I have a cover story in this week’s Bohemian all about the joy of having less, working less and earning less. This story is also featured on the Metroactive website, which covers the entire South Bay region. Whoopee! Feel free to comment here about your thoughts on this story. What do you think? Should we be working less? Consuming less? Any thoughts on the health-care conundrum? I’d love to hear from you!
New Feature Story: In Praise of Working Less
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Funny this article came up when it did. Coming next week I will have my teaching credential to teach Social Studies. After years of arduously picking through every possible career I found teaching to be the best fit. Kids, vacation, stability (not so applicable these days) and fulfillment all wrapped into a neat package. I am dauntingly aware of the work it takes to be a good teacher, whether at a public school or even at a close-the-opportunity-gap charter school like yours. Admittedly, after this year of student teaching, I gave myself 5 years tops in the profession. If I’ve learned one thing in my years working in nonprofits, it is that I don’t like working for those that don’t want to work themselves. That conservative point aside, at the most basic level I want to enjoy what I’ve got. Small, less, fewer and frugal are not four-letter words to me like they are to most Americans. I’ve been able to live like this out of necessity for the majority of my life. Duane Elgin’s Voluntary Simplicity has always
influenced my decision making processes.
Now my job search has widened a bit to include part-time work as a teacher. My partner and I, upon concluding my degree, are off to Oregon from California, a state we believe is more accepting of a slower pace lifestyle and of course much more affordable. Again, the issue comes down to health care. If only districts provided health insurance for part-time employees.
Thank you for your well written and researched article. More and more this topic is bubbling to the top, especially under such economic circumstances. I look forward to reading more. Again, thanks for the inspiration to quest for the meaningfull life.
Leilani Clark! So stoked for you and this freakin awesome cover story. I am inspired and living inside of the possibilities. you rock. ~heather
Provocative article, Leilani1 As I was reading, I was realizing I don’t have enough faith in my fellow Americans to believe that they would do something meaningful and soul-fulfiiling with their increased leisure, but instead simply expand their use of televison and other even less healthy forms of escapism. Perhaps it says more about my own cynicism. but, without a stunning shift toward valuing creativity, curiosity, self-expression and communal welfare–extra hours might give Americans more time to find ways to venture further and further from an authentic life.
The night before I read the article I watched ‘The Man in the White Suit’ (1951) starring Alec Guinness. It is the story of a young chemist who invents a fiber that can be woven into fabric that will not get dirty or wear out. When the implications of this invention become clear, that the need for fabric can be met with a good deal less effort and expense and that the future textile industry will be much smaller, both management and labor become determined to suppress it.
I think the idea of working and consuming less, as practical and even necessary as it is, will be very difficult to sell, partly because people are so taken with shiny new things and partly because when someone says to me they are really busy they often seem to mean that they are really important.
In any case, the article is an antidote to the current deluge of corporate propaganda urging everyone to work work work, harder and faster and longer.
I’m going to have to watch this movie! While supposedly fiction, it sounds about right in terms of the continued proclivity for placing profits before everything else. I also agree that it will be a challenge to convince people that shiny and new does not necessarily mean better. I think we are seeing a slow paradigm shift, but I fear it will take much more of a reality check to get people to really think about their consumption patterns. I do continue to have hope that this will happen before crisis hits (or has crisis already hit?) It’s just figuring out ways to make it happen!
Have hope Dave! Have hope! Deep down, while I get frustrated by the apathy and (yes) stupidity of people (myself being one of those stupid people often times!) I do believe that people are much more resilient and community-oriented than we give ourselves credit for. It’s up to a few people to lead the charge, and I don’t think other will follow. It is going to take work, but good work, right?
Thanks for your fascinating comments Gabriel! I love the fact that you are looking at alternatives to working a full-time teaching week. I also believe that the sustainability of the school, at this point, really depends on the culture of the individual school. It’s possible to have lovely teaching work, but unfortunately, that can be rare. Good luck on your move to Oregon, sounds like a great decision for you and your family!