A Crazy Idea

During the last few years of college, I had a crazy idea. I knew that graduation was approaching and time left in school was limited. I had to figure out what I was going to do. Should I pursue a PhD? Should I get a job? What’s to come after June? That’s when it hit me.

My crazy idea was that I would finish school as planned and pursue a career. I would get a job at a nominal salary, at which point I could afford to live in a decent apartment, start paying off school loans, be able to go out and have fun once in a while and maybe even afford a car that’s less than 10 years old. I mean heck, I figured having a graduate degree would put me leagues ahead of much of my competition. I had good credentials, office working experience, communications and computer skills, leadership experience and I studied abroad to boot. I didn’t need the perfect job, definitely not right off the bat. But that wouldn’t be an issue. Undoubtedly I could send out some resumes, get a few offers then take one that I like. After all, I was willing to move anywhere in the country, or even the world.

So I started putting out some resumes in April. I figured that it was as good a time as any to apply for jobs. Maybe I could beat some of the college graduate rush. Applying for jobs was quite exciting at first. As I filled out applications, wrote cover letters, and searched through so many pages of job listings, I imagined where I might find myself or what I might be doing in a few months. Some days I would apply for three or four jobs. I’d say the average week yielded at least ten. I continued this pursuit of a job through the end of spring quarter and into the summer.

Now it is nearly October, and I haven’t worked a day since graduation. The nearly one hundred resumes have yielded only one or two phone calls and no real interviews. To make things worse, the calls I did get were for the jobs I wanted the least- the ones that required a move across the country for minimal pay and maximum hours. Things have been looking grim. I have applied for jobs that have little or nothing to do with my degree, nor my intended career. Frustration only describes the half of it.

Only now have things been starting to look up. All I can say is that the old adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” has proven true. The leads that I feel so fortunate to have right now are only due to people I know.

The biggest of these is a consulting firm based in Chicago that my cousin’s husband works for. He’s considered a big shooter there and was able to land me a phone interview that has parlayed into an invitation to visit their office next month. Even this lead has been time consuming and stressful to arrange. I began the application process in mid August. Even if I get the job, I won’t be able to start until February.

In the shorter term, a friend of my girlfriend was able to set up an interview with the Associate Dean of a local adult tech education center. I received a call early this week stating that I got the job, though I have yet to start. I would be teaching economics for four hours, one night a week. Pay is minimal, but minimal is a positive integer greater than zero. In other words, it’s better than nothing.

I’m confident with the Chicago job, and if this teaching job would get started, it would resolve some of my problems. I’m good at interviewing and to my recollection have landed pretty much every job I’ve interviewed for. The hardest part has been getting that opportunity.

To all those still in school, plan ahead for graduation. Plan way ahead. I would start looking for job opportunities six months ahead of when I did, which does mean the calendar year before you actually graduate, for most of you. Apply for jobs you’d really like to have, but scour your friends and relatives for someone who works for a company that might have something you’d be good at or eligible for. After all, many employees get a referral bonus if you get hired.

If you want to get a job quickly after graduation, you need to think outside the box. Sending out dozens resumes sure didn’t cut it for me. Maybe you know someone, or know someone that knows someone, or know someone who knows someone who knows someone that can get you an interview. There’s so much competition out there. Think about that when you’re sitting in your chair at the commencement ceremony awaiting your diploma. Look around- see the other 3,000 students in the room? They’re your competition. Not just them either. Factor in all the new bachelors’ degree holders at all the universities in the country, plus all those already in the work force with real job experience. You need to find a way to get ahead of these other people- a way to get noticed in a sea of college grads.

I don't want to be too discouraging. I hope my experience is unique to me. I wish only the best of luck to you and your job hunt. I do know that if I ever have the opportunity to help a friend get a job, I’ll be sure to do all I can. Things are starting to work out finally. If nothing else, I've located some temp work that pays fairly well. Well, it'll pay the rent anyway.

What is the value of human life?

Some of you might respond to this question simply by saying that it is priceless. You may suggest that life is a gift that can not be bought or sold for any amount of money. I contend that human life has a finite value. Take, for example, a severe illness has bestowed itself on a dear family member. What price would you be willing to pay to save that person’s life? What if the disease necessitated a $10,000 operation? Would you pay it? What about $100,000? Even with fundraising, insurance and loans, there eventually becomes a price that is just too much to pay. The maximum amount that could be afforded is then the value of that life.

But the real depth to this concept isn’t the price you would pay for a loved one; it’s the price you wouldn’t pay for someone else. Are some people’s lives worth more than others? Consider if the sick individual wasn’t a relative. What if the person was actually a child, half a world away, in a developing country? Would you pay the same amount to save their life? As the commercials and NGO’s insist, often times it only a few hundred dollars to save a persons life from malnourishment and diseases that have been eradicated in the western world. So is a relative’s life worth the lives of tens or hundreds of others?

The value of one’s life is determined by a few factors. Individuals may vary in value by their earning potential. Someone who is well educated with an established career has more earning potential than a hobo, for example. Our value is also established by the people around us. Our social value to our family, friends and community is an important factor. A person who is well liked has more redeeming value than someone despised by all.

In this world, we’re not created equal. Our value is determined on where we live, what we do, and who is important to us. How much I may value an individual’s life could be vastly different from your valuation. Regardless, it shows that human life is not priceless in a monetary sense, nor is it uniform across the human population.

The Challenge of our Generation

Every generation faces a major challenge. In the past 100 years we have seen wars, economic depressions and an iron curtain that divided the world for decades. Undoubtedly, our generation too will have to come to terms with a major crisis. While we can only speculate what that may be, the challenge of developing a new fuel source ranks very high.

For centuries the world has utilized coal, oil, and other non-renewable fossil fuels as the primary source of energy for everything from lights to spacecraft. At our current rate of consumption, the planet cannot endure this kind of energy expenditure. With globalization offering empowerment of millions every day around the world to own cars, use air conditioning and power electronics, the rate of energy use is skyrocketing. China and India in particular are each bringing over a billion people into the modern energy world. In part, this competition has driven the costs of fuel up as demand for energy is increasing much faster than the available supply.

While the supply-demand problem of energy is becoming easier and easier to see through our wallets, it is only a matter of time until this becomes an even bigger international issue. It will not be long until countries begin to compete over access to oil. Because fuel is such a necessity for the modern economy to power our computers, trucks, cargo ships, cars and trains, no country is willing to go without it. As if the soon-to-be intense competition for oil between India, China, the US, Europe and others were not problem enough, a sick twist of fate has left the majority of the worlds' oil supply in the hands of a few rogue nations. The world's largest oil producers are Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran and Nigeria. Each has a history of human rights issues, social problems and most importanty, international political difficulties. When oil supply gets worse, the countries wielding the most power will be those who least deserve it and least able to handle it.

Beyond the supply of fossil fuel, its very use is causing tremendous environmental damage. The notion of global warming used to be almost a joke. Even if it were true, it was happening so slowly that no one alive today would survive to experience its real effects. But look at the last 12 months. Last August demonstrated a hurricane season unmatched in decades. As you may recall, the national weather service actually ran out of names to give all of the hurricanes. The following winter was unusually mild. Here in Ohio there was hardly snow to speak of. Now this summer has shown an incredible heat wave throughout the whole of the United States with temperatures of 100 degrees no longer limited to the southwest, but into the northern plains and Midwest.

The challenge of our generation may be to find a solution to this compounding problem. We need to discover a new form of energy that is clean, renewable, and sustainable. No time soon will fossil fuels be entirely replaced, but they need to be subsidized as soon as possible to alleviate today’s energy woes.

Foul pLay

Though it was covered a lot less in the news than one would expect, ex chief of Enron and W. henchman Ken Lay died last week of an apparent heart attack. The reaper found him at one of his vacation homes in Aspen, Colorado. Since the collapse of Enron and the theft of countless individuals’ jobs, salaries, retirement packages and stocks, Ken Lay has been on my list of hated individuals. I firmly believe that this guy and his partners committed a serious crime and deserve to pay the penalty for their unbelievable greed.

That day will never come, however. In May, Lay was found guilty on counts of fraud and conspiracy, as well as for being an outright asshole. Sentencing was to take place this coming September, in which Lay would be likely forced to spend the rest of his life in prison and return $183 million of stolen funds. Because you can’t put a dead guy on the stand, and nor can you stick one in jail, the trial is being vacated. That means that the Justice department is giving up on seizing Lay’s assets. Yeah- his family gets to keep all of the money, even though Lay was convicted.

I hate to be “that guy” when it comes to conspiracies. I don’t like to be thought of as crazy because I believe there’s more than what meets the eye. However, Ken Lay’s death seems altogether too convenient. After losing the trial, Lay was out of prison on $5 million bond- pocket change for him. With millions tucked away in offshore bank accounts, it would be easy for Lay to fake his own death, and could be anywhere right now sipping daiquiris on a beach in the Caribbean.

Lay has the money and the connections to pull something like that off. Frankly, if you have enough money you can do pretty much whatever you want. His close ties with the Bush administration including large donations to the president’s election war chest could have allowed him to obtain a new passport, safe passage out of the country, or even a position within the witness protection program- any of which could help him skirt the sentencing trial, jail time, and hefty fines.

I’ve consistently been very skeptical of the Bush regime and the whole Enron situation. Honestly, I find anything coming out of Texas to be a bit unnerving. So maybe its fitting that I’m suspicious of Lay’s opportune death, but I think someone needs to be looking into it. The autopsy was too fast, the body was cremated, and I have yet to read a report that suggests that a member of the press actually witnessed Lay’s deceased body.

Interestingly enough, Lay is not the only one connected with the Enron fallout that has recently died. A British banker who was questioned regarding his involvement in the collapse of the energy giant was also found dead.

After doing some googling for other Ken Lay conspiracy theorists, I have found a few other ideas of what happened. I find these to be a little bit farther fetched, but still worth reading. Some suggest the Bush administration may have disposed of Lay to take away some negative press. Others believe that Enron attorney Jeffery Skilling may have had something to do with it. With Lay gone, Skilling may be off the hook.

Any way you cut it, Lay was found guilty of a crime against thousands of hard working Americans who lost thier financial lives to the greed of a handful of executives. Those victims will never get justice, nor will they retrieve thier lost money. The Ken Lay- Enron story is altogether a chilling tale of what people in high places can get away with.

And the oscar goes to...

Last Friday night, Shannon and I drove to Parkersburg for a nice dinner and movie date. I was definitely disappointed with my movie experience though. We saw “Batman Begins” at the theater there, which turned out to be a pretty good movie. I give it two thumbs up. My problem isn’t with the movie at all, but with the theater and the movie industry.

We paid eight bucks to get in. That alone, I believe, is ridiculous. Back in Columbus at a nicer theater, I don’t remember it ever costing more than 5 or 6 bucks while I was in high school. Presently at the uptown Athena, movies are 6 or 7, and at the Nelsonville Movies 10, which is not an especially nice theater, prices were recently increased from four to five dollars. Concessions there are also value priced.

It seems that the prices have skyrocketed in the last few years, though. Hollywood has complained lately of drooping business. It’s clear though that they cannot be suffering too greatly. Beyond the high prices for tickets and concessions, marketing in the movie theater has hit new lows.
While waiting for the movie to begin, theaters used to display a slide show referring to classic movies, famous Hollywood figures, quotes, and other movie themed displays. Today, those still exist, but they are few and far between. They are now separated by countless advertisements for local businesses, Coca-Cola propaganda, and dozens of pictures of concessions available in the lobby. With those ads playing probably hundreds of times a day, no doubt they are worth a fortune.

That’s not all though. Between that slide show and the beginning of the movie, there used to be a few previews. Some people used to believe this was the ‘best part’ of the movie experience. You’d learn what new movies were coming and begin your anticipation, and sometimes even a cartoon. After all, that’s where Roger Rabbit began. Though previews are obviously a form of marketing, it has gone from trailers to ridiculousness.
Now days, before those previews even begin, you must sit through countless full motion commercials for all sorts of products from cell phones to airlines to who knows what else. Finally, the previews arrive. The idea of a handful of trailers is long gone. Now you’re in for a bunch of previews to the point where I lost count.

We bought tickets to the 10:15 showing and the movie didn’t start until after 11.

With all this marketing income and increased prices, how could the movie industry be suffering? Some might argue that there are increasing numbers of people renting movies, or worse, (as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) commercials would suggest) people are illegally downloading them. Of course they are! The fun of going to the movies has been strangled out of us! A two hour movie date now costs 16 dollars with no soda, no popcorn, raisinettes or goobers, and it lasts nearly three hours by the time they jam all those commercials down your throat.

The movie industry has become one giant marketing machine. Have you bought a DVD lately? When you put in to watch it, did numerous advertisements come up? Did it actually prevent you from skipping them by disabling the chapter skip, fast forward and menu functions of your DVD player? Hollywood is choking us with advertisement when they have us as captive audiences in the theater, and now in our own living rooms. I’m fed up with it, and have become more selective about what movies I bother to watch. I don’t have any interest going to the theater anymore unless there is a particular movie that I desperately want to see.

Though Batman Begins was a decent movie, I believe that Hollywood has given up on creating new and creative titles for our entertainment. This is why they’re losing money. Their focus is now on selling advertising via product placement and advertisements in the theater, not on creating a product that consumers want to buy.
The creativity is gone. When was the last time you saw a truly ‘new’ movie? Plotlines and stories are now recycled, or are mere spin-offs of other movies. The list of the current top ten movies according to the link above includes these five: Batman Begins, Bewitched, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Star Wars III, and the Longest Yard. What’s similar about these titles? They’re all recycled. In other words, they’re generating revenue not on their own creativity, but instead on the legacy and reused stories from the past. Think of other movies like Gone in 60 Seconds, Ocean’s 11, the upcoming Dukes of Hazard, The Thomas Crown Affair, Dr. Dolittle, and the Manchurian Candidate. All remakes, or adapted from earlier movies and TV shows. Furthermore, so many movies have at least on sequel. Do we really need Son of the Mask, Miss Congeniality 2, The Ring 2, Nutty Professor II, Police Academy 7, Speed 2, and The Lion King 1 ½? These aren’t quality creative ideas either. They’re merely cheap imitations of what we already saw.

Hollywood is losing money because half of what they’re making, we’ve already seen!

After my experience seeing Batman Begins, I don’t care about how much money Hollywood insists that they aren’t making. They are still ridiculously profitable despite their ineptitude.

At the peak of idealism

I was talking to my dad this weekend about politics. He, a staunch non-religious conservative, is for privatization of social security, the war in Iraq and other Bush related initiatives that I despise. I argued my side of the case(s), using my background in political science and armed in readings from Friedman to Machiavelli. Despite this, he consistently put down my arguments by insisting that I was a typical 20 year old college student. I’m a liberal idealist with the hopes and dreams of saving the world but still unexposed to reality.

It was really discouraging hearing this from my own father. I mean, yeah, what he said was at least partially true. I suppose in a lot of ways I’m a liberal idealist. I don’t expect to be able to save the world or anything though. I just see things differently.

The biggest issue we debated was in regard to health care. He insisted that his tax money should not go to pay for poor people’s health care via Medicaid and social security. Since they do not pay into the system, they should not reap the benefits and be afforded the best health care for free. I argued that health care is not something anyone should have to pay for anyway. It is a necessity of life, and everyone should have that right to get necessary health treatment. I’m not going to get into it any farther than that as I’m not writing this to argue that issue.

Anyway, his views were very much oriented around money. They weren’t about what “should be”, they were more of about what “can be”. The government and economy can’t afford to take care of everyone and therefore shouldn’t. And he’s not going to pay any more taxes to do it. It made me realize that he is beyond idealism. At 50, he’s accepted the realities of life, and is a lot less likely to offer some sort of change. At 20, I’m at what Ralph Nader called “the peak of (my) idealism.” I’m all about change. I’m perfectly willing to shake things up and try something new (within reason, of course).

You’ve probably heard the quote “If you’re not liberal by 20, you have no heart. If you’re not conservative by 40 you have no brain.” What happens in those 20 years that changes us in that way? Having not yet lived them, I can’t say from experience. But judging from what I’m seen in other people, a lot happens. We finish our educations, start careers, get married and have kids. I guess when you have all those things, you may not be the happiest guys on earth, but in a lot of ways, you’ve made it. You’ve lived your life the best you could, and you want to believe that that’s the way they’ll be forever. If something changes, what will happen? Will you lose the nest egg you’ve worked your life for? Will your relationships with your wife, children, or anyone else change? I think on that level that it is an issue of social security. Not the government entitlement, but the meaning of the very words themselves- security in society.

At 20, we’ve got nothing to lose by trying new things. Sure we’ve got friends and family, but we don’t have careers, wives or kids that are going to be damaged by our mistakes. If there’s a fork in the road, we can take into either direction without second thought. I’m enjoying my viewpoint at this age, and I think it’s important that we all believe what we want to believe. We have the rest of our lives to realize (or simply accept) what’s possible and what’s not.