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A. Hannah Spadafora
Aug 16, 2020
In Meaningful Work Project
The second interview for The Meaningful Work Project includes the story of a Middle School Teacher who works in a suburban school in Georgia. Request for anonymity is respected; a transcript to follow soon! Listen to the podcast/audio file here!:
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Jun 11, 2020
In Memes
Recently across social media there has been an influx of insightful and informative commentary on the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and in honor of George Floyd and many other victims of excessive force from officers, as well as calls to defund the police department and dismantle the racism our legal and professional systems are built upon and structured around. Here is a collection of images, shares, and web media that social media participants have recently posted:
Black Lives Matter: Memes And Social Media Shares On The Momentous Movement Demanding Justice, Protesting Racism, & Rethinking The Police content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Jan 01, 2020
In The Grief Connection
A. Hannah Spadafora (Ashley/Hannah) Memorial for John J. Spadafora. 12/30/2019 In the Buddhist tradition, it often is stated that there is no ‘self.’ For practical purposes, we refer to an “I”, but if we examine a person from life to death, the changes a person undergoes effectively shift our identity over time. The self is thus just an impermanent, ever shifting, collection of attachments we associate with our identity—attachments to habit, to personality traits we see as ‘us’, to our likes, dislikes, desires, to a sense of who we are, and to people who enter our lives. This begs the question of who we are at death out of this collection of selves that we were throughout life. Are we the entirety of all the selves we have ever been? Are we the ripple effects from our actions on others, and the world, at large that we cause from birth to death? Are we just the person we have become at the time we lose our life, the transformed final self, our best self weighing much heavier than the worst days of our lives? If we can wish that for our own ‘self’, can it help us show more compassion in our judgment of others? Personally, I like to believe that so long as there is life, there is potential for redemption. To put it in Buddhist terms, if the self is empty, and our selves are just empty vessels holding collections of the traits and likes we attach to ourselves, then everyone is potentially salvageable. Likewise, our images of others are often incomplete to the entirety of their being. The parts we know, and the parts, we don’t frame our vision of others. The memories we love become the person in their death. Everyone sharing memories today are bringing forth parts of my dad that they knew, and I’m thankful, during this sharing, for the ways you are bringing my dad to this room by bringing the many selves that my dad was during his life into our presence of attention today. With that said, here are my tales to be shared. I only know bits and pieces from my dad’s past before he adopted me as a toddler. I have heard stories from other relatives and friends of the family, seen pictures that give glimpses into who he was before he was a dad. I’m sorry I didn’t get to hear more, which he finally started opening up about and sharing more about in the past year. I lament that he didn’t offer me more time to get to know him more as a person, outside of who he was to the shaping of my life. Were I to meet him as a baby or child, or as a teenager delivering newspapers early in the morning before school to help support his family, or a 20-something working at a bar and restaurant that he met my mom in, or a 30-something working for Ford or a mid-1970s mustache wearing headshop owner, I may have met a different person than the big-shot luxury transportation businessowner that he was during my early childhood, managing and driving limos, Cadillacs, and horse and carriage rides by day and guarding sleeping teens at night and dragging them to school by morning as a juvenile hall employee, nor the man he was in my late childhood and early teens, a restaurant owner planning international menus and introducing the south to giant heroes—with his stubborn refusal to call them sub sandwiches—and a motorcycle shop co-owner speeding around the lot on a scooter or making sales on the hundreds of cycles jammed into the garage and front room of his corner lot shop, and nighttime publix shelf stacker for a year, nor as the real estate property owner/landlord he tried to be in my later teens, until the 2008 bubble burst, nor the person he was when he once again shifted, working for restaurants, making ice cream, and eventually starting his last venture in life, the fatty’s food truck, that some of you may have gotten some great new York hotdogs and knishes from at local north Georgia festivals in recent years. When we think of our ‘selves’, how we get certain attachments, likes, dislikes, personality traits, for practical purposes, it is often striking to me how much of the self we create is passed on from those we love and that which has influenced us, from art to experience. Often those we love may turn us onto certain art, or share certain experiences, that later become part of our self, something to take along that keeps another person with you, and in the case of someone passed on, keeps that person alive to you. Beyond thinking of who my dad was, I’ve always been thinking of who he made me, in ways small and large. My dad instilled in me a love of sci fi during evening watching of X-Files and Sliders during my childhood, as well as rare movie visits to see the Men In Black—the only movie I got him to go to before they made the seats in theaters more accommodating to people of larger stature. On other lingering tastes, whether it’s nature or nurture, my dad and I both loved twizzlers as our movie candy, and while I no longer drink soda, I wonder if my sweet tooth also is partially inspired by the root beer floats, snuck behind my mom’s back at a restaurant when I was a little kid ,and then made into a ritual of family outing to Sonic when I was a little bit older. Beyond these favorites passed down, my dad also instilled in me a knack for creative and sometimes strange problem solving. This started when my dad saved my life at least twice when I was a little. I almost swallowed a ring and a nickel, separate occasions. I was like 5 or less, so great babysitting skills on letting me find a ring or nickel, but that’s beside the point. He still saved me. The old school way, actually. By which I mean, he turned me upside down and bounced me on my head on the bed until the ring / nickel fell out. Kids these days don’t know how good they have it, with scientifically researched anti-choking procedures parents are trained to do during parenting classes. But hey, I survived because of his quick thinking. So, I’m looking on the bright side. I’m here today because of him, so I’m thankful for that. This kind of explains my dad’s way of problem solving, though. He always meant well in trying to help, but he did things his own way. When I was 14, he bought three cases of slim fast from Costco for me—not as a way to subtly tell me I needed to diet—I don’t think, considering we’re an Italian family and no one will shut up about how you eat like a bird if you’re not winning eating contests, which my dad did prevail in on at least one occasion—but he got these cases of slim fast for me, because, as he put it, I told him one time that I liked shakes. That was my only drink other than water for the next three months, but again, he felt like he solved a problem—stocking us up, saving us time and money—and that he was, in his mind, trying to do what he thought I would like. Because I told him that I like shakes. Likewise, when I was struggling financially in my early twenties, on a few occasions, he showed up to my place with bread, cupcakes, twinkies, and other hostess products he dumpster dived for behind Hostess—all wrapped up, only slightly expired, and characteristic of his clever ways of solving problems. Besides giving me an example of clever problem solving, my dad always wanted to see me succeed. Juries out on when I’m getting there, but in his own way, throwing me into the deep end of a pool was a strategy to teach me that I could survive. Likewise, from the time I was 9 years old and filling out a mock job application for a career day at school that ended in a fieldtrip of temporarily “working” for IBM, as a ten year old, where my dad wrote me a letter of recommendation that has weirdly stood the test of time, concerning my creativity and computer skills, to offering to vouge for me in job applications, on rental forms, and in professional situations, this was his own way of wanting me to find success. It’s notable that one of the last significant things my dad said to me is that, “Spadaforas aren’t wimps.” At one point as a child, I wanted to be tough like he was. In some ways, there is a toughness I inherited, perhaps—a survivor who could take on the world and keep finding my feet even as each plan fell through, much like my dad was throughout his many role changes in life. Sometimes I joke that you can tell I’m adopted, because I am clearly a wimp, as much as he tried to make me a proper Spadafora. I cry at the drop of a hat, and I often drown in a pool of tears during times like this. The thing is, though, my dad’s tough façade sometimes cracked to show that he was, himself, also at times was in a great deal of pain, and a lot more sensitive and feeling than he let show. When I was a kid, he had a pension for extremely sappy greeting cards with heartfelt messages or poems, along with gifts of stuffed animals or flowers when I was sick, he was apologizing, or when holidays came around. My mom’s rationale about it was that my dad hadn’t been taught to express his feelings more directly; that was his way of letting us know he cared and how deeply he did, in words he couldn’t speak without crying, which would ruin his sense of self as a tough person, someone who isn’t a wimp. It’s thus similarly notable that one of the other last significant things he said to me, with his voice cracking, was that I was always in his heart. He hung up quickly, and I know he was crying on the other side. I know I was. I know I led into this speech with a talk on Buddhism and the self, and I’d like to bring it around full circle to close. My dad was not Buddhist. He was born Catholic, then converted to Judaism, mostly just as lip service, honestly, to marry my mom, then shifted again to attend services here at this Methodist church where he married Dee and his grandson, my nephew, Rowan was baptized. I don’t think my dad was super stressed out by the details of doctrinal differences in these religions, but I do think my dad was motivated in these religious shifts by love for another person—his catholic parents, and later, for his original love of my mom and his later affections for my stepmom. These shifts also represented his passion for building a life that welcomed the inevitable changes in life, and opportunities to commit to new experiences and new ways of being. Further, despite the fact that he was not Buddhist, when my dad and I reconnected about four years ago, he apologized and espoused a philosophical mindset that I likewise found surprisingly compatible with Zen. He said that the past is a black hole, but no matter what happens, we must keep moving forward, and it’s only in the now that we can work on building something better and different than before. Perhaps the two most difficult things in life are change and forgiveness. It’s hard to let go of the past when it’s painful, and it’s hard to forgive, but in not doing so, we freeze a picture in our minds of another as embodying a ‘self’ that is static, when in reality the self is dynamic, an empty vessel that ultimately changes over time—body and mind. My dad was obsessed with work and with running his own show, so to speak, for a very long time. He found motivation in challenges—even if he sometimes complained along the way, and solved problems in his own unique ways. I think maybe his series of dreams emblemized a refuge from other unhappiness—that he could fulfill the utmost dreams of working class life, escape financial struggle, make a name for himself, and make people happy. With age I think he found contentment, however, eventually, in just living life day by day, “one foot in front of the other”—in tune with the moment with decreasing focus on materialist obtainment and increased focus on good times with people he loved. It wasn’t until this later era that I saw him become more consistent in finding value in people moreso than money or status, and thus truly love as a verb. I’m grateful to have seen this side of him, and that in the last few years he made a concerted effort to try to extend this side of himself to me. In order to allow people to grow, we have to give space for old patterns to subside, and consciously work on building new ones. In the end, this is the lesson my dad most clearly bestowed upon me. I’m just really sad we don’t have more time to continue building our bond to weather the many selves I will yet be, the many selves the rest of our family members will grow into—especially the youngest members of our family—and the remaining selves he could still have yet have been to the many people who will miss him. I am grateful, however, still, to have met my dad in his growth as a loving self, and for those bringing kind memories honoring that intention to the memorial here today. Thank you.
Memorial for John J. Spadafora. 12/30/2019 content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Dec 23, 2019
In Classroom Activities
Research Activity #2: Linguistic, Visual, and Performance Anthropology Note on Media Choice: These media productions can include: a news program [either one 20-60 minute production, or a series of news clips from one particular program that equals between 20-60 minutes]; a song and/or music video that comments on a specific historical event / represents an attempt of a particular community to take control of a narrative of identity, community-representation, or language; and/or another approved media production [if you want to use a fictional TV show/movie, contact the professor and make your case as to why it’s applicable]. The more concrete the lyrics are [referring to specific people, places, or events], the better this assignment will be at illustrating specific functions of language in the media, so think carefully about which song, music video, news-program, or other approved media you want to choose. If you get permission to choose something that does not reference a specific event mentioned by the media itself, you must do outside research on two sources that explicitly mention specific events that people have created in places in time. You do not have to go farther in depth than the questions asked, and should not summarize these secondary sources, but should provide context [who/what/when/where/why] and connection to the goal of this assignment [examining language in a historically-particular media production.] Instructions: Pick one media production that presents a narrative or discussion about an event or issue of historical or political significance. This narrative should ideally be a response to a particular historical event, or series of events that have impacted a community. You will centralize your paper analysis around one of the categories in Set A, and be sure to answer all relevant questions to your chosen media found in the categories of Set B. See further details at the bottom of this document on media-choice and page-length requirements. Set A Step 1: Choose one of the following categories to focus your paper on: 1A. Class-Connections. How would linguistic anthropologists on opposite sides of the Sapir-Whorf debate deconstruct the impact of this media on audience conceptualization of and/or thoughts about the events discussed? To what extent do you agree, disagree, or find yourself on a continuum between agreement and disagreement with the debate around the statement that ‘language affects the way humans think’, in connection with the examples examined here? 2A. Analysis: What power dynamic is created, enacted, or resisted, with the speech or rhetoric of the media production you have chosen? Does this narrative reinforce or resist evidence in favor of dominant power narratives / myths that sustain other social practices? Are there fallacy arguments, outright false or shakily verified statements, or evidence-less claims presented? Evaluate if your media supports cultural relativity or ethnocentrism, and utilize the concept of descriptive relativism in your response. Set B Step 2: Complete any and all questions that are relevant to your media-choice: Make sure you only answer the questions here that are relevant to your media, but don’t skip over any that are pertinent. 1B. Context: Who is [/are] the narrator[s] of this story? What event or phenomena is discussed? What narrative is being told? Where and when is this narrative situated? Who are the actors? Why was this media produced? 2B. Agency and Audience: Whose voices are represented by the narrative? Who are the intended audiences? Who are the unintended audiences? What does this insider (emic) perspective say about the speaker’s experience, knowledge, or feeling? Why is this subject emotionally engaging for the narrator and intended audiences? What significance do the stories being told, and representations cultivated, have for the narrator and intended audiences? What does the narrator support? What does the narrator stand against? Whose voices are excluded from the narrative? Who might have a different perspective on the narrative told? Why is this an important story? 3B. Delivery: What methods does the narrator use to create the narrative? How do they send the message they are conveying [declarative statements; commands; questions; mythologizing; satire; hyperbole; screaming for emphasis; generalizations; specificities; objectification of non-object-things]? What emotion is evoked here, and how? How does the medium affect the message, if it does? 4B. Epistemology: Where does the narrator obtain the information they use to provide evidence for the argument they are making? What are the sources – and are they mentioned, invisible? Are the sources agreed upon, or is there debate? How does the information stand up to what you have learned about human beings so far in this class, as well as to other studies that promote physical evidence? 5B. Connections: What references are made to events or specific persons or people? How are women, men, non-binary, and transgender individuals referred to, or left out? In what ways are race, nation, internationalism, cosmopolitanism, or individuals racialized, nationalized, or crossing boundaries represented, or left out, in the media production? What relationship of human beings to other human beings, to the body, to nature, or to animals are talked about here? In what ways is religious imagery, belief, or reference utilized to make a statement, as evidence of a claim, or to put into question counter-evidence that has been presented by parties who have alternate beliefs than the narrative here? Is there any mythologization, or idealization of a time, place, person, origin story [of people, a material production, a quote, or an idea] that from a different perspective might look like an obscuring of origins to promote a ‘divine order’, the ‘natural way,’, ‘the way things have always been done’, or to promote the idea ancient works that must be from aliens and not ‘primitive’ peoples? How is material culture talked about in this media production –what material items are brought up [if any], what use value do they have? Consider Before Writing: Answers should be 2-4 pages and should engage all the questions in the categories below that are relevant to the media you are analyzing. If you cannot find relevance to it, skip the question – but be sure not to skip questions that are clearly relevant. Do not skip whole categories; if you can’t find at least two relevant questions in each category, reconsider the media you are looking at. Also, note: You do not get extra points for doing more time than 20 minutes, but this is an allowance for anyone who is watching a longer program, or is very invested in this activity.
Linguistics, Media, and Critical Thinking  content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Nov 22, 2019
In Earth/Sustainability
Dear Organizations Screwing The Planet And People Over Profit, People at the lower ends of economic scales and time burnouts from hectic jobs and lives will apologize for every plastic water bottle, straw, and other disposable thing we’ve used--on the day that the companies that bottle water own up to being accountable to cost cutting at the expense of the planet by producing these items to begin with. We are trying to do better, despite the fact that water is constantly being privatized, polluted, drained through pipes contaminated with lead or with potential leftover or unfiltered chemicals—though the CDC maintains that chlorination treatments do not usually pose significant health risks. Those who can boycott the companies making ‘disposable’ plastic items; those who struggle achieve smaller steps—using reusable glass bottles, keeping water filters up to date, replacing Ziploc with reusable cloth sandwich bags, tin foil with Tupperware (all available from Amazon.com, Walmart, and other highly convenient but exploitatively run places most of us on small budgets are guilty of buying from, even as it produces cognitive dissonance from our disagreement with how they treat their labor force and monopolize the industry in ways that make products economically inaccessible from other sources). Other small steps may include reusing glass jars from sauce and jam and reusing to gift to friends or family full of cookies (muffins, pasta, knick-knacks), using big jugs of water instead of 30 separate bottles (to at least limit the plastic used), and the 1000 other small steps that people make on a daily basis, shamed or inspired by environmental campaigns focusing on the harm that’s been done and the magical better world each of us can create, if we just all chip in. We try to do better—try to make this world come into being--but it’s hard to not feel like the effectiveness is limited when pride from these small achievements to join the cause are cut short by the latest news article about whales washing up on beaches, dead, with stomach and innards stuffed with plastic waste. This is spliced between updates on drought in dryer areas across the world, subsequent famines when crops do not get watered, as well as contamination of crops from industrial, agricultural, or sometimes burial related runoff. So, on behalf of those wanting a better world to make decisions within, here’s what we’re facing. The most effective ways to protest are prohibitively expensive and time consuming to those on set budgets and tight schedules, and to be honest, we’ve been raised in a world (shaped by you) where the cheapest and worst options—for ourselves and the environment—are the most convenient. This is true from fast food to readily available, cheap, ‘disposable’ items that are the least likely to decompose until the year 2500. We try to do better with what we are handed, and we feel pride in small steps met—but then we’re still met with despair provoking images and for the poorest, situations where the water that runs through their pipes is either undrinkable—black, murky, unsafe for human consumption even when run through affordable filters—or non-existent except under condition of daily hikes to water sources—prompting a greater reliance in these areas on bottled water imports, a significant profit for companies. These crises are sometimes sparked by water privatization--water claimed and bought by corporations across the world who do not consult the populations who live on the surrounding lands and rely on the fresh sources for drinking, bathing, and cleaning clothes, dishes, and their homes. Other times the water crisis is sparked by funding neglect from local and state governments—neglect in allocating funding for regular infrastructure inspection, maintenance, and replacement on both public streets and in privately owned homes (in the form of tax returns, vouchers, or other means.) Thanks to these actions, we are left feeling helpless against impending massive extinction, adaptation, and society-collapsing events. Knowing that species and societies have gone extinct across history does nothing to lessen the striking nature of our specific predicament today—that of the man-made nature of our potential destruction scenarios. It also doesn’t lessen our fear that humankind’s damage threatens the very existence of life on earth itself. In an age of man-made miracles, which has transformed every inch of the planet we have and opened up imaginative worlds across the galaxy, our self-awareness of the potential of these disasters makes the situation unique. Driving in the stake is knowing that you, environment destroyers, could change the whole game. We are left to contemplate your existence from afar—the people on this planet today with the power to change things, but who choose instead to continue to produce pollutants and screw the planet for profits. Some of you major game players are in government, others run corporations, and yet others still are simply wealthy tax dodgers failing to contribute excess financial gains to the national and global communities you live within. It’s infuriating to not have power we wish for on the ground level to bring about transformation, and even moreso to be shamed by campaigns funded by people who do have this power—reduce, reuse, recycle, and just band together you plucky citizens of the world. You can change the world. Feel good now and redirect attention to individual habits—so you are blindfolded to all we as wealthy are and aren’t doing. While the poor struggle to make it through each day in ways that sometimes makes it extra difficult to attend to greater world problems, you have the power to change production patterns, the power to give mass funding to scientists and science-based organizations, and the power, quite frankly, to find healthier patterns of response to the connected problems of drought, water pollution, water contamination, and water privatization—but you’re just choosing not to, so you can buy another yacht. So, from the struggling to the powerful: We already care, more than you; shame not necessary. But we’ll only feel guilty when you admit guilt, first. Until then, fuck off. Sincerely, People doing their best
Pollution and Environmental Destruction: A Letter To The (True) Culprits content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Nov 21, 2019
In Doing Good
Ignorance and hatred wreak havoc on the world. The antidote to antipathy is empathy. When I was young, my mom told me stories of Jewish history, from ancient escapes from slavery to the modern catastrophe of the Holocaust. She also often recounted to me narratives on civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam war protests she supported in her youth, and engaged me politically in letter writing activities, sent to government figures to support causes relevant to environmental, animal, and human rights. My earliest letter memory is of being five years old, writing to the first George Bush to save the dolphins (I'm sure there must have been more to it, hah); next were letters written in support for environmental protection laws defending the preservation of public land, and later, practices of signing petitions for and donating a small bit of accumulated babysitting funds to Amnesty International. The reduce, reuse, recycle campaigns—along with Captain Planet— also had an impact on joint efforts between a few kids in our neighborhood to clean up roadside pollution around the neighborhood. After years of receiving monthly inserts for National Geographic’s Wildlife Factfiles and encouragement to be involved in animal and environmental protection, it's a puzzle that anyone was surprised at my journey towards full vegetarian habits at a young age. All of this held the common theme in my mind of triumph over destructive forces, a way to add to hope, a responsibility to do one’s part for change. Every story my mom relayed made it seem like there was a trajectory towards a world without prejudice, one that had seen true evil and could not repeat it. My mom was not always optimistic; Hitler’s reign was a horrific thing that could happen again if we weren't vigilant in remembering and embodying love—but the parts of the stories where the women’s rights and civil rights protests led to transformed conditions from removals of oppressive practice to increased inclusion had always equally stood out to me. Perhaps this is a consequence of our generations—in the 60s and the 90s—being given the idea that individual efforts combined together was all that was necessary to stop oppression, violence, and pollution. This initial upbringing led me to later spending two years taking journalism classes that overlapped with writing for my high school newspaper—for which I was awarded the title, “Most Likely To Cause An Uproar,” due to my (no longer quite so optimistic, but very progressive—pacifist, pro-privacy, anti-prohibition) editorials on the war in the Middle East, The Patriot Act, the drug war, and the dress code. During high school I also volunteered multiple years to read to kids in elementary schools across Cobb County for Theodore Geisel (Dr. Suess)’s birthday week—an event prepped for during sessions of cat-in-the-hat costume making and book choice meetings each spring. After my mom passed away, my new stepfamily likewise prioritized some rituals of helping and giving to strangers; around Christmas, we would buy and deliver gifts to families struggling to bring Santa to their kids for the holiday season. I truly bought into the idea that if everyone on the ground level just did better, we could live in a better world. Later, when I first moved to Atlanta, I was excited to find Hands On Atlanta, a network for volunteer opportunities—an easy way to sign up online to do good work, no particular religious affiliation required. I am thankful to have helped out on rare occasions via the HOA network as well as via other opportunities found at the ground level of select non-profits—mostly in seasonal or volunteer positions, but all holding value of growth and the opportunity to glimpse, at least a little bit, the inside of the helping sector. At Café 458, our packing boxes and giving out meals ensured that people without means to feed themselves would not go hungry; years later in a similar opportunity, I joined with Young People Matter's outreach and shelter assistance campaigns also engaged in direct help of homeless individuals (primarily youth) via necessity-filled bookbag and coat giveaways. Further, I was grateful to have supported local arts in a tiny way (and, admittedly, for the received free admission ticket) when volunteering as an unpaid usher at Horizon theater, and to have helped in a small way to bring the stories of suffering individuals that may otherwise not have been heard to the public during a remote internship with the Incarcerated Voices Project. Beyond these occasional volunteer activities I tried to fit in as best as I could between demands of life, as a paid canvasser, I also did work with Environment Georgia and the local Democratic Party of Georgia for two summers. As an instructor of record for freshmen ‘student success’ orientation classes during a semester when I simultaneously enrolled in a graduate seminar in non-profit studies to fulfill the need for minimum credits in a meaningful way, I directed classes over to, and when possible, joined students in, service learning requirements for the Atlanta Food Bank. At each of these events, I felt good giving back; like it was the natural thing to do. But I also, increasingly over time, felt like these feel good attempts to make things good through individual efforts, still didn’t address the main issues of why people needed help to begin with—a topic I’ve gained more familiarity with than I would like for a lifetime. Indeed, due to financial, physical health, mental health, and life navigation difficulties, I often oscillated between the position of privileged just enough to occasionally help others to the position of suffering in need and that itself was a difficult thing to grasp. All of these difficulties personally faced take away from the energies I feel like I should be giving to the world. Simultaneously, however, they give a deepening of my perspective on what it means to do good in the world. To do good is to do good in the corner of the world we can reach, yes—but therein lies the rub. If there were no unfortunate situations built in as natural consequence to our systemic practices to begin with, there would be no charity to donate to, or causes to volunteer time to. If we valued doing good the way we valued earning profit, volunteers would be paid. If we valued doing good over the value of profit, we’d make things good for all, instead of just making things profitable for some. This is essential to rectifying injustice, minimizing harm, and addressing suffering. I’m not denying the power people have on the ground to turn crummy situations into opportunities for ingenuity in social solutions. That being said, it’s so not enough. A macro-level view of the catastrophic events faced today reveals that the damage a small subset of humans cause to the world may outweigh the collective sum of individual efforts from those with less economic, political, and social power. It’s not enough to change ourselves. Donating time and energy to directly help people now is great—but it’s necessary to change the systems we operate in. We can collaborate on making a livable world for all, or we can end up burnt pawns in plans for a wealthy paradise we’re not invited to, all efforts to be good as individuals falling short of stopping causes catapulting us into catastrophe. We must do good personally, organizationally, and politically, or we’re just continually refilling a pool instead of stopping the leak that drains it.
We Need To Go From Doing Good To Doing Better: Why Volunteering And Good Deeds Aren't Enough in A Society That Needs Change content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Sep 30, 2019
In Classroom Activities
This is one of my favorite class activities I designed to teach during biological anthropology units of Introductory four-subfield Anthropology classes.[i.i] During the activity, students are given hypothetical future situations--our current disasters taken to their max assumption of continued uninterrupted destruction from now until this future point. I ask students to determine what selective pressures are likely to be present in these doomsday scenarios—that is, the events/factors that stress species/individuals/groups into adaptation. Then, I challenge them to consider the unchosen adaptations that might change humans facing these pressures—as well as the chosen adaptations that humans could employ to successfully avoid extinction (if any).[ii] I make a quip about it, to try to make it more fun for a first level course made for students who may or may not go further into Anthropology—they are being asked to save the world. Read the full story about this activity and connected information on human adaptation in The Living Earth column here. Class Activity: Human Adaptation Your mission/objective: Save the World! Instructions: In this activity, each group is assigned a situation/crisis. Your goal is to identify selective pressures that would face human beings during this crisis, as well as the adaptations that humans could, would, should, or are developing in response. You will complete this activity by researching the following: A) selective pressures that humans would face in the climates / environments described in each situation [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressors—particularly focusing on those that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. B) Adaptations that humans have developed in response to the selective pressures that relate back to your assigned ‘crisis’ situation [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and collective/social-cultural]. After researching and fulfilling the basic requests of this assignment, you may also include your own creative brainstorming ideas, if you have thought of something that you were not able to find information on. Situation 1: [Future Crisis] Global warming has caused the ice-caps to melt. Most regions/major cities that were once coast are now flooded [Miami, New York, so forth]. Heat levels in the tropics now exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and the region that can be called ‘Tropic’ has expanded by a considerable degree of latitude. Animals who cannot survive in such heated temperatures have died out [all arctic animals] and other living forms [such as bacteria, viruses, and huge insects] that thrive at hot temperatures are flourishing, mutating, spreading, and pestering. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm/research at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to respond to each selective pressure, to ensure the goal of species survival. Situation 2: [Current Crisis] Pollution levels are staggering, and affecting the natural environment. This affects all animals, including humans. There are sea-size deposits of plastic in the ocean, landfills of cast-off furnishings, technology, and trash. Air pollution stems from emissions from gas, from industrial power plants/manufacturing equipment, and individual contributions such as cigarette smoke, hairspray fads [especially pre-90’s], etc. This has threatened the homes, and breathing quality of animals across the world, including humans. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm/research at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to respond to each selective pressure, to ensure the goal of species survival. Situation 3: [Current Crisis] Many parts of the world do not have access to adequate sanitation services [waste-disposal] or clean water. These problems are interconnected. Water pollution stems from both local activities [people bathing, cooking, drinking, and relieving themselves in the same water source; improper disposal of medication], as well as from large-organization activities [nuclear, manufacturing, or other runoff /dumping of toxins /byproducts of operations]. Water shortages are prevalent in areas where water is polluted, rainfall is rare/drought is common [deserts], where business interests have threatened local access to clean water [Think: Nestle Water Rites dispute], or where lead pipes lead to undrinkable water [Think: Flint, Michigan]. Lack of well-developed sanitation services mean that some areas do not have toilets, only have outhouses but no sewers, or end up using local water sources or hillsides as nature’s toilet. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm/research at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to mitigate the current/prevent future damage from water pollution and improper sanitation, and thus ensure species survival. Situation 4: Energy ensures our food doesn’t spoil, that we can escape the extremes of outdoor climate, that we have light to read with, that we can continue activities past sunset, that we can communicate with people far away from our current location, and that we can watch our favorite Netflix shows when D2L acts up. [ha!] Unfortunately, the industrial progress we have achieved has [sometimes] had unforeseen consequences for earth, and living creatures. Non-renewable sources of energy which are consumed on a regular basis by an increasingly large part of the world allow us to maintain a lifestyle of constant access to electricity, and technology. Unfortunately, these sources of energy are a bit flawed; they a) will run out, and/or b) often have the consequence of hurting the environment [such as when an oil pipeline bursts]. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm/research at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to respond to each selective pressure, to ensure the goal of species survival. Situation 5: [Future Crisis] The earth is no longer safely habitable for the people of earth. You are a part of the lucky [wealthy] group of humans being split up to live on either a space-station or on a colony set up on Mars. Both settings have artificially enhanced gravity. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm/research at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to respond to each selective pressure, to ensure the goal of species survival. Situation 6: [Future Crisis] The earth is no longer safely habitable for the people of earth—the sun has swelled, or the heat trapped in our atmosphere has overwhelmed most life [desert conditions]. You are a part of the unlucky [non-1%-5%] group of humans still stuck on earth. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm/research at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to respond to each selective pressure, to ensure the goal of species survival. Situation 7: [Future Crisis] The button was pushed, and you are in a zone of nuclear fallout -that outer ring where life hasn’t been obliterated, but has still been severely affected. Old animals are dying out, new animals are arising, and the humans left are forever changed. This event has quickened and altered the next major animal extinction, and taken a large swath of AMH’s [anatomically modern humans] with it. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm/research at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to respond to each selective pressure, to ensure the goal of species survival. Situation 8: [Future Crisis] There are global boycotts of production, manufacturing, and distribution. You are in an area where you are used to getting all food from a grocery store, as well as obtaining all other needs through in-person or online stores. But now, imported goods are no longer available. Research and list at least one specific example per group member of a type of selective pressure humans may have to face in these situations [Predator, Pathogen, Climate, Toxin, Environment, Psychosocial Stressor] that could threaten extinction, largescale loss of human lives, or prevent generational survival. Next, brainstorm at least two specific adaptations [genetic, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and social-cultural] that you predict humans will develop/apply to respond to each selective pressure, to ensure the goal of species survival. Helpful Vocabulary Selective Pressures: Outside forces or stimulus that organisms respond to by way of adaptation or extinction. Examples include: Predators, Pathogens, Toxins, Climate, and Psychosocial Stressors. Adaptation: Adjustments by an organism (or group of organisms) that help them cope with environmental challenges and other selective pressures. May be: Genetic [evolutionary force (mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, natural selection) over generations], Physiological [short-term, physical], Developmental [Permanent phenotype variation; result of interaction b/w genes and environment / custom/ritual body alterations made by humans during human development], Behavioral [individually self-chosen action], or Social-Cultural [tools, technology, cyborg enhancement, artificial intelligence]. Please Refer to Your PowerPoint and relevant textbook table 1.1 [assigned to D2L/presented in class] for more information.
Planet Survival: Human Adaptation Activity (Anthropology) content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Sep 30, 2019
In Classroom Activities
Author: A. Hannah Spadafora Icebreaker activities in the classroom can be a little awkward--they are great as a semester starter, but in large classrooms, it is often difficult to implement any lasting effect during 2-minute introductions from up to 100+ students per class. As an addition to, or replacement for, an activity where students go around the room to tell you their name and why they have ended up in your classroom, here is an example of an icebreaker activity that initiates on-topic class discussions while identifying and engaging student interests from the first day you meet in the classroom. This activity is a fun introduction that offers helpful guidance to beginner students that may decide to go further in the field as well as an interactive introduction to the many career paths within the discipline and upcoming class discussions for the semester. This particular activity is intended for four-subfield introductory anthropology classes. Anthropology is the study of human beings--being that humans are complex, so is the field. The four subfields of anthropology traditionally are labelled as biological anthropology, archaeology, social-cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology--with a fifth component of applied anthropology increasingly being tacked on, though applied archaeologists and applied social-cultural anthropologists do very different types of work. These many other branches of Anthropology that I have included only a few of here (Medical Anthropology, Primatology, Cyborg Anthropology, Digital/Virtual Anthropology) are under the umbrella of these main four subfields. Medical Anthropology adapts some of the theory and topic focus from biological anthropology but the methods of social-cultural anthropology. Digital/Virtual Anthropologists are social-cultural anthropologists, but in a niche corner of the field. Primatologists and Cyborg Anthropologists draw on all four diverse anthropological skillsets and knowledge bases but also may include participants that are not human, or not fully human--yet (possibly, in both cases, or if the earth is destroyed sooner than that, possibly in neither.) There are other corners of the field such as praxis anthropology and business anthropology (and more), but these are both somewhat covered under the focus on applied social cultural anthropology, whereas specialties such as primatology and cyborg anthropology are a bit more unique to the fields they branch out from. Obviously this fun 'assignment' can be adapted conceptually for other fields seeking to connect their discipline to the potential careers students can seek or schools of thought that will be covered in the particular semester/class. This activity can also be followed by smaller cluster greeting activities, or potentially as a lead-in to another group assignment placed during corresponding class units. The PDF can be found here: Feel free to use this activity in your classroom and post your results in the comments! :) Class Icebreaker Quiz: What kind of anthropologist are you? 1. You’re surfing Netflix or YouTube. What do you watch? A. The Human Planet. Show me how different populations survive oxygen depletion of high altitudes, how tarantulas are considered a snack in certain wild jungles, or how in the hot desert of sub-Saharan Africa, kids trick elephants to win the competition for water. Adaptation is cool! A.1. Forensic Files, or Bones. It’s fascinating how scientists evaluate evidence to determine identity, recreate faces of the deceased, and solve cases of murder and injustice! B. Documentaries from Vice or National Geographic. Anything on social community, contemporary events, and human experience is awesome! C. The news, music videos, or anything that can be deconstructed if you listen deep to the themes, narratives, imagery, and/or perspectives conveyed. Media analysis is fun! D. Historical documentaries. It’s so cool that we know so much information about a community that is so far in the past! D.2. How It's Made specials. It’s nifty seeing how items we use every day are created! D.3. Indiana Jones. Not 100% accurate, but damn he makes excavation and exploration adventurous! E. Documentaries on environmental disaster, contemporary social issues, and problems local communities face. Solving social problems is important! F. Clips of special events (Parades, Public Events, Festivals, Carnival, the Olympics.) Performances demonstrate community values! F.2. Shows allowing humans to represent themselves with complexity and/or dignity –such as Tales of the City (original/ sequels 1 & 2/reboot), Sense8, When They See Us, Heroes, Dear White People, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy--with diverse casts, multiple location settings, voiceovers, flashbacks, and deep story lines told in empathizable ways. Art tells such interesting stories about human experience! G. Mr. Robot, The Great Hack, or other fictional / documentary programs about the ways that technology shapes our world and changes people. The internet is a notably nifty active part of contemporary human lives! H. Orphan Black, biohacking documentaries, Battlestar Galactica, Humans, or anything on artificial intelligence that shows technological altering of humans, contemplates the possibility of human consciousness being uploaded to machinery, or offering related depictions of creations of AI with human consciousness. The future of humanity and artificial humanity is possibly awesome! (or possibly a doomsday!) (Thus, significant either way!) I. Planet Earth or other documentaries focused on animal life. The diversity of species on earth are beyond cool! 2. It’s about to be summer vacation. If it’s paid for, where are you going? A.The Galapagos Islands for some bird watching, to scope where Darwin did his research on finch beaks. A.1 Or maybe on the next “Anthropology of Death” study abroad course, replete with gravedigging experience (read: formal cemetery survey and excavation field experience conducted with local permission) and osteology labwork (bone damage identification) that reveals new info on the Irish famine, The Bubonic Plague, or a case of mistaken disease attribution during high casualty epidemics. B. A tour of summer festivals where fans gather to listen to music, stand up for their communities, and bond via social rituals that increase enjoyment of each other’s company. B.1.Or maybe a religious site with other clear rituals, such as Lourdes, France, where Catholics travel from around the world to receive blessing and healing from the local historical figure of St. Bernadette, or the wailing wall and similar sites in Israel/near Palestine sacred to Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities. Just somewhere steeped in culture and community. C. Any place that they speak the language I am most fascinated with or which has the coolest artifacts of ancient texts is good to me! D. Let’s see some pyramids! Peru, Egypt, anyone? D.1. Or maybe some castles across Europe, jetting from Scotland to France to Cyprus . D.2 Or other jaw-dropping ancient buildings--the Parthenon in Athens, the Pantheon in Rome, the great wall of China, the half-buried remains of Pompeii or the Palace of Knossos. E. I’d rather spend the break volunteering or doing work in a way that helps a community[/ies], either here or abroad. Anywhere I can make a difference is great! F. Southeast Asia, where gender is in revolution and South Korean K-pop bands abound. F.1. Washington, DC. These political performances in the white house and congress sessions need someone paying attention! G. I’ll stay home. I could use the extra time to catch up with buddies online, in fandom, video games, or social media communities. H. Who needs to leave the house physically when you can leave mentally? A virtual reality destination of my choice sounds like the best vacation to me! I. An animal sanctuary, to volunteer assistance with the care and well treatment of endangered, protected, or other wild animal species, including 'pets' that humans later realized shouldn't be in captivity but who are too domesticated to survive the wild. 3. Out of the following school subjects, which is your favorite / do you find the most fascinating? A. Biology and life sciences (human focus) B. Social and behavioral sciences C. Humanities such as Communication and English D. Geology, physics, or other earth sciences. E. Economics and political science. F. Theater, Music, Art G. Computer science. H. Engineering. I. Biology and life sciences (animal focus) 4. What potential cool things would you most like out of your career? A. A white coat license to do experiments, conducting medical or genetic lab procedures on biological matter ranging from bones to bacteria to DNA. The chance to study inheritance, evolution, diet, disease, and human biology/physiology. B. Broadened horizons--a chance to travel, talk with people about the things they find important, see the ways unfamiliar social groups live life, and learn how social actors shape, and are shaped by, communities. C. The opportunity to watch movies, television, and public performances, to read copiously, to listen deeply during conversations and performances, and to decode written, spoken, and performed linguistic and symbolic content for meaning and context. C.1. The skillset to analyze language and dialect shifts over time, to understand sign language or Morse code, or to see how language is used in the present in ways unique to particular communities. D. The opportunity to spend time outdoors, stretching your legs at a field site for months at a time; to not worry about office dress codes (as your clothes will be dirty, anyhow), and to feel (at least, a little bit) like you’re treasure hunting / to fulfill a little bit of the mythic nostalgic wish to discover significant stories of the past. D.1. The challenge to build a Mesolithic timber hut with only the items you find in a narrow slice of the now UK region that people in 8000 BC filled with Mesolithic timber huts, or to figure out how spears were fashioned out of stone, before the days where metal was common, or to see how people can cook without pots and pans, or conduct otherwise sometimes-weird experiments to try to figure out how humans built major sites or created items for specialized uses in human eras prior to the technological mechanization of production. D.2 ...or to deep dive sunken sites for submerged artifacts and other evidence of human/animal activity, or to explore ship wrecks. D.3 ...or to spend the day in the lab, washing, weighing, measuring, describing, categorizing , and researching cool artifacts and other found items at archaeological sites—puzzling and piecing together clues on when the items were made, who used them, how they were disposed of and at what time, as well as what their purpose may have been. E. Being able to make a difference in the lives of people in the community that you are studying. The chance to do something of purpose, to impact a social issue of vital importance, in the name of reducing suffering, seeking justice, and/or assisting in organizational problem identification and implementation. F. The chance to attend, witness, analyze, film, and/or produce public and private/community events, performances, demonstrations, and visual media. The chance to use photography, theater, film, and/or critical theory in your work for a good cause or deeper understanding. G. Getting to work from a remote location but still feel like you are stepping into a community site. The ability to use computers, technology, and the internet to communicate with others, witness community engagement with events, seek out participants and contacts, develop network knowledge, and learn more about why people participate in digital community as a valued and valuable way of engaging with others who hold similar hobbies, interests, and goals. H. The requirement to keep up to date with the latest technological advances—what they are, how people use them, and how the use of these technologies are changing what it means to be human, the ways that people adapt to new settings, and the ways tech shapes our worlds as we increasingly integrate it to body compatibility—as well as to be informed on the philosophical and ethical questions associated with increasing reliance on mechanization, artificial intelligence, and technological means of addressing human issues. I. Getting to work with animals, particularly primates--caring for and communicating with bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, or other ape-cousins of humans via symbols or sign language--and/or to study primate evolution. 5. What potential dangers do you not mind facing? A. The sight of blood! (occasionally) The chance of infection! (very slim) (read: exposure to biological elements that are harmless if handled right, and the tedium of lab work.) (excuse the humorous exclamation marks) B. Culture shock, strange foods, limited privacy, awkward moments at unfamiliar customs, the need to adapt or explain your differences of choice with tact and respect, to toe the line between sharing about yourself and redirecting focus onto participants (i.e.-when asked about your own personal religious beliefs, fulfillment of expected gender roles(why you don’t have kids), or other private detail inquiry. C. Controversy, if your linguistic analysis is over social or political performances. The pressure from state or local entities to change the nature of your research. D. Dirty clothes, sweaty days. Potential exposure to critter-crawlers [including occasional ones that require medical treatment /prevention]. Boredom during cataloging less thrilling artifact finds, like thousands of glass shards from one site that are mostly from different era soda bottles. D.2 Controversy, if your archaeology project provides a different narrative about truth than the myths supported by a local government or dominant group of social power E. Controversy, if your applied project is a part of global efforts to fight oppression or focus on disempowered groups. F. Difficulties of in-field filming—with lugging equipment, gaining informed consent to use audio/visual/filmed material, and other filming/editing difficulties. Increases in the observer effect -- pronounced shifts in community behavior in response to the intrusive awareness of being recorded (especially on film). Controversy over your visual analysis of a community event, especially if the event is put on by the government (i.e.- a military parade.) G. The difficulties of gaining information solely from online, digital community sources. The loss of presence that may accompany a project forsaking in-person participant observation, and therefore, the loss of the human element in interviews. The possibility of text to misconstrue or lack additional insight that participants may more willingly talk about with in-person conversation. H. Controversy of the ethical questions surrounding biohacking, artificial intelligence, and increasingly automated work. I. Difficulties or dangers of working with animals (more likely if protocols are not followed). 6. What skills are you good at / do you enjoy, or think you could enjoy enough to learn through practice? A. Playing [erg. working...] with lab equipment such as microscopes, magnifying glasses, and other investigative tools. Handling delicate materials. Visual identification of cells, bones, and other anatomical/biological matter. The ability to notice small differences in damaged items and figure out what happened—such as noticing evidence on a skeleton of lifetime diet and disease or trauma before, at, or after death. B. Listening deeply, asking the right questions to hear the best stories of experience others have to share, codeswitching in different settings, being good with people. Remaining curious but reserving judgment. Talking and engaging with people in a respectful and inquisitive manner. C. Paying close attention, and analyzing meaning and symbolism in everyday conversations, public discourse, politician /public official rhetoric, media, music, and art. D. Playing (erg, working....) in the dirt and with drones. Identifying items visually—particular rocks, stones, minerals, metals, glasses, and other artifacts, as well as site markers like building posts, middens (trash pits), and landscape evidence of human or animal activity. Using sciences like geology to identify site information. Learning GIS Software to make maps of sites that help track and analyze data about information found. Using software and hardware technologies in site identification, excavation, survey, and artifact analysis. E. Negotiating; the need to identify allies and forge alliances, to navigate field dangers that include disagreeable opposition, to engage in skillful discourse save some of your analysis for the page rather than the conversation; to remain curious about and give dignity to multiple narratives on a situation, and to refuse over-simplified judgment, opting instead for deep report analysis. E.1. Designing a set of standards to evaluate a community or organizational network or issues that may be present. Applying those standards in evaluation. Communicating with communities that have a vested interest in project materials being protected, returned to them, or in having direct involvement with the research process. F. Photographing, making art of, or filming events. Carefully observing and analyzing behavior, symbolism, and representation in public, media, news, or social media performances G. Surfing online. Engaging, observing, and talking with online community site members. Deciphering online language and symbolism. H. Trying out the latest AI systems, mastering software and hardware that transform human tasks, playing on virtual reality systems, watching updates on the latest advancements in technology that affects the human body/mind in terms of aging, functioning, preservation, activity, and regeneration. I. Taking care of pets and other non-human animals. Learning to communicate in ways that go beyond written and spoken language. Studying the history of primate evolution, learning, and behavior. 7. What grunt work do you not mind doing? A. Lab work involving chemistry and/or medical tasks. Recording really good notes on experiments. B. Transcription of files. Recording really good notes on witnessed activities/participant observation. C. Literature and Media Reviews. Recording really good notes on witnessed performances/media. D. Lab-work that requires meticulous examination, study [measuring, weighing, describing multiple variables-function, material, age], and cataloging of items E. Producing informed consent forms and other paperwork for participants, consultants, sponsors, the internal review board, and/or research advisers. F. Dealing with sensitive camera equipment, difficulties getting good video quality (due to unexpected interferences, interruptions, and lack of ‘staging’ for lighting and noise in the field), the wait on getting footage developed. Recording really good notes/video/photos on witnessed activities/media. G. Slogging through community blogs and discussion boards, even when the content may be boring, objectionable, offensive, or lacking the information you are looking for or thought you would find. H. Research on engineering and technology developments; public outreach on the implications of our increasingly technologized human selves. I. Cleaning up after, feeding, caring for, and being very patient while working with animals. 8. What future course load sounds most appealing to you? A. Human Variation; Diet, Demography and Disease; Forensic Anthropology. B. Anthropology of Europe; African Studies; Latin American Studies; [Other Area/Cultural Studies]; Death and the Afterlife; Modernity and Identity; Urban Anthropology; Kinship and Family; Classic and Contemporary Ethnographic Literature. C. Language and Social Justice; Language: Origins and Use; Contemporary Discourse. D. Archaeology of Southeastern United States; Heritage Preservation and Cultural Resource Management; Field Methods of Excavation and Survey. E. Contemporary Social Solutions; Anthropology of Social Change; Applied Anthropology. F. Visual Anthropology and Contemporary Media; Anthropology of Performance.G. Exploring Digital Communities; Conducting Virtual Ethnography.H. Cyborgs, Technology, and the Future. 9. Out of the following groups of research studies, which sounds the most interesting? A. Bone Deterioration Due to Domesticated Rodent Scavenging; "Till Death Us Do Part: The Evolution of Monogamy; Analysis of Nutritional Disease in Prehistory: The History of the Search for Scurvy and Other Specific Deficiencies; Brushing Off the Dust: Transitionary Diet at the site of Cerro del Oro; Differential Diagnosis and Discussion of a Large Nasal Neoplasm from a Late Bronze Age Athenian Male; Extrinsic Effects of Cranial Modification: A Case Study of Cranial Porosity and Cranial Modification Intensity in Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000 - AD 1400) Andahuaylas, Peru. A.2- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures; Pathologies of the West: An Anthropology of Mental Illness in Europe and America; Transnational Health Seeking Behavior of Bangladeshi People Living in Atlanta; Medical Music: Anthropological Perspectives on Music Therapy. Traditional Healing and Medical Pluralism in an Ohio Amish Community. An Uncertain Cure: Living with Leprosy in Rio de Janeiro. B. Creative Urbanity: An Italian Middle Class in the Shade of Revitalization. Both Ends of the Leash: Pit Bull Ownership and Activism in Atlanta, Georgia; Holy Bass: Spirituality in Electronic Dance Music Culture; Embrace of Shelter: The Cultural Hybridism of Athenian Roma”; Inaka ga Kokoro ni Fureru: The Practices and Parlance of Cultural Exchange in the Japan-America Grassroots Summit. C. The Everyday Language of White Racism; Redefining Nairobi's Streets: Study of Slang, Marginalization, and Identity. Identity as Politics, Politics as Identity: An Anthropological Examination of the Political Discourse on Same-Sex Marriage. D. The Atlanta Phoenix Project: Applications of Gamification for Online Civic Engagement; The MARTA Collection: An Investigation of an Archaeological Legacy and Cache of History; Come to The Cypress Pond: The Archaeological Survey of an Antebellum Plantation. E. Needle Exchange: Social Value for Outreach Workers; Watching for Wolves: Perspectives on Policing Among Experienced Officers in Atlanta; Educational Considerations for Refugee And Migrant Children in the United States. F. Remaking Resistance: Cultural Meaning and Activism in the SOA Watch Movement; Arte Clandestino: Rebellion, Graphic Art and Youth Culture in Oaxaca, Mexico. G. Ethnographic Research 2.0 The potentialities of emergent digital technologies for qualitative organizational research; Power/freedom on the dark web: A digital ethnography of the Dark Web Social Network; Active engagement with stigmatized communities through digital ethnography. H. Anthropology and the future: New technologies and the reinvention of culture; Do Cyborgs Desire Their Own Subjection? Thinking Anthropology with Cinematic Science Fiction; Cyborgs in the Everyday: Masculinity and Biosensing Prostate Cancer. I. Synthetic primatology: what humans and chimpanzees do in a Japanese laboratory and the African field. The Genetic Basis of Primate Behavior: Genetics and Genomics in Field-Based Primatology; Diet and the Dietary Niches of the Malagasy Subfossil Lemurs: An Analysis of Dental Microwear, Dental Proportions, and Grit Accumulation. RESULTS: Tally your responses- Mostly A’s, Mostly B’s, Mostly C’s—and so on. Whichever letter- category has the highest number of responses is your result! A. Biological Anthropologist: Whether studying forensics, evolution, and/or genetics, you have preference for learning about human biology and physiology, solving mysteries from murder to malnutrition to mutation. Your field skills may include preserving and recording a site of found remains (ancient or recent), identifying if bones belong to humans or other animals, spotting telltale signs of identity and past experiences on bones, evaluating evolutionary details of found primate fossils, or dating remains to approximate time of death or deposition (though in contemporary cases, coroners make the final/official declarations). Your lab skills may include staring down the barrel of a microscope, examining cells, studying DNA, and/or cataloging bones and other biological matter. You will do well if you take additional courses on microbiology, osteology, forensic identification, and the history of human evolution, adaptation, and variation. A.1 Medical Anthropologist: Health fascinates you, but you’re not so sure about being the person to work directly with biological materials or people’s bodies. Instead, however, you wish to study practices concerning illness and healing from an ethnographic perspective—using social cultural methods but applying them to health settings in the act of interviewing and observing medical professionals, healing specialists, and/or patients. You may take a cross-cultural perspective on what healing practices exist, how they are used, or how particular illnesses are defined. You may also dive deep into one particular place setting to see how specific diagnoses are lived with by individuals, and how communities shape understanding and practice surrounding healing rituals. Classes in public health can help supplement your pursuits in bio-anthropology theory and social cultural anthropology methods. Your goal is to understand the human impact of socially shaped definitions of illnesses and practices of healing. B. Social-Cultural Anthropologist: Whether stepping into an unfamiliar community or deconstructing your own social group, you find challenges that involve talking with people and visiting community event sites equally rewarding. You like witnessing rituals, gaining insight into social customs, decoding community language (spoken, written, and symbolically performed), and identifying patterns and diversity in people’s beliefs, understandings, and ways of life. You don’t mind recruiting on-site contacts as research informants, putting together visual maps for network analysis of the connections people in a community have to each other, setting up individual or focus group interviews, designing surveys for some mixed methods statistical crossover, or coding and analyzing collected data. You just like getting to know people, and in this career, that is a huge asset. You may also conduct ethnohistories, utilizing a wide array of archived sources, or ethnologies--cross-cultural comparative accounts of a particular institution or practice. It is essential to immerse yourself in anthropology itself as well as philosophy and identity studies seminars on race, gender, sexuality, and class--though also prudent for employability to take cross over classes with sociology and/or marketing. C. Linguistic Anthropologist: Human expression fascinates you. You like decoding community speech, writing, art, gestures, and other symbolic messages. Whether studying the evolution of language capabilities, particular dialects' organization of linguistic elements (phonemes, morphemes,) into words, or expanding knowledge of the tree of language with particular details on eras of language or symbols shifts (through examination of books, art, and even cemetery plots), language is your jam. You don’t mind reading or examining things for long periods of time at a desk, as you are the type to be engrossed when there’s a puzzle to put together. It is recommended to take classes in both Anthropology and Linguistics, as well as a particular language, to further your goals in this niche field. D. Archaeologist: You would recreate the past if you could. Looking at the scope of both past and present worlds that human have built boggled your mind at first glance, and you’ve been trying to get more information ever since. Whether studying past building sites or collections of artifacts, you attempt to piece these things into context via historical records and scientific analysis. If into experimental arch (D2), you also attempt to recreate items made in eras where technology and resources were very different. If you get into underwater arch (D3), you may find yourself scuba diving. In most cases, however, you don’t mind setting up field grids composed of precise squares, using tech both in the field (to discover details on buried items in survey when excavation is not possible, to discover a site from a walking or drone or plane’s eye view, to excavate the area when the expense is taken, and to map the specific vertical-horizontal coordinates of artifacts found) or in the lab (to clean, measure, weigh, reveal, and date artifacts—through a wide variety of techniques). The biggest reward is solving the mystery of when, where, how, and by whom something was used—especially if it has significance to notable historical events such as migration, war, government, natural disaster, or another famous incident. It is helpful to take additional classes in geology and computer science. E. Applied Anthropologist: You have similar tendencies to social-cultural, biological, linguistic or archaeological anthropologists, but you go beyond this. It particularly irks you that so many social organizations try to solve community problems without consulting people on the ground to gain a better understanding of local actors’ motivations, goals, and stakes in organizational changes being made. You consider the impact of research--as a tool for organizational/social change, as a practice with political implications connected to repatriation of human remains and community artifacts as well as to conflicts that go beyond the ‘fly-on-the-wall’ methods of data collection to the need for side-taking in matters of injustice (such as identifying victims and perpetrators of genocide or murder). You also thus see it as a practice requiring integrity. Your goals may include successful communication with multiple stakeholders who have conflicting interests in a public / community issue and convincing people with very different interests to compromise or take the particular side of evidence and humanistic values. Along with responsibilities of the other subfield(s) that you have co-experience in, you don’t mind writing grant proposals for funding, performing organizational program evaluation, or designing structured improvement measures, policy, or law recommendations that take into foremost account the people served by, hurt by, or laboring in studied communities/and organizations. Classes on organizational leadership, non-profit management, policy analysis, or public health stand as good supplements to a solid immersion in the anthropology subfield of your choice. You're convinced that the right solution is found through evidence-based solutions that consider both human experience and material data analysis, and intend to use this fact to change the world. F. Visual and Performance Anthropologists. Your research may be similar to the other fields, particularly social-cultural and applied anthropology, but just writing about your research or just analyzing human narratives in the communities is insufficient. Instead you engage with visual and performance media—either creating projects where your data is presented in visual and/or film form, and/or centering your research on the visual and performance elements of the community studied. This can involve studying community performances of resistance and protest, analyzing the visual- and performance-based aspects of community events such as festivals, sports, and government/military spectacles, and/or making filmed ethnographies intended to fully encapsulate conversations with individual community members. Classes in critical theory or in the fine arts field relevant to your project interests can give a unique edge to a visual or performance anthropologist career. You like to get creative with research presentations, and this brings ethnography and anthropology to a wider audience in awesome ways. G. Digital Ethnographer. You research communities from behind the remote access of your computer screen, interested in the ways people are using technology to find social connection with other members of their fandom or identifying group. You feel that the fact that people make community space in the absence of an actual place is an innovative adaptation incorporated into our social realities that should be studied. This involves finding, reading, and communicating with members of particular social groups over online discussion boards, forums, informative websites, and comment sections. You don’t mind the computer work, enjoy computer science classes, and like that people have found ways to humanize computer activities. H. Cyborg Anthropologist. You research the ways that human biology is affected by integrations of technology, from transformed relationships between people and the machines that we use in our lives to the ways new technologies alter human bodily capabilities—as well as the ethical implications of knowing we can, but questioning if we should. This involves an inquiry into responsible adaptations of technology that change human physiology, learning, communication, labor, politics, and use of virtual realities as well as artificial intelligence. An introduction to computer learning and/or engineering can help deepen your understanding of cyborg studies. You like to contemplate an informed view of what the future might look like, and predict that machines will continue to change everything. I. Primatologist. Your research focuses on primate evolution, from lemurs to apes to humans (and the many other related species). You may study in the lab fossilized, found, or recreated skeletons of humans and other primates, both contemporary and past; the goal here is to identify patterns of evolution and timing of anatomical and physiological shifts /speciation events (when a new species emerges). Your field work focuses on working with primates themselves, particularly bonobos, chimpanzees, or other ape evolutionary cousins to the human species. You may take care of primates, teaching these animals a local dialect of sign language, how to use technology that involves symbolic / pictorial representation along with spoken words, and try to determine how far communication and cognition of non-human primates compares to human capabilities. You'd benefit from both biology and linguistic courses. You love animals and bringing greater understanding of evolution to understanding our pasts and our possible futures. . Author: A. Hannah Spadafora Please give credit if you use any activities posted by teachers in The Shared Classroom. Thank you!
Class Icebreaker Quiz: What Kind of Anthropologist Are You? (Anthropology) content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Sep 04, 2019
In Meaningful Work Project
Interview 1: A. Hannah Spadafora Lead Researcher. The Meaningful Work Project Founder. Project Director. Editor. The Conscious World Resume Professional Website LinkedIn What does your work and education history look like? As of 2019, my credentials boast three fields of study: Anthropology (Master of Arts), Philosophy (Bachelor of Arts), and Religious Studies (Bachelor of Arts), with additional minor requirements completed in English and Psychology. All of these cost me more money than my earnings have increased since earning them, as of yet, and—while forming my passions—aren’t experientially as impressive as overcoming the struggle to survive before, during, and after completing these programs of study. Concentrated mostly in the last 15 years, I’ve worked at both paid and unpaid jobs, an internship, unpaid work facilitated through school opportunities, and volunteer positions. These have been held across mostly the ground floor of the fields of research, teaching, tutoring, customer service, retail, restaurant, call center, direct sales, product demonstration, user experience, canvassing, pet sitting, childcare, website design, other sales [used books, an online class on writing improvement, photography/poetry e-books, and an attempted handmade jewelry business], as well as non-profit, office, graduate, and editorial assistance roles. How would you define Meaningful Work? To me, perhaps due to my introversion/ambiversion*, meaningful and enjoyable work involves creativity, knowledge, a noble cause, and control over the terms of my work. I like to read, write, plan, research, design, create, visually-organize, talk with people in ways that go beyond sales pitches, help out, work independently, complete computer tasks, and feel like my work is both ethical and making a difference. Delivering presentations for teaching and conferences can be enjoyable too, at times, though I ultimately decided in high school theater/mass media that I liked being behind the writing/direction/camera more than in front of it. *rlua[I] / iNfj on most recent Sloan/Jung scales (rcUaI/INfp being my previous long-standing results. What defines unsatisfying work to you? The most unsatisfying/most personally frustrating things I’ve done for work have been when I’ve had to pitch a sale or fundraise for organizations that felt like begging uninterested, annoyed people for cash, to carry hot plates and nearly overflowing drinks, to fake a smile to jerks, to deal with 10 fires going off at once because a store/restaurant was slammed and understaffed, and/or dealing with unhappy people--those customers, coworkers, or managers fine getting in others faces with regular screamed demands and critiques. What do you do? I currently work from home as a long term, full time Customer Experience Representative for a service evaluation/review publication company as well as currently in a contract as a short-term, part time survey interviewer for a research/consulting firm. Both of these positions are remote, from home, and conducted via phone and computer. For the former, I report user experience responses following home maintenance services, gathering qualitative and quantitative data through phone based survey interviews. I also listen to audio files and perform data entry, transcribe homeowner comments as they speak them in our phone interview process, and edit my shorthand/slightly for customer ambiguity and sentence structure after. For the latter, which has only been a few hours each pay period so far, and which is only a three month stint that will end by the finishing of September, I similarly gather and enter information from business owners via short phone-based demographic/information verification surveys for another local research firm. In both of these separate but similar positions, I am making warm-lead phone call; for one, to give surveys to homeowners about customer experiences of rendered maintenance services/recently bought homes, and in the other, to business owners to verify and collect demographic and statistical information. How did you get involved with your current work? I moved into the former role after starting as an editorial assistant at a sibling company owned under the same umbrella corporation that produces guidebooks on the top rated companies they perform survey interviews for, to ensure that subscribed homeowners able to afford company services know the best places to call. I found the latter role on a fluke, through an acquaintance I'd remained contacted with on my Facebook network, and applied after checking out and being impressed with the organization's record of commitment to creative, thorough, and social change oriented research showcased via their website and the credentials of their staff, as well as looking into other limited third party information on former/current employees experiences working for the firm (Glassdoor reviews.) Do you like what you do? For these past two years following my post-graduate teaching stint, while trying to get my foot in the door for another career position, I've bided my time, grateful for these other convenient positions allowing me to prioritize creative work that I had grown tired of pausing from, and waiting for the right time to focus on. In the meantime of needing to pay bills, it hasn't been too bad, working in this the neutral zone of ground floor level scripted call center work, transcription, editing, and data entry. It’s an okay, fairly decent, neutral if not perfect opportunity to get to be paid for typing or calling comfortably from my bed at home, heating pad on anything that aches, low-volumed classical or jazz playing in the background/music of my choice in my non-phone/transcription audio ear, cat happily purring by my side. By neutral, again, I mean I like it enough to let it pay the bills while I work on things that are more important, personally, to my soul and true work interests. It’s independent, something I can flexibly schedule and when necessary clock in and out around health, cooking, cleaning, life, and other interruptions—and, notably alright, while I work on my dreams on my off time. It’s not the creative work I seek as my next career step, but I’m grateful and comfortable, if not quite enthralled. Though I can’t complain much about the actual duties of it, the redundancy, lack of creativity, sometimes difficult-to-achieve incentive stats, and micromanagement of time records required among the general gratefulness and relative comfort can admittedly be less than thrilling. Further, the financial reward is at a level less than comfortable survival. The first job’s low compensation is $10.50/hour; the second research firm is better, at $15/hour—but the second is only a few hours I’ve managed to squeeze in, being very part-time, temporary, and contract based. The translation of this for a worker without savings wiggle room is: limited hours, delayed check-by-mail payment, ending soon, and thus difficult to prioritize over my job which offers full time, direct deposit, and isn’t going to disappear in two seconds. Lastly, in all of my work right now (the two call/data positions plus writing and other work for this online magazine), I sometimes get a little stir crazy, as the low compensation, availability for remote positioning, and requirement for a relatively calm/quiet background atmosphere while making calls means I probably spend an unhealthy amount of time cooped up in my apartment. It can also be a little frustrating, when unhappy people call in/pick up--but it probably happens less than it ever did when I was directly in customer service, retail, restaurant, and sales, which I’m thankful for. These small matters aside, I'm also very grateful for any extra opportunity, especially working for both a publication company and research firm that I'm impressed with the work of. Also on the positive side of scraping by, in the meantime of trying to get other goals going, I have been re-centering my health. In previous work in customer service at retail and restaurant locations, my symptoms often flared due to the difficulties of handling hectic schedules with little to no sleep from my circadian rhythm malfunctions /sleep phase delay disorder, as well as due to the consistently physically taxing tasks quickly wearing out my energy and strength (not hard to do for someone with a chronic health conditions/less spoons to start with.) I like that I can rest and balance, and not expend extra physical energy running food, busing tables, or taking public/car share transit (which is also expensive and sometimes emotionally taxing.) Further, despite not getting out of my apartment often and the low compensation provided, more home time has allowed more skill building time for primarily Spanish focused language practice, some self teaching in statistics, software listed on advertisements for jobs I desire, and building some web coding skills. This time around paid work, creative work, and health balancing has also allowed for some time time spent building my knowledge base of interesting professional fields--from effective strategies for marketing your skill set in applications to jobs I actually want, to how to develop/get funding for independent creative/research/organizational work, and in gaining more information on non-profit management, user experience design, project management, and other advice books padding my repertoire of career research. This is a trade off I haven’t always been able to make during non-remote jobs/while working and attending school in the past. So, at this very moment, my work is not teaching, upper level research, project management, or something otherwise intellectually/creatively stimulating, but it has led me to have some time for the launching and publishing of this magazine, for recruiting participants for this research project, and for starting to set up a framework to seek funding for when we have a loyal readership base/more contributor input, and a full issue to release to people. It's also let me take some extra time upping my game as I search for the chance to step up into another well compensated position that is independent or leadership based, and in an attractive and/or affordable location. My current reset date to accomplish this career shift and/or have my research/creative work funded is by my lease end in January, 2020. My time in the rat race has been valuable in it’s own experience and skills-building kind of way, but growth is always the goal. What jobs have you enjoyed the most in life? The least? Most: Research (ethnographic interviews, literature reviews, statistical survey design/analysis) teaching, tutoring, non-profit, office, graduate, and editorial assistance roles. Online class creation, writing, web design, communications, editorial, and creative work. Least: Restaurant, retail, and anything involving cleaning (whether for myself, other people, a store, a restaurant, a school, or the bodily things left behind by cat, dog, horse, or baby.) What would you be doing, if money were no object, and you could choose your career path? If money were no object, and I could choose any work, I would be writing, reading, creating, and building; organizing projects that try to promote positive change in the world; analyzing policy and program practice and making recommendations that persuade people to do things better in the world; designing communications for public, staff, and management audiences; creatively producing unique assemblage art; interviewing and deeply discussing things with others to gain a better understanding of other’s perspectives; sharing what I learn, create, think, and visualize via books, film, classes, presentations, and design; assisting projects with organizational, design, office, and care work to see others visions come to life; and/or leading group activities in engaging learning. My career goals are thus to be a researcher, ethnographer, professor, teacher, project director, program evaluator, policy analyst, author, publisher, curriculum designer, non-profit manager, communications assistant, or perhaps, if none of those work out, something in film making (documentary/visual anthropology style), graphic/web design, coding, or other creative venture. Some of these roles I’ve already fulfilled to an extent, but never at a sufficiently well compensated, fully committed, professional level.My health limits certain possibilities, as it’s difficult to ask for flexible scheduling and partial remote status for most positions I’d like to step into; few positions above my station allow this without requiring an already-significant multiple years long record of success, and the competition has so far beat me out. Additionally, if I had more resources, I would have returned already to earn a PhD in public policy, and at various points over the years pursued certificates in planning and economic development, non-profit management, data science, web coding, k-12 teaching, and/or TESOL/ESL (<in order of interest level, most to least)—though it’s frustrating to already have spent the last 15 years already having earned degrees and gained experience across fields, but to still need yet more to be granted the opportunity to step up, and I still have to consider time commitment versus flexibility options as well as debt impact versus growth potential. In name of making my own path when doors aren’t opened to me, I have started to pursue dreams outside formal career paths that I hope lead to long term professional, financial, skills, and experience growth. In taking on responsibility for The Conscious World and launching The Meaningful Work Project as my latest research/independent writing, editorial, and publication project, I am gathering and attempting to lead a team of contributors, keeping my research skills from other projects sharp, promoting our shared stories and media on social sites like Facebook and Twitter, engaging in public, contributor, advertiser, and audience communications, and raising funds to pay our contributors/offset operation costs and time spent on labor. This adds to other long term projects--multiple manuscripts across fiction/non-fiction/poetry lines; creative hobbies and career skill building activities I’ve been trying to step my game up on; and the significant pastime of the job hunt, every time I cyclically decide to return to it, despite my limited success moving up to a position above what I’ve been granted opportunity for in the past. What are your life goals outside of your career, work, and money? It’s hard to answer this, because under wants-to-be-unfettered capitalism, all of my life goals outside of work are tied to it by the link of finances—a small rented house, cabin, condo—as opposed to a shared apartment. A private place, or shared again, but more spacious, as to feel private. In some ideal alternate reality, even an owned steady place to put my shit and call home without such high rent costs--though I’m sure I’m underestimating property tax, realize the cost of house repairs is exorbitant at times, and know there are things I likely have no familiarity with that probably also cost when you own. Also, to live in a city with great transit, to have health care that I can afford to take care of my issues better with/that hopefully helps when needed, to have cats, to travel more, to have a really good cat sitter for while I travel, to have time for both leisure and stronger bonding within a social circle of similar values/interests /hobbies /lifestyles /ambitions. These are important to a comfortable life, in my interpretation, but a good life requires something more—the sense of personal purpose and lasting impact of dedicated work brought to fruition. When you hear the words American Dream, this is what you think of; I’d prefer the right to a fulfilling life, opportunity to be trained to job/skill advancement, and chances to pursue dreams (and to not go bankrupt/homeless/lose everything in the process)—for those who want such--to be global reality. One of my current life goals is to do work that connects back to this vision through this project. To see more on Hannah's work trajectory and search for a fulfilling and financially sustainable livelihood, check out these links: Resume Professional Website LinkedIn ---------------------------------------- To volunteer to be interviewed about your own search for meaningful work, quest for wealth and purpose alignment, and connected triumphs and struggles, please e-mail info@conscious-world.net. ---------------------------------------- To read more stories from the Meaningful Work Project as they are posted, join our site here for updates and bookmark the project homepage here.
No Such Thing as Easy Meaning: 
The Official Meaningful Work Introductory Interview content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Sep 03, 2019
In Meaningful Work Project
Author: A. Hannah Spadafora This is a meritocracy. Can’t hack it? It’s not the system; it’s you. Capitalism thrives on not good enough so it can sell you the solution and shape you into it’s image. The reality is, however, high turnover from rigged standards and threats to literal human survival relies on this skewered survival of the fittest narrative. This allows companies to kick people out, to avoid providing benefits, to understaff and overwork, to drive people to match the potential capacities of machines by excessively micromanaging time and behavior, and to keep humans as tools while eliminating the most human elements from the business process. The narrative that’s ignored in this scapegoat-the-individual BS is the ways in which unfettered corporate profit under limited ownership is itself a flawed system--to humanity. In servitude to the tedious detail and bureaucracy comprising the contemporary employment search process, I’ve likely submitted over 1000 job applications over the past 15 years—from begging at the doors of minimum wage McDonalds, years ago, to petitioning my (hopefully) valid candidacy for salaried $30,000-60,000/year positions that directly fit my credentials, professional background, training, and capability for growth. To this end, I have organized my job-hunting during underemployment and unemployment many times over.[i] Early Craigslist job boards have been supplanted by specialized sites such as Idealist.org and paid-sites like FlexJobs.com. Prior to earning my credentials, job hunting was more physically and temporally demanding; I scoured malls, pounded pavement of busy-streets full of businesses that sat offset train stations, allocated whole days to application collection, and set aside other days to turn them all back in. Like so many seekers out there, I’ve tailored cover letter after cover letter, filing multiple nearly-identical online and paper forms, again and again. I’ve had resumes that were basic chronological lists of each job, functional showcases of related positions arranged by job category, one-pagers with limited space sparking intense inner debate as to which recent and relevant experience most closely match the job applied for, and long Curriculum Vitaes showcasing research, teaching, presentation, publication, and more exclusively academic achievement. In my most recent advancement in career finding techniques, I went backwards through job advertisements—both for positions that had passed me over and that I had earmarked on my browser bookmark bar—and I made an excel sheet on skills desired by the job poster, then color coded them in categories rating my qualification for them—strong, decent, weak, unfamiliar/non-existent, then ordered them based on priority (my interest/it’s value in the market/it’s frequency in my bookmarked ads/and lastly, my potential for achievement without additional certification costs.) This has helped me get a clearer picture of my strengths, weaknesses, and additional skills necessary to reach my goals. Getting to this point has taken years of repeated upgraded re-do attempts at my resume, cover letter, and skill development focus, as well as many interviews I walked out of un-hired, and even more completely failed, denied, or ignored applications. A majority of these applications were submitted as an undergraduate suffering nowhere to go, high job instability, and the lowest access to loan assistance—scouring over, re-adapting constantly, and printing out resumes just to hand write the same information into repetitive boxes on repetitive forms; repetitions seeming to echo everything skewered about the lowest level of capitalist employment. It's just awesome (sarcasm) to be locked into ritual before you ever even enter a contract of compensation for your time. Recently, frustrated to no end by the literally 17 different resumes functionally dividing my past experience up--sometimes making my gaps in work history appear longer/more frequent than they lasted (gaps between similar relevant positions failing to show positions worked in the interim that were irrelevant to the particular application)--I created a navigable PDF and website with a clickable table of contents that I hope an HR person will find convenient, impressive, and will save me a load of more BS repetition. In moments like this, I’ve often wondered, if I could go back in time, taking all the time I've spent stressing over things that weren't going to happen or help--crying, panicking, wondering, feeling pressured by people I owed rent to, or my stomach grumbling--and all the time I’ve spent applying to jobs that rejected me, and replace that time with my own skill, craft, and portfolio expansion, would I, in fact, be more successful at this point? What if I'd spent that time writing manuscripts, creating assemblage art (a goal that I sold the tools for not long after being bought, to afford paying one bill or another), on directing short films or documentaries (a high school mass media/video production/theater influenced dream), on writing articles, attending events, and developing a journalism career (my other consistent goal at the end of high school/declared major at the beginning of college), or getting through college earlier, with more focus, and--money issues aside in this fantasy--already having a PhD/having had more time to build teaching experience, as well as strengthened research and writing skills on an earlier timeline? What if I had been able to spend that time on all the creative and intellectual and activist pursuits that make my nerdy and artsy and bleeding heart happy? Would I, in fact, be more prolific, financially stable, fulfilled, centered? I’ll never know about what would/could have been, as we all do the best we can in the moment we are in. At the time, I didn’t have the hindsight to know which jobs would take me and which would pass me by. I just had voices screaming guilt trips any time I dared to breathe while un/underemployed, and a desperate need to pay my bills, eat, and survive. I didn’t put these apps in for fun. To start with, my job search wasn't the hope for fulfillment I craved; it was, instead and more often, fear of individual extinction. This fear wasn’t unfounded. The first time I experienced damaging unemployment and half-homelessness[ii], I was 20 years old (2008, during the hiring freeze.) I'd moved to Atlanta to attend GSU the previous year, and had only worked three ‘formal’ jobs at this point (read: not babysitting)—Toys R Us, Chucky Cheese, and Vector Marketing. I did also have unpaid experience in the high school lab/applied classes in journalism and childcare, too, but none of these things seemed to matter as I scrambled through constant filling out of applications, living off credit and optimism--both of which were subsequently screwed for years afterwards. The second time I experienced extreme difficulty maintaining sustainable employment that lead to housing instability, I was 21 or 22 (2009 or 2010). Things still hadn’t turned around much, and my string of seasonal jobs had too-long off season pauses--leaving me with direct knowledge of hunger, despite living in a ‘rich country’. I begged friends and family and a few times strangers for slivers of cash, whatever could be spared, sometimes piling up any change I could find in my sofas or on the sidewalk as I passed by, and timing out my small ‘meals’ of half a grilled cheese/bread and toast or the next granola bar—staring at the clock as my stomach rumbled. The ‘meal of the week’, whatever I could get for under $5 or $10 or $20 stretched the slim grocery money last longer—but not being able to have a more balanced diet, increased stomach problems, making it even harder to get a job, stay emotionally/physically stable, and function properly. Both of these times, I sank into a deep depression. The rejection built up—from jobs applied to continually, in bulk, from people whose help pleas you’ve exasperated—and I spiraled into an inescapable black hole via which all hope and optimism dissipated. Unsure what to do when doors kept being closed, I bounced between friends’ couches across the state of Georgia, as well as one night on a bench, ricocheting every few days back and forth, and trying to still make classes and job hunt while living out of a backpack. Each time, things only stabilized after a friend taking pity finally offered me a steady couch (or blow up air mattress assembled and dissembled every night and morning)--a home base, if not quite a home, where I could stop spending time in transit and phone begging for someone else to take me in, under continual uncertainty if I’d find a place to sleep--or if I’d have to bench it again, or try a shelter which was notoriously unsafe for women, or end up one of the many people I had met and observed while awaiting buses in the city—the unfortunate ones, people without social networks to help them find solid ground, even for nights here and nights there. [iii] When you get stuck in a cycle of seasonal job after work-study semester after temporary contract, all with enough breaks in between to make your wallet squirm, job-hunting is an extra job in itself. There is no time to pause to breathe, or feel like the rug isn't going to be cut out from under you in five seconds, again. There is only time to keep searching--both during the interim between jobs and during the job already secured, when it's temporary, seasonal based, or not compensated well-enough for survival. Being that temporary and seasonal based jobs are so common, and easier to lock down around school, health, and other commitments, these lead to a potentially valuable workforce cut out of opportunity due to unseemly resume gaps. Regardless if these gaps occurred for the first time during a literal hiring freeze, when someone was so young to as barely have any type of resume that makes a damn to hiring managers who are only hiring the most competitive applicants on in the first place, there is a perpetual type-casting that pads employer pockets while screwing over workers trapped in this spiral. Seasonal workers are cheap labor; temporary contracts and high turnover require no benefits, no long-term training, less accountability in management practices, no raises, and no advancement opportunities —the quote-unquote ‘disposable’ labor force, a term indicative of how people on the ground level--literally keeping the organization in motion--are valued. Experiencing this firsthand has granted me a sincerely deep interest in the ways we organize our work, as well as respect for all survivors of the undercurrent of capitalism that continually tries to sweep us off our feet. The last time I was swept up, I was 24 (2012), thinking that my two earned bachelor degrees would land me a professional position directly following graduation--and maybe even something I liked—but dealing with a fallout of an unpaid stretch of nanny work when I came back from a mostly-student loan funded independent study-abroad research project on religious pilgrimage in Sicily and France. I only bounced a little bit between couches at this point, my friend’s mom offering me the cot in her office room, my friend in the bedroom next door, his parents across the hall, and his little brother downstairs. This was supposed to be a short stay as the other times were—three months, maximum—and she helped me seek jobs and apartments, as well as attended my bachelor’s graduation ceremony and kindly bought me two professional skirts and a professional blazer as a congratulations/good luck getting a job present. It turned into over nine months, during which, at various times, I was welcome and/or a source of tension. I was desperately trying to relieve the pressure by finding steady work and saving up money, but it took some time. Eventually, again, I secured a job—two jobs at local Atlanta restaurants, though they flared my health issues up —and a dirt cheap rent price of a room in an old, somewhat disheveled, 'fixer-upper' house that held 5-10 roommates at any given time (an average of 7-9 people, most of the time). This preceded my entrance to grad school, which I thankfully had time and support to apply to during the time spent with my friend’s family. Despite a wealth of living and working experiences during these struggles, the maximum amount of money I’ve earned in one year was somewhere near $20,000-ish, during two years of graduate school—a mixture of income and loans doubling my debt from my previous two undergraduate degrees that I failed to find a real career with following graduation. Due to this, during grad school, I flocked to the doctor and dentist for the first time in about a decade. I ran out of money before I had real answers--and before having a proper dental cleaning, as a crown I required for one tooth consumed my entire budget for the dentist (delaying to 2018/another two years, frustratingly). I also updated some of my wardrobe for the first time since I was a teenager via a mix of thrift store and offline bought items, in an attempt to move my style from grunge to elegant-on-a-budget—an act of anxiety intended to add professional camouflage to my closet that would support my efforts to enter a post-graduate career as a teacher, researcher, program assistant, or office associate. My goal was to not put on another ugly uniform for a sweat-and-take-other’s-flack-all day, too tired to move on your day off, undercompensated, highly micromanaged, mere job. Over the years when poverty would pause, such as, primarily climbing above it’s wall in graduate school and while paying relatively cheap rent, I gave myself permission to occasionally do things (always with fret, and calculations of entry fees / benefit, and transit costs if I didn't have a monthly Marta pass at the time/later uber costs—to take advantage of student discounts and freebies to the High Museum, the Botanical Gardens, and less than a handful of bigger Fox theater/Cobb Civic Center shows, to check out much cheaper (free, if you volunteer as a docent!) local theater/art gallery shows, and to take transit on my day off to swim at the campus in-door poor, to take the severely discounted campus exercise classes[v] ($20 for a full 18 week semester/less than $2/lesson.) This latter amazing deal taught me salsa, ballroom, and belly dancing, gave me motivation to practice yoga and Tai Chi [vi], a drop in cycle class or two to pass the time, and sparked an epiphany that I was not made for pilates (failed, rejected, and refunded by the drop date.) I also had transit-fund leeway and proximity ease of attending the free events (lecture events, special department symposiums, comedy shows, drag shows) and clubs (on poetry, philosophy, politics, and queerness) held on campus. I did these things not as consistently as I would have liked, but enjoyed them whenever I found time around unpredictable work schedules, classes, and health to drop in on and off over years, and/or schedule regular semester-here, semester-there attendance. Had I not been more inundated with interconnected struggles (health, housing) that always seem to tie back to finances, I feel like I could have been more steady in attendance, had more time to build closer relationships with connections met[vi.ii], and perhaps taken on a role of more responsibility. But paid work, life need, and unending fatigue take everything under capitalism, and I was grateful for the discounted rates as an undergrad and grad student that made some degree of life possible. I also think they should be guaranteed for alumni (hint hint, nudge nudge; planning and budgetary committees-please make this happen.[vi.iii]) Outside of the balanced, slightly growth oriented years of graduate school, and the other intermittent times where I could breathe for five seconds on anxiety over survival, and even further, on occasion, have at least a few uncanny nights of life that joy depletion steals too often--the maximum I’ve ever made in a year is about $15,000 take-home-the last two years being one of the more stable times I’ve had in life, though the work itself is a bit boring and uncreative. My first two years out of grad school, I made less than this per year teaching college as a part-time adjunct, though almost the same when you added in my side gigs of tutoring, selling used books online, and unpaid summers scrambling together rent by working back in restaurant roles that stressed my health conditions. Despite this rather low 'high-achievement' of my last two years whooping around-$15,000 take home fortune, the $600 taxes I owe for claiming myself twice last year—because my paychecks are so low to begin with—is looming in its October extension, as are my own goals of retaking the GRE, applying for PhD programs (and the funding that would be necessary to accept admission), and/or moving back to Atlanta or another city in January, when my next lease term is up (again). [vii] The debt from tax pales in comparison to debt from student loans, though--and the interest. My student loan debt has doubled sheerly from interest; a fact I find ridiculous--that the interest now equals what I borrowed. I thought I was being as conservative about borrowing as I could, considering how many times the gaps between one job’s season ending and securing the next position (always trying for non-seasonal positions, but taking what I could get)—this left my finances (and bills, debts, access to basic needs) in shortfall. I borrowed $65,000 over 9 years and three degrees. The idea that I owe $130,000 because of interest is absurd and mind boggling, especially since the interest keeps the debt climbing, and $15,000/year that I own in take home pay is just enough to breathe, eat, and work from home on, and not much else in the way of debt repayment, health care usage, or living life. None of these things are quite in my cobbled together, scraping-by budget. This is admittedly not helped by the fact that burnout from repetition led to the ill choice to breathe a little, for a minute, to take a few less hours each week on repetition (and TV) and a few more to launch this webzine and research project which are unfunded at the moment outside of my own funds supporting the webspace/domain/e-mail. My emotions and soul feel better, but the numbers in my bank account are symbols showing me I've shifted my priorities in ways not approved by the rat race. [Come on, Friday payday! ] If this isn't emblematic of a problematic world--that work feels like a forced chore rather than an eagerly anticipated chance to live your passion on a daily basis--than I don't know what is. The question is, how do we build this differently, in what circumstances is it okay to be apart of other's plans, tools for the boring repetition, and at what point do we declare fulfillment of one's own dreams a necessity to psychological health? Lastly, too, how do we compensate all the labor that goes into fulfilling the visions of an organization or business in a fair way, when we're all fulfilling our own visions or stepping into somebody else's? How much is a plan worth, in comparison to those who execute it? I’m now nearly 32, and news stories about an upcoming repeat recession terrify me, even three degrees and a much longer and more professional resume later from the first time I underwent hardship. I’ve been more steadily employed in the last six to seven years (I have two paid jobs right now, plus this unpaid venture of The Conscious World which includes The Meaningful Work Project--an attempt to hear others stories on this same topic.). Even so, I still have applied for an estimate of about 200 jobs over this 'stable' past 7 years—a few of these jobs panning out landing me just with my head barely above paying-bills water (and, when they've panned out not quite in the knick of time, leading me to more personal debts to pay back, that have eaten the extra income I could have had if the gap hadn't occurred.) Now that I have a Master’s Degree, my career search is littered with polite rejection letters, stressing the overflow of competitive applicants and limited position availability, rather than ghosted submissions, but the answer is ultimately often still the same--No. I have thus spent over the majority of my life working but have rarely crossed above the poverty level—and even when I have, it has not been by much. This is not for lack of trying, but money, health, and stiff competition frequently intertwine and curtail my efforts to rise above success-obstructing patterns, at times leaving me far below the poverty level, and at other times, just barely floating above water. Some reasons for this have to do with me. I’m a dreamer, a stubborn idealist, and often a failed Buddhist--I desire to do something meaningful, and some days have trouble hiding my misery and dissatisfaction when I'm stuck doing something I find frustrating and pointless, or feel like I'm contributing to an exploitative system that screws on-the-ground workers over. I don't want any job; I want an awesome one that I can try to be awesome at. Repetition doesn't make me feel awesome; it makes me feel stifled. I try to find contentment, to change the narrative, and get my head in the game in ways that allow me to grasp a sense of purpose to the functions I fulfill--I like talking with people, helping people, hearing others stories. It gets me out of the house (previous jobs, as currently I'm a reclusive remote workaholic.) I like payday, as I've been trained to, Pavlov's dog anticipating the bell ring with drool. My success at this can be inconsistent, however; particularly on bad days, at jobs where I've had to regularly face tedium and/or unpleasant coworkers and/or unhappy customers. Give me something I love, and I'll give it my all, paid or not; give me something I don't, and I'll do it, but my tongue may bleed from how much I bite it. I'm not always helped by being somewhat of an overeager achiever, either--’extra’ as one of my former students introduced me to the term[vi.i]. This is great in leadership roles; less so when you're an over trained philosopher desperate to be in a lead position, naturally curious and trying to show initiative all at once, asking questions on why things are the ways they are, and sometimes being asked to chill out or step out with the hindsight of wondering if your questions are the reasons why (while your anxiety disorder screams, 'Chill? What do you mean chill? We're trying to understand things better, so we can make things better! I have to know!') [viii]. The other major struggle involves handling seemingly unceasing health interruption that affect my sleep, digestion, breathing, energy, sense of time/direction, focus, pain level, coordination, mood, and physical endurance[ix]. The irony is when people tell you to take on less--stepping forward provides fulfillment that can staunch despair; being able to flexibly work can keep the talents of those with health, family, other work, or other needs from going to waste. Health care and the funds to use it also should be required, or preferably universal. Everything can be worked around, but the system rarely works around people. This capitalist narrative stigmatizes steady-employment difficulties during unfortunate times of life as a result of individual flaw. It’s the counterpart to the consumerist narrative used in sales pitches: innovation either discovers ways to fix problems that are already there, or creates a problem to swoop in with a solution. The prime example of this is every decade of skin care, fitness, and makeup advertisements for women (and, increasingly for men) picking a different body part to make people feel bad about the aging or swelling of—but, fear not; if you buy the right brand you can stop nature itself. 'Don't you feel ugly? No? Well now you do, and we can save you from it.' [ix.i] It’s the labor version reflecting the consumerist advertisement strategy--an adage clearly adapted if not quite spoken: It’s not the system; it’s you. Due to this set up, however, people adapt to being set on repeat, are separated from the better side of the innovative impulse, and, to be Marxist about it, successfully alienated from equal fruits to their labor, while others are able to reach the elite sphere of creators--those who plan, rather than those used as tools in others plans. We adapt to the idea that our passions should be hobbies and our work, meaningful or not, should be the prioritized activity. The judgment of whether something is meaningful is subjective (more than the poverty line is, though, cough.) There’s less wrong with that when there is choice, however. How do we define choice in a system where desperation-influenced compromises ensure you can eat and pay rent? What about when there are no good choices, or none of your choices result in the intended effect--simply due to numbers of the market (jobs open, jobs supplied)? There are choices outside the seeker as to the skills on the market that are valued, both in terms of being well-funded and well-paid. It’s okay to do meaningless work if you choose to; some feel like it's fine, so long as they live life outside of work--but what is meaning, what is choice, what is fine? We must remember that capitalism’s prescient role is to describe flaws we wouldn’t know we have, were it not for the powerful rhetoric about individual rather than organizational flaw that keeps businesses profitable and individuals at the lowest levels impoverished. To build an economic system around meaning, we must also build one around first around valuing labor for it’s worth, and valuing people that give that labor, by more secure offerings of work, better pay and benefits for seasonal employees, more loyalty to workers interests, and more organized ways to ensure everyone can have continuous stability of income despite shifts in work flow. Only by uplifting the downtrodden and suppressing the excessive do we reorganize successfully, for the people. We only all win by tossing the stick and sharing the carrot. To volunteer to be interviewed about your own search for meaningful work, quest for wealth and purpose alignment, and connected triumphs and struggles, please e-mail info@conscious-world.net. Hannah Spadafora is the founder/editor of The Conscious World, and is currently researching economic anthropology, public policy, and social change (see: The Meaningful Work Project.) She is trained as an applied social anthropologist (M.A.), continental philosopher (B.A.), comparative religion scholar (B.A.) and journalist (HS; English minor) with experience in research, teaching, tutoring, writing, non-profit, office, sales, service industry, graduate, and editorial assistant roles. Projects in the works include both creative and non-fiction manuscripts; these are written around remote jobs that pay the most basic of bills, but not the soul. An Idealist to the end, clearly.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Footnotes: [i] I’m ever finding new avenues to rejection, neglect to reply and denial of entry! (Hah. Hah. Cries.) [ii] Half-homeless: the term the food stamp application gives to unintended couch surfing between any couch that will take you, and thus living out of a bag and moving every few days. [iii] Due to coordination and endurance difficulties related to health, I’ve never owned a car. [v] Also taken as an undergrad, on and off. Difficulties with these also pointed to and exacerbated health conditions, free-clinic doctor advice having been to exercise more, which led to a few scary injuries/increased falls and problems [see: MG] [see: ix] [vi] the Tai-Chi class I missed 80% of because it was my day off from school-classes (but made myself feel better about by practicing at home via YouTube.) [vi.i] a 'bug-a-boo' as a frustratingly disorganized former manager somehow 20 years older than me and still embarrassingly using that term put it once. [vi.ii] maintain connections with some old friends better, too. Though our entire generation is busy and on Facebook, also thanks to the way current work structures shape everyone's lives. [vi.iii] except, alumni centers without the students. [no offense to students. just. boundaries and space considerations] [vii] (hopefully, for a job upgrade, or if another remote position, with work sustainable enough to live in areas accessible without a car/without a huge car share bill (Uber/Lyft), or difficulties with long walks between public transit due to health conditions [see: ix] [viii] , and, in some settings, refusing to put up with the BS people think they can heap on you because you ‘look nice’ (in restaurant: nice=weak.) [ix] (intermittent flares of gastrointestinal issues; migraines, sleep phase delay, asthma, ADHD, Myasthenia Gravis, dyspraxia, depression, and anxiety [partial list], with symptom and life instability/stress/rest imbalance links.) [ix.i] See Susan Douglass, Where The Girls Are for a more in depth examination of media depictions of concerns on physical appearance under this interpretive framework of advertising and the make-up/slim down beauty industry.
No Such Thing As Easy Money: Struggling for the Carrot Under the Stick content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora
Aug 19, 2019
In Meaningful Work Project
My strongest childhood memories of awareness of the role of wealth in my family are recollections of my parents fighting over money, and remembered feelings of my own envy over the things that my friends took for granted. Everything we ever spent a dime on—including healthcare, business operation, and activity costs—was counted, recounted, and intensely debated in circles over. Things advertised on TV to kids—from certain toys to lunchables—as being as easy as 'just asking your parents', I begged for, and was often shut down on the admonishment that I would know when I was older, and it was my own money, what the value of a dollar meant. The next opportunity that would change our circumstances was always being drummed up; having back up plans for back up plans was a lesson oft repeated, and not one that I've shed in an even more struggle full adulthood, where sometimes things fall through despite plans A-ZZ. This isn't to say that I was deprived as a child, however; I never went hungry, and I always had a lot of activities, experiences, and at least a few things that I know other children across the world would themselves be envious of. But, it is to say that we definitely struggled. Stability and consistency never lasted more than a few short years before a new equilibrium had to be struck, again, in my childhood, but in the earliest years with my parents that I can recall, it felt like we were rich. During this time, my dad owned a luxury transportation business in Newburgh, New York with a handful of limousines (both stretch and regular sized) driven by both my parents and hired event-chauffeurs, two Cadillacs, two carriages with four horses to pull the carriages. These horses were named by my dad after his limousines—a fact that gives some idea of the place that markers of material success meant to my dad, who grew up struggling, often at the lower ends of just-making-it working class, in his own childhood and on and off in adulthood. Our decent one-story house sat at the top of a hill surrounded by woods. My mom and I would feed nearby deer apples, and I would forage for bugs (and once a frog, and once a bird with a broken wing-harsh lesson there) as additional outdoor pets to our two small indoor/outdoor puppies, Sandy and Buster. The hill seemed impossibly high when climbing it as a child during the winters when it was too slick to get the giant cars up the driveway—but seemed decidedly less arduous of a trek when I visited the address as an adult. (I maintain that they changed the landscaping.) As I was so young, my memory of our wealth in New York is limited to this recalled feeling and old pictures of us posing with pretty cars, porcelain dolls I was prohibited from taking out of their packages, clothes from my aunt’s consignment shop, and my earliest memories of horses. Riding around the town in limos that were sometimes rented out to be in movies was the main feeling of being rich, though most of my childhood memories are from after we lost everything. When I was around 7 years old, financial issues caused the business to go under and the bank to reclaim our house. This prompted a subsequent necessary move from Newburgh, New York to Marietta, Georgia. We kept three of our limos following our move to Georgia for about a year, leading to an epic third grade birthday party of bringing my class to a local dirt-cheap buffet pizza restaurant and then through the drive through of McDonalds in a limo that fit us all—and then unloading to go play inside while the limo temporarily went to sit at the house and return for us all, not being able to fit in the parking lot. Our neighbors reported us and the city fined us for having them on our property, and upkeep rent elsewhere was more than we could afford, prompting my parents to sell the last ones off within a year after our move, however. In hindsight, the fact that my dad worked a night shift at Juvenile Hall in New York was a telltale sign that the ship was struggling to stay afloat. Most of my memories are from this -after. This Georgian suburb met us with low income tax and warm weather, but in this -after, my parents still struggled to make ends-meet in ways that led to struggles to live fulfilling lives—a meeting of goals often seemingly damned for the more idealistic and less wealthy members of the world. In Marietta, my mom started Jackey’s At-Home Daycare for neighborhood toddlers, young kids, and occasional siblings to babies taken in, or neighborhood kids close to my age. I helped her out as a ‘mother’s helper’ after school and during long summer days of work feeding, changing diapers for, watching, playing with, and teaching 8 to 18 babies and children between six weeks and four years old how to walk, talk, color, cut, glue, and write. Some especially packed years, she had some help—her friend who moved in with us when I was in maybe late elementary or early middle school, sharing our computer/guest room for two years with her son, or another friend she had who was a chiropractor when I was in elementary school who later moved out of state, each chipping in a couple of days per week. Most of the time it was just us, with a gaggle of kids running our living room and side/fenced in play area outside our pool, with myself and the few occasional older kids helping to divide and conquer and chaperone. We had very set schedules for food prep/feeding and naps, and cribs scattered throughout our house—8 toddler beds shoved into our dining room, and on-off additional cribs in our spare room, my parents bedroom, and much to my introverted dismay, my bedroom at times, too. During this time, my mom did creative things with food—lots of pasta, pancakes, chicken, more-affordably-plentiful-fruits (watermelon, cantaloupe, green melon), steamed vegetables, and inexpensive home cooked meals that could be made at once and stored with extras. My mom also got creative at buffet restaurants, a cheap but filling outing made more lasting by bringing plastic bags tucked in her giant purse which food brought back to the table could be quietly tucked into for safe storage as leftovers for later. We were definitely the people sneaking dollar store candy into the dollar movie theater, likewise (But really, who doesn't do this?) I was thus never hungry, but we definitely had a rule against TV dinners and more than a very rare special occasion food order that left me ironically jealous of my friends who had more expensive frozen meals, lunchables, regular pizza-call orders, and more creative and quick menu options advertised on commercials as being accessible and ready for everyone. That being said, my dad's restaurant and later sub shop did open up more possibilities for variety during the years they were in operation, and I realize in retrospect how being able to eat three meals a day isn't something everyone had. After some experience with hunger as an adult, I give thanks and indulge a bit on a varied grocery list—mostly home cooked though, with limited frozen additions in recent years—sent to me by a friend's mom who makes sure I'm not hungry today/significantly dents my grocery bill with nondairy pizzas that I then pile my own chosen veggies onto, again, with recognition of this as privilege. (and much gratefulness- thank you to my friend's mom—you know who you are!) Aside from this primary occupation, my mom and I also hand-painted clothes—t-shirts and sweatshirts especially—with designs traced from books and printouts, ironed on, and then enhanced with color fabric paints. These were used for sale, trade, and thank-you’s to my teachers in school and outside activities. The designs ranged from cartoons (Betty Boop, Donald Duck) to popular shows /movies (Power Rangers, X-Men) to local events (Atlanta Olympics) to largely, when for sale, coloring book images of animals such as butterflies, unicorns, and horses. This added to home-sewn dresses, clothes from my aunt's high-end consignment shop when I was little/in New York, and clothes from America's Thrift Store once we moved to Georgia. My wardrobe may have not always been seen as cool by kids who took their shopping trips to Abercrombie and Fitch and Tommy Hilfiger for granted, but it was always interesting—and, again, a privilege to have had a variety of clothes, even if they weren't mall-store-advertisement replicas. Also, on special occasions such as one middle school dance, or bigger concert—such as when my mom took me to Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, and Jewel, as opposed to free smaller hippie cover bands in Marietta Square held once a week/attended sporadically on summer weekends, we visited JC Penneys or Macy's and I was bought a cheap but sparkly, very-spice-girls-esque, dress at least three times (the dance, plus my two elementary school 'big concerts'-Spice Girls/Backstreet Boys, if you'll forgive my taste in music from when I was 8-10; Jewel was in early middle school when I was past the phase of wanting sparkly spice-dresses for a more casual concert). Additionally in Georgia, we regularly attended the mall for survey-Saturdays, scouring the crowds for the marketing representative asking milling about customers if they’d like to earn some easy money—incentives ranging between $20-100 in exchange for company product trials and questionnaires on our consumption patterns. On an average week, the loot was low but helpful; my mom’s $20 covered our lunch and my $20 covered an hour of tae kwon doe (elementary school), horseback riding, swimming, or gymnastics (middle school). Excusing embarrassing skills and no love for gymnastics, and a lifeguard test failed five times, I loved being in the water and on the back of a horse fiercely, and I can’t express in words my appreciation for all my mom did to make sure this happened, driving us over an hour each direction to a horse farm in Waleska, striking a deal with my instructor Julie that I would help prep, hose down, and clean out the stalls for the horse I rode every lesson for a reduced rate, and providing encouragement and support that helped me emotionally get from walking to trotting, to cantering, to eventually galloping. She also handled the schedule, making sure my dad was there for orchestra performances, which he would show up with support in his own way, with either flowers or stuffed animals in hand. Also, notably, it's hard to express my thankfulness for her working her ass off and getting creative to make sure the finances were there, and insisting during discussion with my dad over money and discussions with me over commitment to goals that, yes, it was necessary for me to be in these activities, even if I struggled with the physical skills for them/wasn't as good as my classmates. She made sure it all happened, from the gymnastics to horsebackriding to swimming lessons described above—recommended by doctors for my continued coordination improvement, to other activities throughout my childhood, including ballet/tap lessons, museum visits, off-Broadway/at least one on-Broadway theater nights when I was little/in New York; then, also in middle school, field trip funds for when our chorus performed, a violin for orchestra, a guitar for my own independent learning (with a little instruction from my cousin/uncle when visiting NY/when I first received it, plus a book and less than $20 intro software program my cousin passed to me), a typewriter to encourage my love of writing—and infinite patience for both my off-note instrument notes chirping as well as the distinctive key-clacking noise as I made my earliest attempts at story, poetry, news, and novel writing. My mom always saw potential—for success, for transformation, for redemption. She saw this in me, my dad, my biological mom Brenda who she adopted me from, my uncle Frankie who was actually my parents' best friend, parents of the kids she took into her daycare, the thief that took her suitcase one day when we were leaving an airport ('wherever he may be'), and basically everyone she ever met. She loved people who were characters, with interesting personalities, and always found the good in everyone. Sometimes I was pushed too much for achievement and activity—commitment and workload between school, helping with the at-home-daycare, events I was brought along to (from synagogue to business stuff), and all the activities that she kept me in—so much so, that it made me intermittently unhappy—in that instilled anxiety, never good enough way—but in the long run, I'm much better off for having had someone who believed in potential for my life. She never gave up on anyone—and never let anyone give up on themselves. This didn't mean that money didn't stifle aspirations at times. Around 6th grade, tired of chaos at home and school, l sent out inquiries on my dad's computer to a dozen boarding schools, receiving piles of flyers and brochures that I poured over in desire (a precursor to a similar investigation into colleges starting in late middle school.) These schools had classes and special programs that sounded so much more interesting than the ones my school offered, the on-site swimming pools and horsebackriding, the language immersion programs guaranteeing bilingual success, and freedom that I thought would shake off my first major depressive episode and the stress that brought it on. Despite dreams that I would one day attend a good school, and my mom's sincere belief at the time that my going to college would be my ticket out of a life of struggle that my parents had faced on and off throughout their lives together, I was repeatedly let down by being told that we didn't have the money for boarding school at that time—and since then, by the reality that college isn't the one thing that necessarily secures a meaningful and lucrative career, in a world that is devaluing education, turning colleges into businesses, and a country whose business model (and timetable) leaves out those who have needs for more flexible schedules or understanding of life unpredictability (as many likewise face—whether it be for health, family, or the duties of multiple job juggling.) Stable housing is another significant life impact stressor that ties into memories of our relationship to ownership, property, finances, and opportunity. After an event where some city workers accidentally hit a power and/or gas line in our yard that caused our neighbor's house to burn completely on the inside and which fried our power wires inside of our house/all of our electronics /caused my mom to have to evacuate all the sleeping babies from her at-home daycare when she smelled something burning, and which left me shocked getting off the bus to find her waiting for parent-pick-up with the remaining kids on our lawn and fire trucks in our driveway, we spent over a year living in an extended stay hotel in Kennesaw. My mom and I were cloistered in one room with two queen sized bed, a TV, a small kitchen area, and a bathroom, and my dad was across the hall (at one point, up three floors—but then moved across the hall when it was available) in a similar room with one queen or king sized bed. This wasn't long after we'd just gotten our house back to ourselves, following my mom's friend and her son who lived in our guest room for two years moving out. We temporarily stopped most daycare activities, but still took in one family on the weekends—a mother of four kids (two older boys, one older girl, and a baby boy-the 'older' kids being in elementary school) who had screwed my mom over a few times, disappearing entirely, but who my mom always welcomed back when she showed up, owed cash in hand, desperately needing us to watch her kids so she could make her shift—an example of the ways the world pushed poor women into bad situations, in my mom's book, as she always found compassion for this young mom. Even as I found being stuck in a hotel room with my mom and, on the weekends, four kids, to be a bit stifling, I admired my mom for her indefatigable spirit and her empathetic nature. Even long after her passing away, a kernel of this optimism and driven motivation to do better has found me in utter financial and emotional ruins, carrying me through despite despair feeling unending and episodes of deep depression unnerving me with mental echoes of unkind and unsupportive voices from people all-too-ready to jump on flaws in harsh ways, rather than see others potential despite struggles faced. This causes me to wonder what it would be like to live in a world based on assuring opportunity for individual potential to reach fulfillment, and for our potential to not be shaped by an assimilate-or-die-starving model. I wonder, too, if we're poised for this transformation to occur in our generation, with the capabilities to build work opportunities for all despite struggle, with our ability to restructure taxes to fund the lives of everyone not so fortunate with the amassed wealth a small minority have been mismanaging and abusing to the detriment of our planet and people, and to likewise turn our money away from building destruction for the poor/paradise for the rich to instead construct a world we can all flourish in. Back to this recount, though, after the fall of the luxury transportation business and our move to Georgia, my dad, also indefatigable in his own way, bounced around different business ownership and worker pursuits—a few short-lived years owning Around the Clock Restaurant; then a few other years owning Fatboy’s Heroes (fast-casual restaurant) and J&R Cycle shop (motorcycle repair and sales.) He also spent at least a year or more working another night shift, this time stocking products from boxes to shelves at Publix. For a while, until the 2008 downturn and less successfully in years since, he additionally had his hand in some real estate—starting with investments in houses my mom made for my college fund, though they didn't end up being used that way. Following the crash, he worked jobs in restaurants back on the ground floor, including making ice cream for a local business that ended up owing (and not paying) him over $1000 in wages. He now owns a food cart business, Fatty’s of Atlanta, selling NY hot dogs and knishes at community events in North Georgia. Around the Clock was not, after it’s first week, open 24 hours—given how costly that is without a crowd of loyal night owl customers. On weekends in Elementary School we’d visit my dad, and one of the waitresses would let me bus the table and collect the tips if someone stiffed her—giving me the change necessary for some classically lame, Nickelodeon influenced, bored debauchery of prank phone calls made from a payphone near the restrooms—this and delighting in free meal privileges of being the owner’s daughter broke up the monotony of adult conversations when I finished my book in tow too early or became restless in sitting. The restaurant drained more money than it made though, and despite a decent menu of worldwide cuisine, went out of business after a few short years of limited success. An apparently unlucky corner, many businesses have since sailed in and out of the building’s unit, none lasting long. This became kind of a joke we would recount every time we passed the intersection, one cloaking a fairly sad reality of difficulties of those who attempt to start local businesses—especially in communities with malls, Walmart, and always a place to get something either trendier or cheaper than what many small businesses can offer. My dad’s next restaurant, Fatboy’s Heroes, was a sandwich shop that made to-go and delivery-orders of sub-style sandwiches (popularly called Heroes, in the Yankee land we hail from, which we tried to pass off as a unique treat to southern locals inquiring as to what exactly it was that we sold). My dad started this business out of our home, delivering sandwiches to Coca Cola and other local requests from a giant garage freezer, and then moved into a unique building situation, sitting alongside my dad’s other new business, a motorcycle repair and sales store—J&R Cycle shop—housed in the same building unit. This involved an office converted into a kitchen area and a set of super dirty mechanics’ bathrooms sitting between the front food waiting room and the giant garage. Given our frequenting of the shop, my mom insisted they clean at least one of the super dirty mechanics’ bathrooms from both dirt and magazine pin-ups of scantily clad objectophilic ‘babes’ visibly trying to seduce the cars and cycles they were straddling to make a proper ‘ladies room’ she wouldn’t be afraid for me to use—an irony in light of her betty boop favoritism in creating cartoon painted sweatshirts, but not an unfair request in hindsight—and one that was met, with only minimal prodding on her part, though the rest of the shop still flashed pictures that my mom—my 'nudity-is-natural-but-objectification-is-men's-thing', somewhat old-fashioned in that cringey way of excusing men as 'boys being boys', somewhat feminist in many other ways, somewhat overall contradictory mother—told me to avert my gaze from. The setup of these two shops was thus a bit of a clusterfuck of jumbled incongruities smashed together, but one admittedly rather reflective of post-modern, neo-liberal existence. In the front waiting room, a showcase of motorcycles and mopeds for sale were jammed alongside three or four arcade games, candy machines, and, on the front window, a local mystic /craftswoman’s intricate and beautiful dreamcatchers. Hungry customers waiting for their food to be handed over the fold down table installed on the doorway would stand in the cozy area, enjoying chatting and bullshitting over the divide while my dad weaved in and out of the ingredient fridge to layer and prepare their veggie and meat packed foot long heroes (or, in the south, ‘subs’). Ramps sat on the right and back side of the building for riders to enter the giant gas-scented garage, stuffed with over a hundred motorcycles for sale and repair—a place I mostly only ever went into to deliver messages for front room visitors waiting on both food and their ride to be ready. I was promised a future moped that never materialized, but riding on the back of other motorcycles, playing arcade games, getting free sandwiches, being gifted discounted dream catchers, and not having to help with the workload (for once) made this the most fun business my parents had. Fatboy’s Heroes went out of business first though, and then my dad sold J&R cycle shop to his partner, Rob, who kept the title, despite my dad’s exit (J&R-John and Robert.) Notably to this story, the early restaurant and later sub and cycle shops, plus my mom’s continuous packed daycare, shirt-design sales, and at one point, her friend and her friends son moving in with us in our spare room, still didn’t cover all of our living expenses, leading both my parents into even more business ventures and cost cutting. Besides my mom’s continuous side business of painted-on design clothes as well as a more short term foray into lingerie direct sales parties and my dad’s stocking shelves at Publix for over a year of time when he owned the dual sandwich/motorcycle business, my parents also got sucked into a separate pyramid scheme for a decent bit of time when I was in elementary school. ‘Technically not Amway, better stuff, not the same, of course we’re not a pyramid.’ I heard paraphrasements of this speech while accompanying my parents to meetings held in opulent homes with lush buffets, stuffing my face with what was to a kid really good grub, in between playing with other kids, and at least at one house, swimming in a giant, gorgeous, natural-water, waterfall pool that put our drab (but still privilege-evidenced) home pool to shame. I’m not sure if my parents realized they were a pyramid or if we were squeezed to the bottom and out of it—the way direct sales usually seems to eat many to elevate the few—but it was definitely an early lesson in capitalist ideologies of meritocracy spouted just to find the reality, meritocratic or not, to be exclusionary to those who didn’t make the cut. Other get-rich-eventually schemes my parents engaged in to survive the throes of our capitalist system involved the faux notion of giving me certain popular toys—a gesture to show how spoiled I was, though I was not actually allowed to take said toys out of the box, remove the tags for them, or play with them, because one day they might be worth something. These toys included porcelain dolls when I was little, then beanie babies and furbies in my childhood—all of which I’m still a little sad and betrayed over that they didn’t pay for my college, after depriving me of much childhood fun. (HAH.) (It’s okay, dear reader; in Georgia, I still had books I was allowed to devour constantly from thrift stores and used bookstores and libraries to keep me company, plus board games—and when I was younger/in New York, a plethora of stuffed animals, a kid sized piano, and a few Teddy Ruxpin characters that I was allowed to play with—in fairness to it not being as austere as it seems/to acknowledge some privilege to this, in a world where kids go hungry.) Additional material privileges we had in Georgia included three televisions—though we only bought the one in our living room—two computers, and in 2000-2001, cell phones to use strictly after 9PM (when plan-included minutes started.) My TV was from my dad's brother found on the side of the road, broken, made a project of fixing up, and gave to me as a present before consulting my parents ( my mom was conflicted in not wanting me to have a separate TV but also being worried it would do something psychologically to me to have something already given taken away [though I did have the plug in wire taken away many times in punishment].) My parents received their large TV for their bedroom as a joint gift from both my dad's brothers as an anniversary or Christmas gift one year. My Dad had a computer in our guest room that had internet access; I had a MS-DOS old computer that I pretty much just played games and experimented with commands on. Over 7 years, we also gained a few video game systems—first just a Nintendo, then a super-Nintendo when I was 9-ish, then a handheld Sega and another Sega product that (Sega genesis?) that took an early kind of CD at the time—but only the Nintendo was well stocked with (5) games, the other systems literally having just the (1-2) game (s) that the system purchase came with on a sale day, nothing extra (on super Nintendo, it was Aladdin and Donkey Kong. On my handheld Sega, it was sonic. On the big TV in my parents room it was Casper.) In elementary school I kind of thought that there weren't many other games in existence/it must cost a lot of money to put out games so they were rarely made—until I made friends who had . After we had an incident where our house-wires were fried, our insurance upgraded us and I got a better computer/one that also had normal AOL browser /dial-up internet access when I was 13. My (old, flip phone, just for talking) cell ownership in high school was short lived; I got in trouble for talking over limits/at the wrong times, and over one year had two phones stolen and one which fell out of my pocket and straight down a drain during a rainstorm, and thus didn't get another one until I was 17/graduated and working at a non-babysitting job.) I also have a really nice marble green, white, and black marble chessboard that one of my parents, possibly my dad, purchased for me at one point—and when I started college, my dad did update my computer with a new desktop, as well as find a thrift store desk for me. I know not everyone gets this. I feel like advertisements on commercials and in magazines when I was a kid were too much—shows of wealth being accessible, causing us to always continually want, causing us to feel bad when we can't access such, and leading to a loss of perspective to both our fortunes and unnecessary struggles in a very unequal world. One thing that was always accessible, though rules over what I could access changed over time, was music, however—whether by car radio, portable radio brought outside during playtime (in our fenced in yard with playground area, childcare toys, and separate fenced in, in-ground swimming pool), by walkman, or later, by CDs. Books and music were my escape from chaos, polarized introvert-extrovert opportunities for expressions of joy, and obsessions driving me to new understandings of the world, always. The old question always asked to kids while learning about Helen Keller, whether you could stand it more to be deaf or blind—thus, really asking you if you'd rather sacrifice music or books—always seemed like the most paralyzing and awful choice you could ask someone to make. Today, my dad still on and off runs his food cart business selling knishes, hot-dogs, and quick meals at festivals and events, especially those in Braselton and the North Georgia mountainous region. My stepmom works in the medical technology field, working long hours but choosing her days across five different part time positions across Georgia. They are also somewhat aided by my grandpa, who they have recently moved closer to make taking care of easier; he gets very little from social security and veterans assistance, though they are helping to manage his life savings as he ages. My dad and stepmom live a more middle-class existence than I grew up with or have seen in adulthood. In this, they are fortunate, in the middle-class way that is seen as modest to the middle class (an updated but modest sized house in a neighborhood with older homes, vacations that mostly consist of cruises, and a mountain cabin in recent years—but, still, regular work to sustain it all). This type of living compares to low standards for the highest elites, even as it is dreamed about by those struggling to pay singular rent, utilities, car, and phone bills. I have in my adult life struggled to stay above water against low wages, high inflation compared across decades, times of unsteady and insufficient employment, staggering debt, and a job market full of more obstacles and less benefits statistically than were offered during the time when boomers were living out their early adulthoods—but that being said, we all live in the same world today—emphasis on the fact that there's an overload of work for everyone to sustain life. This isn’t, therefore, to say that my parents are not hardworking—the opposite. Both my adoptive parents worked their asses off when I was a kid, with money always tight between doctor bills and business ventures with short shelf lives—and both my Dad and Stepmom still do today. There are additional stories that I’ve heard second-hand about my parents work before my time—amongst others, my Dad and Mom meeting at a bar they both worked at, then both working for Ford until the center they were at went out of business—for which my dad still receives a small pittance each month, a business model, that’s out of date but still, in rare cases, paying out decades after it’s even well out of fact. My dad has continued to do what he can to get money since then, in many ways detailed above, and my stepmom also has pulled many hard, long days in the medical assistance field—jetting across the state with the extra burden of travel between the jobs to do so. Indeed, they were and are hardworking—but also descend from an era that compensated hard work more rewardingly. That being said, we’ve yet to see an era where it’s not hard for working class people to get by without extreme selling off of their life hours, health, and often juggling multiple positions to do such. Further, ‘an era’ doesn’t encapsulate everyone. My biological mother, born 17 years before me and at 49 years old currently is a part of generation X (born: 1965-1976/43-54 years old), and has a very different story than my adopted dad (67 years old), my stepmom (56 years old), and my adopted mom (would be 69 years old; passed away at 51 years old.) This story—and my own—to be told in upcoming posts. Witnessing all of this leads to a tough disjunctive; I look at my parents—my adoptive mom particularly—who worked so hard in her life to survive despite having type 1 diabetes and other health issues, and I’m both inspired by her fortitude (necessary to see in my own life, as I’ve struggled to stay afloat), as well as worried that her early passing away at age 51 gives some credence to the phrase ‘working yourself into an early grave.’ It is an anecdotal account representative of a greater need for those who suffer, and those who are forced into situations where they have to choose between their work and their health to the point it literally stresses people to death. The idea that suffering builds character is true, but with limits lining up to the point where suffering destroys life. Also, what kind of character the particular suffering of poverty creates remains to be seen, as many property crimes and black markets for illicit goods (and trafficked poor people) can tell you. Beyond this, my adoptive parents both had less of a linear career path than a sequence of attempted dreams that all required side jobs to sustain—a trend that actually does seem to be prevalent today. This provokes me to wonder how many of the ‘new’ trends affecting a wider range of struggling working-class individuals today have long been standard for a steadily struggling population, as well as what differences might be noted over time in narratives of work told by individuals from different generations, and thus growing up in different economic settings. This is part of the reason for the launch of this forum research project.
Neither Riches Nor Rags—but always struggles. Growing up working/middle-class. content media
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A. Hannah Spadafora

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