The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: job

  • My Fruitless Debate with an Anti-Vaxxer

    My Fruitless Debate with an Anti-Vaxxer

    I had to try.

  • Expectations of Opportunity

    It would never have occurred to me to ask.

  • Another Extinct Job

    It’s weird to think that the job you do may someday disappear.

  • Not Cut Out for Grit Labor

    When I was 19 years old, my eldest sister was in the Air Force, stationed in Holland. Between my freshman and sophomore years in college, she invited me to go there for the summer. What, are you kidding? Of course I said yes, with visions of jet setting around Europe dancing in my head. Upon…

  • You Just Got A Lot Less Free

    Recently, the Supreme Court ruled against you, me, and everyone else in the Janus vs AFSCME case. Now, everyone in the public sector, regardless of the state in which he or she resides, is in a “right to work” state. Basically, it means that people in union jobs in the public sector no longer are…

  • The Ingredients of Happiness

    It always comes as quite a shock when someone famous commits suicide. Hearing on the radio that Anthony Bourdain chose to take his own life nearly caused me to swerve off the road. This is someone I’ve envied. He got to travel. He had crazy experiences and met fascinating people. He won countless awards. No…

  • “I Can Do It Myself!!!”

    According to family lore, that was one of the first full sentences I ever uttered. That does not surprise me in the least. I’ve always been very independent. I started working when I was 10 years old, growing house plants and selling them at the local flea market. My first major purchase was tickets to…

  • Mental Health Days

    Raise your hand if you’ve NEVER, not even once, called in sick to work or school when you’re weren’t technically sick. Anyone? Anyone? (I didn’t think so.) Back before I was a bridgetender, I pretty much hated every job I had. And I called in sick a lot. Of course, I was younger then, and…

  • An Open Letter to White Supremacists

    First, let me give you my “bonafides”. According to Ancestry DNA, I’m about as white as a human being can be. That always has, and probably always will give me a leg up in society. I won’t even try to deny it. I also won’t deny that I’ve done little or nothing to earn this…

  • Rebooting Oneself

    Decades ago, I was walking my dog after a hard rain and I slipped on a wet, grassy slope. My feet flew above my head. I went down hard. I mean, really, really hard. It knocked the wind out of me. As I helplessly slid down the hill, everything went bright white. I couldn’t see,…