tropiavera | meme 2.0

You're viewing

tropiavera's journal
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: site light

Name a topic you would like me to discuss and I will tell you My Thoughts for at least 100 words!

*

What kind of topics/entries would you like to see me posting about? Any particular questions you've always wanted to ask me but have resisted because the answer would be a huge essay? Ever want to wind me up and watch me go on a particular topic? Anything you've heard me say "I should write that entry about xx I've been meaning to write" and have been patiently waiting for?

Current Music: animal: miike snow

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Posted by

aquamirage

What made you want to go to Parks and Rec school? How did public admin stuff become the career you wanted to pursue, and what are your feelings about it?

Posted by

tropiavera

The focus of the second half of my undergrad career was primarily geared toward the IR/think tank route, but after interning and going through all the coursework I came to feel like I wouldn't be happy working in that abstracted high policy a field, and that I needed something with more direct interaction with the markets or fields I was working on. I took a year off between college and grad school, which I sincerely needed because I was incredibly burned out, but I was subsequently un-to-under-employed for that year, which made me terribly unhappy, and was pretty desperate to get back to something more challenging.

I was torn between what I ended up doing and library science, where a lot of my research work would have probably been more applicable. I have my regrets about not doing library science, partly because there are more easily plotted career paths and better starting salaries, but had I gone that route, I would probably regret not doing something more practical! Not that my degree is exactly proving super practical in the job market, but, you know.

My feelings right now are pretty mixed, unfortunately! It has been much, much more difficult to find work than I thought it would be (based on my experiences and the experiences of a lot of my peers, many of whom have been underemployed since graduation last spring), considering that my degree is basically from a professional school. I was rejected from five jobs this week, and I know a lot of those jobs, had I been hired, would have been super frustrating and emotionally difficult to handle, because that's par for the course with jobs that work with urban administration, especially ones served disadvantaged populations. All of that makes this sound like an incredibly unsatisfying career choice, but at the same time, there's so much that can be done at the small scale (public art projects! housing repair programs for the elderly! - two of the things the last organization I worked for did), and it's so incredibly rewarding when you're able to accomplish something and see it like that.

Hahaha, that was way more than 100 words, but whatever, I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT CITIES.

Posted by

whatimages

What are your favourite fictional relationship dynamics?

Posted by

tropiavera

Ohh, GOOD ONE.

I love groups that explore the supporting pieces of the group dynamic. I love unspoken partnerships and characters being too close and creepy with each other and all caught up in each other's business, and when it's THEM AGAINST THE WORLD, or when they're the only ones who can understand something/each other. I like when friends wordlessly have each other's backs and would do things that the other would disapprove of to save them. Characters who have known each other for as long as they can remember. Siblings who are too close. Goofballs and weirdos who find their own tribe of doofuses. Characters who make everyone around them weirder (or better).