(no subject)
Morning rush hour traffic lasted forever - Elliot Smith, Ugly Casanova, PJ Harvey. The roads were flooded but the cars still move. Today my work threw me a little going away lunch and I picked The Bagel for take-out in that this is a Jewish internship - deli sandwiches for all. I can’t believe I’m done with work on Friday. Eight weeks of my life well spent. Can’t say that about everything or much of anything honestly, I don’t know.
Last night - my last time serving dinner - our volunteers consisted of mayors and other government leaders from Israel and while they had trouble getting drink orders right they made the night a whole bunch of fun. And today was my last day helping out with job readiness training, a 3-day job-search preparation class led by Jewish Vocational Services. For the most part (not trying to sound like an a-hole here, just the way it is) you could tell why the majority of the clients in the course didn’t have jobs. But 2 of them - both college graduates - reminded me of myself. One guy majored in journalism and communications, masters and all, and after working as a field reporter and telemarketing supervisor was laid off and has remained unemployed for the past few months. I’m scared of the real world. Another guy who recently moved here from Bulgaria has been living in America for a few years now and still hasn’t been able to find work; the entire time he complained about how little sense the American system makes, how much bureaucratic bullshit he’s found in this country and how Bulgaria made more sense than America. He might be right.
I can’t get over how incredible this city is and how well it functions. Driving to work everyday, first through the bourgeois suburbs, to the outer boundaries of Chicago, along Lake Shore Drive and Sheridan Road past the gold-coast luxury condominiums and finally ending up at EZRA in uptown is truly a fantastic drive to make every single day.
I don’t remember where I was going with this. I’m just sad that the internship is ending.
For anyone that’s Jewish and either A) lives in Chicagoland or B) goes to school in Chicagoland you should definitely check it out: http://www.juf.org/news_public_affairs/article.asp?key=2743&source=gold_link
And why on earth is Alan Keyes, someone who has never lived in IL and wasn’t taken remotely seriously in hid presidential bid the Republican Party’s likely choice to lose to Barack Obama? Anyone?
Last night - my last time serving dinner - our volunteers consisted of mayors and other government leaders from Israel and while they had trouble getting drink orders right they made the night a whole bunch of fun. And today was my last day helping out with job readiness training, a 3-day job-search preparation class led by Jewish Vocational Services. For the most part (not trying to sound like an a-hole here, just the way it is) you could tell why the majority of the clients in the course didn’t have jobs. But 2 of them - both college graduates - reminded me of myself. One guy majored in journalism and communications, masters and all, and after working as a field reporter and telemarketing supervisor was laid off and has remained unemployed for the past few months. I’m scared of the real world. Another guy who recently moved here from Bulgaria has been living in America for a few years now and still hasn’t been able to find work; the entire time he complained about how little sense the American system makes, how much bureaucratic bullshit he’s found in this country and how Bulgaria made more sense than America. He might be right.
I can’t get over how incredible this city is and how well it functions. Driving to work everyday, first through the bourgeois suburbs, to the outer boundaries of Chicago, along Lake Shore Drive and Sheridan Road past the gold-coast luxury condominiums and finally ending up at EZRA in uptown is truly a fantastic drive to make every single day.
I don’t remember where I was going with this. I’m just sad that the internship is ending.
For anyone that’s Jewish and either A) lives in Chicagoland or B) goes to school in Chicagoland you should definitely check it out: http://www.juf.org/news_public_affairs/article.asp?key=2743&source=gold_link
And why on earth is Alan Keyes, someone who has never lived in IL and wasn’t taken remotely seriously in hid presidential bid the Republican Party’s likely choice to lose to Barack Obama? Anyone?