A Conversation with
Elizabeth
1999
Bizarre Career Convergence
From:
Elizabeth
To:
LMixson@PEC.com
Sent: Monday,
January 25, 1999 1:03 PM
Subject: Bizarre Career Convergence
That is really bizarre because I have concluded at times that what I
really "should have been" was an architect, although I also think that I
should have become a lawyer a long time ago. My reasons are the
same--the art--the intuitive, creative side of it, but it is also
rigorous--you have to understand materials and how they can be stressed
and used, plus all the physical laws, and you must know mathematics.
Univ. of FL had/has that wonderful architectural school there and I used
to see the students carrying their "models" because my dorm was across
the street from them. When you look at architectural curricula though,
the discipline becomes "drier" as there is a lot to wade through, but it
would probably be easy for you, unless you got bored. (School, the
structure of it all, is incredibly boring for me.) Except for the CRAP
of actually having to go back to school for YEARS, it would probably be
a neat thing for you to do--but then I'm eating the crap of law school.
I think if you realized you loved it, you'd just eat it and do it, like
I am in law school. I wonder if there are any night programs in
architecture (HA!) Do you know anything about--is it CAD--I think that
is computerized architectural design. Did we talk about that once
before? I still have the urge to want to create something
"palpable" in the universe--like art, or architecture, or even books, or
poems. Some people don't understand my gripe about this, but many
careers are to me what I call "derivative." I can explain it in
relationship to library work. I enjoy it. I learn "things"
every day. BUT my work derives from, SERVES, other people's
interests. They are not MY interests, per se. Its neat to help
them pursue their interests, and sometimes they coincide with my own
(researching women's health for example) but ultimately my work is
DERIVATIVE--it's someone else's passion. I keep trying to get the woman
next door to finish her B.A. She keeps looking for higher level
secretary work. The secretary is the ultimate derivative job.
I still want my own passion. At times I am ALMOST becoming passionate
about law, particularly First Amendment law, or Con Law, but I'll have
to wait and see, as few people "do Con Law" except maybe ACLU lawyers.
Maybe ultimately all work is somewhat derivative.
An architect has to have clients--I recall that from the PBS show on
FLW--he was frustrated because he wasn't getting any commissions to do
work and without that he couldn't "create." When he got Falling
Waters it was one of the few chances he had had in a while to show
people what he could do. Many thought his career was over--and
then he did that most remarkable house and stunned everybody.
Later he did--was it the Gugenheim. Getting my J.D. creates a lot
of opportunities for me to "free lance." With a computer I could
do free lance legal research. I could write briefs etc.
Right--there are limited things to do during slow days at work--today is
slow here--you can surf or read periodicals (but I try not to spend as
much time with the medical literature as I might have in the past
because its a tangent--I'd rather read legal stuff on the web if I have
free time). I don't have much entrepreneur spirit. I have strong
needs to feel "safe" and economic safety is a big part of that.
Maybe you do have such an entrepreneurial spirit and don't need school
at all to find or create a "possibility" for yourself. But then,
why talk of discontent. Perhaps you are content. It's hard
for me to tell with these messages. Work becomes something you
do--you do it because you must. Everyday driving in though I
wonder--how is that all these people have been programmed and socialized
to get up at ungodly hours, get dressed, and willingly "go to work."
Right now I enjoy this "job" but what makes this one okay might not
exist in another setting. (I don't have my own window, but I have
my own almost private bathroom--a big plus in a hospital setting--HA!!)
Elizabeth
Updated: 04-26-2024