Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Moon is an Alien Pod

I'm so frustrated, where do I begin?

1. Subbing at a school makes me realize there are so many problems with school and that I have no power or credentials to fix them. And subbing is inherently flawed because you have no opportunity to form a relationship with the students or fellow teachers or parents. And teaching art for three hours one day a week with no art room (which means no sink, storage space for wet paintings, or money to buy new paint.....) is just crazy. They'd be better off just dropping the art program.

2. I feel like the victim of sexism, but I can't tell if I'm just lazy or it's sexism. Or a little bit of both. But let me tell you, sexism is alive and well if you want to be a woman composer, conductor, or jazz musician. And to be honest I'm sick of this male idea of music that has to be show-offy and loud for the sake of being show-offy and loud. I feel like I need to balance all this testosterone with a month in a convent in Italy. Or France. Someplace scenic and far away. I'd be interested in hearing if any of you out there have experienced sexism in the arts. Esp. music. I'll share my story more in-depth in a personal, bitchy letter.

3. The thought that I will be poor forever with no hope for savings or retirement because I chose a career in the arts and teaching fields.

4. I just got an email from the secretary of the ESD office here who said my certification for WA was pending because they don't accept faxed signatures. They want the goddamn originals. Why? What difference does it make? It's this miniscule buracracy bullshit that makes me not want to work in schools. Or other institutions/corporations. Ever.

On a positive note, the musical is going well; I'm actually enjoying playing piano for these super cheesy shows and little kids in the audience with all of their HSM paraphanalia: light up shoes! Lunch bags and backpacks! Pom poms!

Oh, and tonight at a party, this guy was telling me he believes human beings came from aliens who did genetic engineering experiments at the beginning of time to create the human race. And that the moon is really an alien pod where they live inside it and watch their human experiment from above. And that Noah's ark was really fully of animal DNA, not actual animals. It was all so entertaining!

1 comment:

ktwinters said...

Personally, I'm not so sure that any of us (Gen X-Millenials) are going to get ahead. Even those who go into medical school are graduating with $150,000 worth of debt. Even if one is paid a very good starting salary, it is still going to take a long time to get ahead.

I'm right there with ya, babe, but I am now becoming convinced that no matter what we do, what major we pick, what career we follow, that we are all headed for financial troubles. The Boomers are going to leave us without Social Security, Medicare, paying off their credit card debt, and cleaning up their pollution. How long do you think it's going to take for us to pay off the war? It's mind numbing.

I'm beginning to think that one might as well at least be in an enjoyable career, no matter what the salary. At the end of the day, we're all screwed anyway, so at least you might as well spend your time on earth doing something worthwhile.