The Facts of Life.

Work.

"My baby takes the morning train / he works from nine 'til five and then
He takes another home again / to find me waitin' for him."
-Sheena Easton, "My Baby Takes The Morning Train"

The 9 to 5. Corporate clowns. Cash cows. Dorky uniforms. Business casual. Gross salaries. Hourly pay rates. The water cooler. Rush hour commutes. All of these terms are affiliated with the work force; something that the majority of the country's adult population (and those teenagers who can furnish work permits) is familiar with.

For some, work is an obligation for basic survival: an after-school responsibility at a restaurant or a retail shop where they punch in at a timeclock, wear a name badge and some sort of uniform, receive hourly pay and/or tips, and use their earnings to pay for rent, bills, and food. For others, work is a more than a job, it's a career. It could be for a big corporate company, or it could be self-employment in one's small business. It could be entertaining crowds or writing screenplays, or it could be managing others at a restaurant or retail store. Yet for others, work is simply a part-time chore, endured only for money to buy booze on the weekends and supplement parental support. Some people work because it's their passion. Others work to take care of basic necessities. To survive and thrive in this capitalist economy that is the United States, one must have some sort of income, and that generally comes from working. The bottom line is: work = money = survival.

Many people start off working menial jobs for minimum wage when in their mid to late teen years. Sometimes it's by choice, other times it's by pressure from the parental units. My first job was at 16 at a place called Lakeshore Learning Store, a teacher supply shop that was across the street from my apartment complex. I didn't choose to work there because I was interested in the behind-the-scenes of classroom decoration, nor was I enticed by the Kidz Bop and Sugar Beats CDs that were in constant rotation. I started working because I was tired of begging my parents for money, and I could walk there! After that three-month stint, other endeavors included the cashier gig at Jewel, the customer service desk hottie girl at Sam Ash Music, and serving and bartending in countless restaurants, bars, and sports stadiums.

Several people my age have similar work histories on their resumes as well. Working crap jobs is a part of life. They pay the bills when you move away from home and into the mean world of city stickers, ORD citations, car insurance, and [insert utility here] bills. I'm not gonna lie: I am beyond ready to stop making $4.20 per hour + tips and move on to my career path of choice, and I'm sure many students would agree. But until I achieve that wonderful piece of paper that says, "Charlotte has shelled out thousands of dollars, written countless papers, and spent 4+ years learning how to report and write well" (in so many words), dealing with drunken imbeciles and poor tippers will have to do.

I do envy people that have careers, or what I would call "cool jobs." One of my best friends, who has been in bands since he was 12 years old, recently got signed to a powerful record label at the age of 25. Another girl I know of the same age is now earning six figures after climbing the ladder at a company she discovered on craigslist.com---and the job is completely unrelated to her majors at Purdue. At the DMV a couple weeks ago I had such a good laugh with the cashier and vision screener that I actually imagined having a good time if I worked there. A former coworker of mine started her own company and no longer has to answer to "the man!" I do currently have a pretty fun job working with an author (in addition to my three other sources of income), which is somewhat a good step in the direction of my desired career. I get to write, edit, research, accompany her to Whole Foods and the car wash occasionally, and listen to her family drama. I have learned that I can definitely write and publish books in the future, and that writers are neurotic...probably myself included.

Work can mean many different things to the individual. Sometimes it is what one does to make ends meet and provide for the family, other times work entails getting paid to do what one loves. It could be a combination of both, or somewhere in the middle. Companies need people to exude labor and increase profits, and people need to make a living, however meager, lest they end up panhandling under El stops or at intersections. Work can be enjoyable or stressful, lucrative or barely cutting it, a painful last resort or the job of your American dream---or any combination thereof. Whatever it means to the individual, work is a part of live and necessary for survival.



Leisure.

The word "leisure" is derived from the Latin word licere, meaning "to be permitted/free," according the the word's entry in Wikipedia. While some people are fortunate to have careers that they enjoy, it is still important "to be free" and draw the line between work and play---lest one's job becomes an all-encompassing, life-engulfing burden. Leisure can be passive: lounging in the sun, taking a drive, reading, watching T.V., or listening to music. On the other hand, leisure can be active: working out, playing sports, engaging in games of skill, or creating art. The common thread is that "1) The experience is a state of mind. 2) It must be entered into voluntarily. 3) It must be intrinsically motivating of its own merit" (Wikipedia).

I see leisure as being a way to spend time doing things that are not work: free time, and fun time, and not labor time. Of course it means different things to different people, but I think the general consensus is that leisure is essentially time to do what you please, without stress or obligation.

Some people incorporate leisure with work, however, and sometimes what is considered leisure for one could be labor for another. Someone with a green thumb may enjoy pulling weeds and planting seeds during their free time, while yard/garden work may be a job for another person. I someday hope that writing will be my full-time, lucrative job, but I also associate writing as something fun---as you may have noticed by my excessively long first essay.



Technology.

Technology in America has a very wide-reaching range, is very versatile, and always evolving. One might associate technology with gadgets, high-tech machines, and this digital age we live in, but essentially, technology is how a society utilizes the materials available in their particular civilization. Things such as the wheel, the sundial, or the paleolithic spear are considered "simple" today, but upon their inceptions they were revolutionary. Today we have wireless fidelity blanketed across cities, mp3 players that have rendered the Discman obsolete, sleek cell phones the size of your thumbnail, and laptops that weigh four pounds.

It can be a wonderful thing, but at the same time technology can be detrimental if looked at from another perspective. Online social networks such as MySpace result in diminishing person-to-person real life intimacy. Relationships end and people quit jobs via text message. Increased scientific studies and research provide drugs and antibiotics that may "work wonders" for any ailment you can think of (Restless Leg Syndrome?), but more diseases, resilient viruses, deathly side-effects, and resistant bacteria are being discovered daily it seems.

While work and leisure are two different things, they aren't 100% distinct from each other, and there isn't a red line drawn between the two. Technology is something that relates to both work and leisure. One might say that while work and leisure are (not completely polar) opposites, technology is one thing that bridges the two. At work, technology is rampant. Restaurant servers can electronically take orders that go directly to the kitchen and print receipts rather than the person scribbling a bill on a piece of paper. A lot of people work via computer all day. Corporations can hold conferences simultaneously with their other office locations across the globe. Some people have jobs that require them to have both a cell phone and a BlackBerry.

Technology plays a big role in leisure as well. You can kick back with your iPod and listen to hours of music on a tiny device. People who enjoy running can now wear a pedometer that measures the distance traveled and give other vital stats. Apple and Nike collaborated to combine the two: an iPod that works in conjunction with a device in special Nike shoes. It picks suitable songs for your jogging speed, among doing other wondrous things. People that enjoy writing poetry or taking photographs in their free time can share their mindless musings and creative artworks with millions of people on the Internet.

Were things better when life was "simple" and we had to get up to turn the dial on the TV and weren't aware of the 6000 different kinds of bacteria growing in our kitchen sinks...or the dust mites crawling in our pillows at night? Or are we much better off with better-performing cars, multiple methods of communication, and antibacterial multi-surface cleaning products? One cannot say with certainty that one is better than another, but technology sure has come a long way and our work, leisure, and general lifestyles have been greatly affected by its advancements.



Leisure. (2007, September 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:13, September 10, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leisure&oldid=155572324