oh my god DO NOT GO INTO ACADEMIA IF YOU ARE AT ALL UNCERTAIN ABOUT IT, holy shit. holllllly shit. red alert, do not pass go, do not feed the animals, do not do not do this. cannot stress enough how bad an idea that is. especially if you’re american.
people who benefit from academia are passionate, driven, and totally in love with their subject: psychology, history, biology, whatever. academia is emotionally and physically destructive: in any field, you are required to pour an absolute fuckton of time, energy, dedication, and MONEY into your education. you will be required to live an extremely unhealthy, high-stress lifestyle. at the end of it, you’re going to be scraping desperately for a job that probably won’t pay you enough to live comfortably for years, if ever. tenured positions are disappearing, unpaid internships continue to proliferate, etc etc. sexism, racism, and classism is still rampant.
do not go into academia unless you love something so much you are willing to sacrifice your financial, emotional, physical, and social well-being for it. a lot of people are, and we as a species are probably better off for it. but jesus fucking christ don’t put yourself through that meat grinder because your parents think you’re too smart for the trades, dude. the days where academia was a fast track to a cushy life were gone forty years ago, and only existed for white dudes, anyway. these days you are looking at a life of constant, crushing stress and poverty.
welding classes can take four months of training, and are often subsidized or low-cost or free, and you can be making 20-30$ an hour within a year if you’re good. starting pay is 11-15$. some welders make 60$. some welders make hundreds. look for a Women In Trades program, or start calling your local community colleges, or run a search for ‘trade schools’. look into construction jobs, carpentry, masonry, or CNC operation. a lot of manufacturing and construction jobs are still hiring and still paying a living wage. you can pursue academic interests on your own time, debt free.
oh also personally i was interested in welding because it’s a hands-on manufacturing discipline i haven’t done before! i’ve done woodworking and ceramics, and cnc operation works with metal but involves programming machines to do the work for you– it’s just the right thing for a lot of people, but i much prefer to get my hands dirty.
i’ve been thinking, career-wise, about starting with welding, then moving on to carpentry, plumbing, and finally air-conditioning, before ultimately saving the world from the fire nation.
ALSO, if you own Prismacolors Color Pencils and they keep breaking off no matter how much you sharpen them, they are cracked from the INSIDE.
This can be fixed by putting them in the microwave for no longer than 3 seconds! A little thing my art teacher taught me and has come in handy like heck!
OOOOOOOOOH~!!!
re-blogging to save a life
I never heard of this! Will test next chance i get
If a neurotypical asks you, “What game are you playing?” they’re not asking you to describe the game.
They’re asking you if they can play too.
If a neurotypical asks you, “What are you watching?” they’re not asking you to explain the plot of the movie/tv show to them.
They’re asking if they can watch it with you.
.
When neurotypicals ask you “What are you doing?”
What you think they’re asking: “Please explain to me what you are doing.”
What they’re actually asking: “Can I join you?”
Now here’s the really fucked up part. If you start explaining to them what you’re doing? They will interpret that as a rejection.
What you think you’re saying: [the answer to their question]
What they think you’re saying: This is an elite and exclusive activity for a level 5 friend and you are a level 1 acquaintance. You are not qualified to join me because you don’t know all this stuff. Go away.
.
This is why neurotypicals think you’re being cold and antisocial.
IT’S ALL A HORRIBLE MISCOMMUNICATION.
I didn’t realize, even thought it took me almost three decades to learn this, that this was such a paradigm changing realization until we had our conversation today.
But it really really is. One of the most bewildering realizations I’ve had is most people don’t talk to learn things unless its related to work or directly towards their own hobbies, all the words and questions are bonding questions if done socially. They are “lets make friends” questions.
So if I answer their question without an opportunity for the person asking the question to give a response or to join in somehow, the asker feels alienated and starts shutting down.
Example: what are you reading?
True answer but not what they’re looking for: Title of book
Best answer for social scenarios where I want to retain/create friendship: This book is about x and y but it has z that i know u have an interest in too.
Example: what are you doing?
True answer but not: drawing
Best answer for friends: I’m drawing but would u like company while I’m working?
And sometimes frankly I’m not in a headspace where I can process people so the answer is something like, “I would like to do something in a day or later, do you want to plan something?”
Tldr: communication is wierd
HOLY
SHIT
that explains so fucking much thank you
(why the fuck do neurotypicals never just day what they mean ie hey this show looks cool mind if I join you)
Further annoying?
They don’t realize that’s what they’re asking and they just feel rejected and go away. So you can’t even ask them what you did wrong because they can’t even put a finger on why they feel the way they do they just know you made them feel bad for some undefined reason.
After a particularly exhausting (read annoying) conversation with an old friend, I can’t help but have a few reflections on the idea of laziness as it has been used to describe poor people. Besides the fact that the way it has been crafted and wielded is historically ableist and racist, when it does comes up the rationale of its proponents never holds water anyway.
Defined on its own terms it falls flat on its face.
“Laziness: unwilling to work or use energy.”
Which requires less work and energy: Able-bodied people of some financial means writing a check for charity, or the most vulnerable people in society building alternative systems of support and mutual aid with/for each other with virtually no safety net?
Which requires less work and energy: Accepting the spoonfed, carefully curated narrative of mainstream media with little to no resistance, or opting to dig deeper than soundbites and holding the complexity of how oppression impacts groups and individuals?
Which requires less work and energy: Resigning oneself to the idea that swaths of people choose not to work and prefer a meager food stipend, or breaking down the myths about poverty and poor people created by a system which benefits from exploitation?
Which requires less work and energy: Writing people off because they aren’t as “successful” as you are, or contextualizing individuals’ life stories, their challenges, caring about them, and mobilizing resources to help them reach their fullest potential?
Which requires less work and energy: Following the pre-scripted path of every temporarily embarrassed millionaire (get rich or die trying), or forgoing fortune, risking financial and emotional instability, risking health and life for the possibility of an equitable world?
Seems like a no brainer to me. Fuck anybody who says poor people are lazy and aren’t out here trying. If you’re so insulated that you can’t see people struggling to escape poverty, you’re the problem. Get off your ass and help or do the rest of us a favor and shut the fuck up.
just moving along like everyone else 