I really liked the Anne Helen Peterson book and am looking forward to reading the Sarah Jaffe one when my hold comes in! In terms of "interesting thoughts about jobs", I'm also reading Dean Spade's book on mutual aid right now, which has lots of good stuff about nonprofits, and the nonprofitization of social movements, that is extremely relevant to (and deeply indicting of) my particular work situation. Always a delight to see your newsletter in my email. <3
I like to remind people that I don’t “love” what I do: I do what I do because it’s simply what I do, what I can do, what I can’t NOT do, what I’d die if I couldn’t do... I am not good at much else, though I can pretty much pick up any day job and do it well for a couple years before it drives me crazy. Nevertheless, what I do is always work, it’s not something I can afford to do for free, and I always want to cringe when people say that thing about doing what you love meaning you’ll never work a day in your life. Work is beautiful! Employment, not always, in fact, more and more rarely. There is a difference, often, between work and employment, that always bears pointing out.
When people say, oh you’re a cartoonist, what a fun job that must be, they’re really showing a total lack of understanding of that difference. You know what’s fun? Being overpaid! That’s fun! I love it when that happens!
I really liked the Anne Helen Peterson book and am looking forward to reading the Sarah Jaffe one when my hold comes in! In terms of "interesting thoughts about jobs", I'm also reading Dean Spade's book on mutual aid right now, which has lots of good stuff about nonprofits, and the nonprofitization of social movements, that is extremely relevant to (and deeply indicting of) my particular work situation. Always a delight to see your newsletter in my email. <3
I like to remind people that I don’t “love” what I do: I do what I do because it’s simply what I do, what I can do, what I can’t NOT do, what I’d die if I couldn’t do... I am not good at much else, though I can pretty much pick up any day job and do it well for a couple years before it drives me crazy. Nevertheless, what I do is always work, it’s not something I can afford to do for free, and I always want to cringe when people say that thing about doing what you love meaning you’ll never work a day in your life. Work is beautiful! Employment, not always, in fact, more and more rarely. There is a difference, often, between work and employment, that always bears pointing out.
When people say, oh you’re a cartoonist, what a fun job that must be, they’re really showing a total lack of understanding of that difference. You know what’s fun? Being overpaid! That’s fun! I love it when that happens!