Thursday, November 17, 2011

re-run, re-cycle, re-post:work sets

adapted from initial blog post. yes still at it, tweeting and fcbk too. social media is more than just one work set, if i can call something not in the least connected with gainful employment a "work set" ~ but why not? here i get to define "work." life on the other hand defines itself. work often defines life but does not have to unless you let it. 

what are my current work sets? not entirely the same as when i started this blog in 2010 and wrote the original post.

one "work set" involves learning how to use new social media and other applications for online teaching, ESL in particular. yet another personal peculiarosity in that i am not actively employed teaching online or otherwise. volunteer teaching ESL online may count somewhat.

and then there is the massive blogging effort and community networking. 

the chamber of commerce is no longer part of any work set. pulling its tail (and the tails of true believers therein and elsewhere in the community) as needed (a public service) should count as a work set 

blogging and community networking even by blog (as in 1 if by email, 2 if by blog) should go into subcategories but not this time. ditto life not part of work sets.

THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME

How very suitable for this neglected corner of my blog network. With all the workplace related posts piling up in my reader, I really should be doing better here.


Briefly commenting on the following article: emphasizing the recent bull market in this truly annoying genre overlooks that it has always been with us. Remember Paul Harvey? Little People Overcoming Adversity On Their Own stories were a specialty of his. As an underemployed single parent at the decade turned from 60s to 70s, I recall the depression of reading and hearing about other single parents rising up what was dragging me down and wearing me out. Not just overcoming without assistance but single-handedly reroofing their homes. Somehow the roofs were the final straw.





The last few years have seen a bull market for Sadness Journalism – stories of foreclosures, medical bankruptcies, layoffs, homelessness, hunger, and a host of other woes that were invisible when they happened to the underclass but are now polite conversation since they're happening to middle class people. The narratives inevitably follow one of a few well established frameworks. The sad story (man loses job, descends into alcoholism, accidentally kills loved ones/ends up in prison). The downshifting story (well paid professional loses job, realizes she is happier living in a small house with a garden and no car).