseers 
booth and shouting instructions down to the workers via megaphone.  and 
nowadays, those workers are prisoners at high-tech manufacturing 
'prisons' where you get to whittle away your time making fscking 
trinkets that crowd up other peoples' lives.

interesting concept you have going Mister Bush.  i'm interested to see 
how this story ends.  here, have a postcard...   ummmm... i mean 
calendar.

http://www.ibiblio.org/matusiak/2003cal.jpg

/drm

On Monday, January 6, 2003, at 04:57  PM, 
childers.paula AT epamail.epa.gov wrote:

> Tom;
>
> I just have to say, I've been considering for quite some time 
> *becoming*
> a lawyer simply so I *can* go do more meaningful work!  However, the
> type of lawyer work I would do would undoubtedly pay a lot less than I
> make as a techie, but I still think I might feel better about myself at
> the end of the day.
>
> It all comes down to how you define meaningful. And frankly, what I
> define as meaningful does not fit well with a profit-driven corporate
> business model. Peace, justice, democracy, protecting the environment,
> and civil rights are not aligned well with the profit motive. Note that
> few of the people he mentions in the story as finding their "calling"
> are still working in their ultra-corporate jobs. I just can't buy that
> some people find deep meaning & fulfillment as Enron-style corporate
> raiders... or as, say, the guy who sucks out porta-potties, either. The
> guy who got into govt had months in bed to think - most of america's
> lower classes don't have that kind of time, they have to work three 
> jobs
> to feed their kids.
>
> Changing the face of work will take a shift in the consciousness of the
> people doing the work, especially at the uper levels of society, to
> drive the rest of it. Our society is not set up to provide enough
> "meaningful" work at liveable wages even for those of us who go out
> seeking such right now- nor are we (collectively) doing much to adjust
> our ideas of success to embrace meaning over money. We are too busy
> buying into the corporate patriot act.  The article says "We are 
> sitting
> on a huge potential boom in productivity -- if we could just get the
> square pegs out of the round holes." Well, no, that's just not it.
> Meaning isn't found in MORE STUFF, whether you are buying it, selling
> it, or making it. Productivity is not the right motivator. When will we
> learn the answer is to stop trying to put pegs in holes in the first
> place?
>
> just my 2cents.