She had the face of a Renaissance madonna: a perfect oval with flawless, pale skin and a long, straight nose. And hooded eyes that glowed. Botticelli would have begged to paint her. Had Hope lived then, she would have owned 15th Century Florence.
But from the neck down that day, Hope was all Goth: black dress with full skirts, black leather jacket, and "sensible" shoes -- engineer's boots. She looked like a Goth librarian.
Which, oddly enough, is what she is. Fresh out of college in New York with a shiny master's degree in library science. In her mid-20s. And with plenty of work -- just not the kind that people pay for.
Her mother Regina had invited Rhumba and I to chat with the two of them at a downtown tea room. We go 'way back with the two of them, back to when we all belonged to the Church of the Holy Dividend. Regina bossed the Altar Guild and anybody else who was standing nearby. She is a woman of strong opinion: often wrong, always strong.Back then, Regina kept Hope close and dressed her up in elaborate outfits, like a doll. Whatever the kid said in public, Regina would quickly contradict.
So it's no surprise that Hope grew up disaffected and somber. But also with a subversive sense of humor that you had to lean close to hear. She was a smart kid, and different.
In the early grades the other kids ostracized Hope, but by the time she hit middle school her quirky and rebellious viewpoint had made her popular in a nerdish way. Hope didn't have a lot of motivation -- it's hard to generate much when your mother tries to dominate everything you show an interest in. Her confessed goal in life was to hang out in coffee houses and work as a video store clerk.
And now, ten years and a couple of hundred thousand dollars later, Hope sits across the table from me, a full-fledged digital archivist. And if you want to explain to me how that's not at all the same thing as a video store clerk, I'd be glad to hear it.
And she's unemployed. Seriously unemployed, like most college grads these days who have degrees in anything except maybe police science and advanced chip design. Regina wanted us to meet so Rhumba and I could offer some pointers to Hope on the job search. I don't know why -- perhaps because we've been unemployed more than anyone else she knows.
"Is it true what my parents say?" Hope asked me. "That you used to be able to just answer a help wanted ad in the paper and apply, and you could get a job that way?"
"Yeah," I answered. "Not for years, though. Even in Silicon Valley. At all the big companies, you really have to know somebody. At least that was the way it was the last time I tried to break in."
"I've done a lot of internships, but nothing ever leads to a job. They never have the money." She'd had fun, though, back in New York: partying with Michael Moore, working as an archivist in a shadowy movie archive that held the detritus from 100 years of Hollywood. She'd archived Freddy Krueger's "hands" (gloves, really) from "Nightmare on Elm Street."
But all that had led to exactly one job offer: an archivist's job for $33K a year at NBC; $33K if you worked full time. But they wouldn't guarantee hours. And offered no benefits. This in New York City. Hope turned up her nose at it and went home.
I had mixed feelings about that decision. But on reflection I understand: you shouldn't have to eat shit to get a "chance," especially from a multi-billion-dollar company that could well afford to pay -- but just didn't want to. The thing about eating shit is, you are what you eat. You become it. And as somebody who'd held on hard onto her identity in the thunderous gale of her mother's personality, I could see why Hope turned it down.
And here she was, back in Santa Cruz. And she was working, doing real archival work at the university and for nonprofits. But with no chance of ever being paid. And no interviews anywhere else, no matter how she tried. And feeling like there was something wrong with her.
"No, there's nothing wrong with you," I said. "There are not enough jobs. There are not enough jobs. There are NOT ENOUGH JOBS!" I wanted to be clear.
"There are those who worry that college grads in your generation will never work," I went on. "After a few years of unemployment the skills get stale and nobody will hire them."
Hope grinned crookedly. The prospect of never having to work wasn't completely awful.
"Now, don't say that!" Regina burst in. "She'll get a job if she just keeps trying."
"There are six people in the job market for every job now open," Rhumba pointed out.
"Well, it's not that hard to be in the top ten percent," Regina barked. "I know that Hope can make it if she tries!"
Like, the other five people won't be trying at all, I said. Silently.
"Keep applying up in the Bay Area," I said. "It's tough everywhere, but there's really no opportunity in your field around here. There's no money here." Nevertheless, Rhumba and I gave her a couple of pointers for getting in the front door at some large local employers we knew well. And Rhumba offered Hope a reference, as she'd hired her years ago as a personal assistant for a few months.
We talked about the economy, how bad it was. Regina, characteristically, thought it was all about people making bad choices. "All those people went into so much debt, it's no wonder they're in trouble now," she said.
"It not about bad choices," I said. "It's about all the money being sucked out of the economy by the rich. People went into debt because they had to, to buy houses, to pay for their kids' education."
"Well I don't think so," she said. "They didn't have to buy all those huge cars and houses and things."
"They" didn't all do that; but there's no convincing Regina. Meanwhile her hyper-educated spawn told us that she's about to apply for work as a supermarket checker, and Regina still thinks life is all business as usual.
Regina comes from money; she didn't live the last 30 years the way the rest of us did, or at least the way I did. The one good part of that: she and her husband could pay cash for Hope's education, and did. The kid won't face the crushing debt so many other young people will.
So if you shop at New Loaf Natural Foods Super in Santa Cruz' West Side in the near future, the pale young woman who bags your dry-farmed tomatoes may well be a Master of Library Science, in the only job her education can get her. An education that cost too much... and which will get her no paying job in a society where the wealthy have grabbed all the cash to their bosoms. And a million more like Hope graduate every year.
I'm going to stop now, before I begin ranting.
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6 comments:
It saddens me that universities still offer courses that have no prospects, indeed they continue to attract people to vocational certification in dying industries. I'm not saying that Hope falls into this category, but I do think that Universities should publish employability statistics for courses to allow undergrads to have some idea of what to expect after graduation.
My son didn't finish college. For years this was my secret shame, my failure as a parent. For several years now he has tended bar in an upscale establishment in Los Gatos where he earns a high 5-figure income and is on 1st name basis with alot of well-known, successful people. He loves what he does and has no student loans to pay off. The part about "loves what he does" is the key. He ended up where he is supposed to be and maybe Hope will also. Life has a way of not following the plan.
Good luck to him, Annie. Glad he's enjoying what he does.
The most erudite guy I know never finished college, either, beyond an A.A. He's a used and antiquarian book dealer, and what he knows about books and music would fill -- well, his store. Happy as a clam, too.
I have two close friends who have their MLS (one from Columbia). Both friends unemployed for over a year. now. One friend came out of a high tech business library, one came out of a headhunter organization. She has worked at multiple libraries in the bay area. When they both got their degrees, this career path showed phenomenal growth. I guess by phenomenal, they meant they'd be out of jobs as soon as they reached their 50s.
What's interesting is as educated these people are, they can't get jobs that will pay them over $20 an hour, most likely and I think unemployment will run out soon.
I also have a good friend who recently took a job at Whole Foods for $13.00 an hour. He's supporting a family, 2 kids in college, bagging groceries and stocking shelves. Late 40s. Thankfully he found work though his salary will top out at $19.00 if he stays in the position.
I feel bad for Hope though unless she gets a job at a gas station or a theater taking tickets, she's probably SOL in Santa Cruz area. All this education amounts to working with your tail between your legs and a humility you never learned about at the university.
Janell, thanks for the input. Librarians aren't in much demand except at times when we're investing in our own society for its own long-term good. And we haven't done much of that lately. Individual greed is the way to the promised land, all the rich people tell us. As they send their kiddies to private schools.
Twenty bucks an hour is what's out there, at most. Too many jobs have gone overseas, too many jobs other jobs that were automated out of existence had the savings all routed into the pockets of the few instead of being recycled into society. We've been poor for a long time, just the credit and real estate bubble kept us all from knowing. When we all _know_ we're poor, maybe things will change. But it's going to be a bad decade for Hope and everybody but a few.
Ironically, I'll be submitting a 2011 budget shortly with an open req for a $70k/year digital librarian position, for which no Americans can apply, due to UK laws intended to prevent domestic jobs going to cheap immigrant labor.
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