Way back in the day (as the kids say), still entertaining the “I’m a writer, so whatever I do for wages is just some sort of exercise” myth—which is, okay, long aside here – scarcely, scarcely addressed – just recently the New York Times published yet another long lamentation from a writer who teaches at the university level and hates his jobs, hates his students, oh, but the health insurance and summers off are great …. Okay, I digress. Because it’s too, too irritating. I was taught screenwriting by men like him, men who would so vehemently and obviously rather be elsewhere … so much so that I never sought teaching as an option. I would never want to teach anything with such contempt.

So – the corporate world. And – law firms. Not just because that’s where the money is – although that was a big lure in the beginning – but because I like working with smart people (albeit insufferably smug ones, sometimes) and I like seeing how the real world out there, as opposed to the one in my head, affects my job.

Except for, well, lately.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to a few friends to note that I saw a European tourist (in New York these days, almost all the tourists are European – who else can afford to travel?) photographing the sign in front of the Lehman Brothers building. Ha ha. Two weeks later, it was gone.

Labels: jobs

posted by Elizabeth at 8:03 PM