Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Definition of Work (Jonathan Mieses)
Work-(wûrk) noun- having to do something you do not enjoy in hopes to get something in return. For example work in class in hopes to get a grade. Work has to do something with resistance. The more you do not want to do something the more work it is going to be. This means if you want to do something it will not be consider work. Work will not be considered going out to the movies or watching a basketball game. It is what you enjoy.
The definition of work changes very little
"It's like your providing a service to someone while getting something beneficial from it for example in a job your reward will be money and experience". (Ricky)
"It's what you do to receive a certain benefit in return for example in school you get a grade". (Syra)
" Duties done in return for a higher benefit". (Nellie)
The definition of work changes very little
"It's like your providing a service to someone while getting something beneficial from it for example in a job your reward will be money and experience". (Ricky)
"It's what you do to receive a certain benefit in return for example in school you get a grade". (Syra)
" Duties done in return for a higher benefit". (Nellie)
Three Quotes: Teresa Fiorenza
" It's so demeaning to be there and not be challenged. It's humiliation, because I feel I'm being forced into doing something I would never do of my own free will-which is simply waste itself."(523)
In this chapter "In Search of a Calling", Nora Watson talks about her job and how she is not challenged at all by it, and she wants to quit. I see where she is coming from. If I had a job that I wasn't challenged at I would quit in a second. I would be way too bored with meaningless work.
"I was a kid in 1942 when I got out of art school. I wanted to make a lot of money and become famous. In five years I'll own the world. I'll be in New York driving a Cadillac and owning my own plane. I want gold guff links and babes and the big house in the country. The whole bit. The American Dream. (Laughs). That beautiful, ugly vicious dreamthat we all, in some way, have. I wanted to be a key man in the industry. Over the years I realized there isn't any key man-that every man, every human is a commodity to be exploited. And destroyed and cast aside. For thirty years I've been a commercial hack."(525)
In this part of the chapter Walter Lundquist talks about his job as someone who designs billboards for companies. He talks about his drinking problem and about this beautiful piece of work he did for a beer company.
"I never felt that I'd been searching for a calling. circumstances made me look around and keep right on looking. Over the last years I've been fired sixteen times. (Laughs). I'd have to dig up all my records to tell you all the jobs I was fired from." She is thirty-five." (527)
In the last part of the chapter Rebecca Sweeney talks about some of the jobs she's had over the years. She talk about working in a bank and being the only African American woman working there. She gets the cold shoulder from everyone, while someone tells her to watch out because she could get fired soon. She decides to start a Union to protect herself, until she sees another Sfican American woman interview for a job there. She approaches the woman and tells her that if she doesn't get the job to contact her. The woman contacts her and for some reason she was fired a couple days later.
In this chapter "In Search of a Calling", Nora Watson talks about her job and how she is not challenged at all by it, and she wants to quit. I see where she is coming from. If I had a job that I wasn't challenged at I would quit in a second. I would be way too bored with meaningless work.
"I was a kid in 1942 when I got out of art school. I wanted to make a lot of money and become famous. In five years I'll own the world. I'll be in New York driving a Cadillac and owning my own plane. I want gold guff links and babes and the big house in the country. The whole bit. The American Dream. (Laughs). That beautiful, ugly vicious dreamthat we all, in some way, have. I wanted to be a key man in the industry. Over the years I realized there isn't any key man-that every man, every human is a commodity to be exploited. And destroyed and cast aside. For thirty years I've been a commercial hack."(525)
In this part of the chapter Walter Lundquist talks about his job as someone who designs billboards for companies. He talks about his drinking problem and about this beautiful piece of work he did for a beer company.
"I never felt that I'd been searching for a calling. circumstances made me look around and keep right on looking. Over the last years I've been fired sixteen times. (Laughs). I'd have to dig up all my records to tell you all the jobs I was fired from." She is thirty-five." (527)
In the last part of the chapter Rebecca Sweeney talks about some of the jobs she's had over the years. She talk about working in a bank and being the only African American woman working there. She gets the cold shoulder from everyone, while someone tells her to watch out because she could get fired soon. She decides to start a Union to protect herself, until she sees another Sfican American woman interview for a job there. She approaches the woman and tells her that if she doesn't get the job to contact her. The woman contacts her and for some reason she was fired a couple days later.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Studs Terkel: Working Summary and Response: Elizabeth Wingerter
Studs Terkel: Working
“Book Nine: In search of a calling”
According to Nora Watson:
“Book Nine: In search of a calling”
According to Nora Watson:
“When you ask most people who they are, they define themselves by their jobs. “I’m a doctor.” “I’m a radio announcer.” “I’m a carpenter.” If somebody asks me, I say, “I’m Nora Watson” (524).
Nora Watson is a twenty-eight year old staff writer for an institution that publishes health care literature. She absolutely hates her job. All her life she had a pastor for a father who was constantly doing work for his community. He would be “healing” the helpless, listening to others or just staying up to read sermons to improve his relationship with God. Watching her father give up his life to something meaningful to him gave Nora a different perspective on work. She learned that “it wasn’t just go to work in the morning and punch a time clock. It was a profession of himself. [She] expected work to be like that” (521). However, when Nora entered the business world she experienced something much different. At her job in New York, she expected to “put the energy and enthusiasm and the gifts that [she] may have to use for work-but in this case it wasn’t happening” (523). Basically this job required a more “writing to order” type of feel. The company only cared about what needed to happen to reach a deadline and was interested in nothing else. Nora claimed that when people asked for samples of her work, she realized the ones that she is most proud of were the ones the Institution never published. She feels that work turned into the process of “someone [buying] the right to you for eight hours a day and you’re completely at their discretion” (523). When did work turn into this? Today people define themselves by their work. “When you ask most people who they are, they define themselves by their jobs. “I’m a doctor.” “I’m a radio announcer.” “I’m a carpenter.” If somebody asks me, I say, “I’m Nora Watson” (524). Is that what she is supposed to answer back? As of right now, Nora feels “[she] doesn’t have a calling-except to be [her], but nobody pays [her] for being [her]” (524).
My question is how did this happen? Why do people relate their identity to their profession? In a recent study I conducted at Kutztown University, I questioned students and some faculty about what is the “path” [they’re] on right now? What do you feel is your purpose in life? Eighty five percent related their “path” to a profession and not what kind of person they are. In the case of Nora Watson, when we meet acquaintances at a party and they ask “who are you?” why can’t I respond saying “I’m an emotional eater.” or “I have a multiple personalities” or god forbid, “I don’t know yet.” Why have people come to the conclusion that once you have a job, that’s it-nothing else follows? Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that work is a huge part of your identity, but what if it’s not really you? Is it so wrong to question your profession and maybe not even want to be associated with it because it’s not truly you? In the wise words of Nora Watson, I, too, feel this statistic “[is] a hundred percent unadulterated bullshit” (524).
Elizabeth Wingerter: Three Quotes
Studs Terkel: Working
“Book Nine: In search of a calling”
According to Nora Watson:
According to Nora Watson:
“When you ask most people who they are, they define themselves by their jobs. “I’m a doctor.” “I’m a radio announcer.” “I’m a carpenter.” If somebody asks me, I say, “I’m Nora Watson” (524).
“Book Nine: Second Chance”
According to Sarah Houghton:
According to Sarah Houghton:
“When I was very little, I had a picture in my mind of how life was going to be. You go straight ahead until you curve slightly to the right, until you get to be about twenty-one. Of course, after college you got married, and there was nothing after that. Everything was fine. This is what happened to all the people I knew” (542).
“Book Three: Cleaning up”
According to Roy Schmidt:
According to Roy Schmidt:
I don’t look down on my job in any way. I couldn’t say I despise myself for doing it. I feel better at it than I did at the office. I’m more free. And—yeah—it’s meaningful to society” (105).
*Do you feel a job or career is your only option in the future? Do you think you are supposed to follow the norm like everyone else and become your job?*
Friday, November 27, 2009
Chapter 5 Summary- Construction and Electrical Wiring (Teresa Fiorenza)
In the second half of the chapter 5 we are introduced to Marcus, who is doing a series of complex projects in a workshop. Unlike Jim Padilla, who we were introduced to in the first half of the chapter, Marcus is futher along in his courses in a trade technical college program. He is in his mid 40's and wants to become an electrician after being in the airline business for many years (108).
Mike Rose makes a reference to D.H Lawrence's essay on painting. Mike explains that there are times inthe workshop when you sense that the people are so absorbed in their work. It's like "Disappearing into that canvas" (109). Students in the room talk, but there is alot of concentration. You can hear the occasional cursing that comesfroma mistake like "a porcelain fixture cracks with the final turn of a screw or someone hammering their finger" (109).
I really like Lawrence's quote. It really goes well with this chapter, but it can also go with a lot of other things. When I first read this quote I thought of many times when I was really absorbed with my work.
Mike also makes a connection with a Canadian Inuit. He quotes that "competence at solving a problem, or fixing a snowmobile, or teaching a baby to walk needs a blend of experience, skill, knowledge, and a calm preserverance" (110). Mike encounters this with Jim's group.
As we head further into the chapter of one of Jim Padilla's students, Hector, is observed by Mike. Mike watches as Hector is having trouble getting a screw in because he has no leverage. Jim offers suggestions like "turn the hammer sideways, use a smaller screwdriver, and try making a hole with a nail" (110). Jim also says "There's more than one way to milk a cow"(110) "And I'm not gonna let you give up" (110). Eventually Hector gets the nail in with one of Jim's ideas, making a hole with a nail.
When I read this I was really moved on how much Jim really cares about his students. I remembered a time back in highschool when I was out for a while with bronchitis and when Ican back I didn't get anything we were doing in my accounting class. I had just about given up when my teacher called me up to his desk and sat there with me almost the whole period just explaining what I needed to do and helping me with figuring out the answers. He never gave up on helping me, even when I did.
Mike goes onto talk about how none of the people he talks to suggests that some kids are better than others. He states that they are "more focused on helping the students and giving alternative suggestions" (111). He also states that "The young people working with Jim Padilla get frustrated, to be sure" (111). But their teacher makes sure they go about a different way of using that frustration.
We then go back to Marcus where Mike tells us about how Marcus and his classmates learn a vocabulary and symbol system for electrical work. Tey "learn to read, interpret, and discuss electrical codes and perform numerous calculations related to them," (112). They think and talk their way through various scenarios. Marcus states that this "gives you what you need to analyze and think ahead,"(113).
Mike watches as Marcus and his classmates troubleshoot problems. They look and form hypothesis, then they have to test their theory. He also notes that students will trim wiring or move wiring around because "it looked ugly" (115). Lastly, Mike states that "every student hastheir own signature" (115).
Mike Rose makes a reference to D.H Lawrence's essay on painting. Mike explains that there are times inthe workshop when you sense that the people are so absorbed in their work. It's like "Disappearing into that canvas" (109). Students in the room talk, but there is alot of concentration. You can hear the occasional cursing that comesfroma mistake like "a porcelain fixture cracks with the final turn of a screw or someone hammering their finger" (109).
I really like Lawrence's quote. It really goes well with this chapter, but it can also go with a lot of other things. When I first read this quote I thought of many times when I was really absorbed with my work.
Mike also makes a connection with a Canadian Inuit. He quotes that "competence at solving a problem, or fixing a snowmobile, or teaching a baby to walk needs a blend of experience, skill, knowledge, and a calm preserverance" (110). Mike encounters this with Jim's group.
As we head further into the chapter of one of Jim Padilla's students, Hector, is observed by Mike. Mike watches as Hector is having trouble getting a screw in because he has no leverage. Jim offers suggestions like "turn the hammer sideways, use a smaller screwdriver, and try making a hole with a nail" (110). Jim also says "There's more than one way to milk a cow"(110) "And I'm not gonna let you give up" (110). Eventually Hector gets the nail in with one of Jim's ideas, making a hole with a nail.
When I read this I was really moved on how much Jim really cares about his students. I remembered a time back in highschool when I was out for a while with bronchitis and when Ican back I didn't get anything we were doing in my accounting class. I had just about given up when my teacher called me up to his desk and sat there with me almost the whole period just explaining what I needed to do and helping me with figuring out the answers. He never gave up on helping me, even when I did.
Mike goes onto talk about how none of the people he talks to suggests that some kids are better than others. He states that they are "more focused on helping the students and giving alternative suggestions" (111). He also states that "The young people working with Jim Padilla get frustrated, to be sure" (111). But their teacher makes sure they go about a different way of using that frustration.
We then go back to Marcus where Mike tells us about how Marcus and his classmates learn a vocabulary and symbol system for electrical work. Tey "learn to read, interpret, and discuss electrical codes and perform numerous calculations related to them," (112). They think and talk their way through various scenarios. Marcus states that this "gives you what you need to analyze and think ahead,"(113).
Mike watches as Marcus and his classmates troubleshoot problems. They look and form hypothesis, then they have to test their theory. He also notes that students will trim wiring or move wiring around because "it looked ugly" (115). Lastly, Mike states that "every student hastheir own signature" (115).
What is Work? Teresa Fiorenza
I believe work is something that you need to put constant effort into and use your brain, yet you need to enjoy it.
I asked three people what their definition of work was.
Mom: Something that you need in order to buy the things you want and to maintain a household.
Brother: Work is something that you need to do in order to make money
Aunt: It's one of the things in life that is constantly changing, which means you need to always be on top of your game and always putting your best in.
I asked three people what their definition of work was.
Mom: Something that you need in order to buy the things you want and to maintain a household.
Brother: Work is something that you need to do in order to make money
Aunt: It's one of the things in life that is constantly changing, which means you need to always be on top of your game and always putting your best in.
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