It’s Valentine’s Day and also my birthday. I won’t tell you how old I am–just know that I’m really, really old and can remember when museum registrars used to keep records with big flat stones and chisels.
But in keeping with my New Year’s Resolution to blog more, whine less I thought I’d blog a little blog about “a day in the life of a recently eliminated Director of New Media.” Actually the Director of New Media thing is kind of a red-herring. It doesn’t really matter what I did as much as what I do now. Luckily, I had my PhD tucked in my back pocket so when the museum decided my services were no longer necessary, I was able to shift immediately to somewhere my job skills are still useful. I am back in the classroom, teaching a seminar class in museum studies at Case Western Reserve University, once a week. Having spent the better part of a quarter decade working at museums, first in education, then, as a curator, and for the past decade in new media, I have a pretty good understanding of how art museums work. This and some contract work keep the wolves from the door and a chicken in the pot.
So a typical day begins at 8 am with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. By 8:30 I’m on an actual treadmill getting the blood pumping for the day (or what passes for that in my world). By 10 I’m at my desk. The morning’s work is my own–two hours of hard writing on a book I’ve always wanted to write. A quick lunch and then the afternoon is devoted to the work I do for others (that is the work for which I receive a paycheck).
After 19 years of full time employment, I whined to Patient Long-Suffering Spouse (PLSS) the other day that I didn’t like being unemployed. That’s when he explained that my position is under-employment not unemployment. That feels a little better.
I remain, your colleague, under-employed and lovin it (for now) in Cleveland.
