More job/school issues...
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| Thu, 08-16-2007 - 10:59am |
Ok, so...I THINK....though it could change tomorrow but I sincerely hope not...that I've had an epiphany on this whole career issue. I was reading a book yesterday about being a 20-something and feeling a little lost at times, and I read a comment that, though I've heard it before, really struck me for whatever reason: "I wish someone had told me (this person's words, not mine) that it's better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable." I keep trying to find something art-related that'll make me more money. Before it was something I didn't need an advanced degree for because I didn't know if I could finish a PhD. Then I started thinking about going back to school for business and last night I thought to myself, HOLD on. I'm thinking about busting my a** to get a BUSINESS degree (and an MBA to boot), but I don't want to do a PhD in art history, something I love?? That makes no sense! Every time I set foot in a museum or watch an art show (I'm so into Simon Schama's Power of Art, it's ridiculous....I'm truly an art nerd, haha), I'm riveted and get this little pang of sadness that I'm not still studying and/or going into something art history-related. Yesterday I was trying to find things that mixed business and art, but everything I found that sounded interesting (curatorial work, gallery work, exhibitions, auction houses) only needed an advanced degree in art history.
Soo, what the plan is now (tentative) is to leave here in the semi-near future and try (key word) to get a job at Harvard so I can take classes for free. If I decide to go into teaching (college level...I think it would be the perfect job for me if I can do it), going to a great school is a must, but I really can't afford it at this point in my life. Now this is a perfectly legitimate reason to leave my current job and it's tempting to tell my boss, because she's an alum and belongs to about 10 committees. PLUS, she's told me that I should have a two-year plan here and then figure out what I want to do and that she wants to try to help me and mentor me (I was surprised when she told me all this at a review). I know they like me here and that my job is pretty important, which at once makes me not want to tell them and to tell them (so they have a head's up and know they'll have to find someone else). I've never really had to deal with this type of situation before and I'm clueless. Help!

Edited 8/16/2007 2:02 pm ET by capegirardeau
Well, first off, thank you for the complimentary words, I appreciate it.
BUT (sorry :) ), I don't know that I think of writing as a career. I think of it as something I'll do on the side and perhaps try to make money at it/market myself, but what to do in the meantime? Slave away at some miserable job until I might or might not be discovered as a writer? Being hired as a technical or communications writer is impossible without a degree (and just not that fun anyway) and, like you said yourself, newspapers are a dying breed. Blogs, online media, and so on are the writing of the future. I'd love to start a blog (and I've been meaning to), but that's still not a career. There are thousands of great writers out there who just never get discovered for whatever reason. I don't mind being "poor" (meaning just not super-wealthy), but not literal DIRT poor. If I happen to make it as a writer someday, fantastic, but I need to have a career in the meantime. Also being talented doesn't necessarily a career (nor a passion) make, I often get tired of writing after a while and I hardly ever finish a project, I just can't get myself motivated.
No offense, but I think it's a little presumptuous to tell someone that has been in the arts field that art's a dead end (and art history, not studio art, just in case you misunderstood). Personally, I think art criticism's more of a dead end than art history. There will ALWAYS be teaching positions, people teach everything from biology to hospitality to business to art history to, well, teaching. There are gallery positions, museum curators, corporate curators, auction personnel, all of which interest me more than any other careers I can think of.