Honey, I shrunk the Job Market

Batten down the hatches, folks, the super suck economy has hit home!

Here's what went down: I found out about the perfect job for me. Not personal shopper for John Krasinski perfect but still- pretty ideal: A kayak magazine needed an editor. A magazine about kayaking needed someone to find stories, write contact, take photos and edit other people's grammar! Hello, that's what I do all day, for absolutely no money!

My former double combo boss and boyfriend David sent me the link, and then sent the magazine a killer recommendation for me.

Was I excited? Let's just say, them chickens were counted.

A few days after emailing them my resume, I had already decided on a business card mock up. Around that time, I called my editor to discuss an article I had written previously about the Siete Tazas. The article was finally finished and ready to be subject to the red marker and then go to print. Much to my surprise I found out that the magazine I had been writing for had gone under and my editor - although he'll always be my editor- was out of a job.

And guess what- he was applying for the same job that I had considered myself a 'real shoe-in' for.

Well, people, the shoe's off.

My editor is my one and only connection into the world of professional writing. Not to mention he has a wife and two of the sweetest baby girls you have ever seen with cheeks so big that after every time I see them, I have to go out and order a plate of pancakes just to satiate my appetite. Would I ever try to take a job from underneath him? Nope. Would I ever even have a chance? Heck no. He has years and years and years of experience being an editor. For a magazine. A kayak magazine.

I'm 25, I'm single as the day is long, and I'd be a fantastic magazine editor. I'd throw my heart in soul into it. But there's no way I'd get the job over people who've been doing this for years, and now way I'd try and go up against this guy. So when my editor brought it up that he'd been talking to the people over at the magazine, I didn't mention that I'd been haranguing them with emails and phone calls and resumes and references. And when said, "I bet I can get your article published at this new place, in fact, it might help me nail in the job if I came bearing some content," I let him take the piece.

The magazine never returned my emails or phone calls, and I never tried to contact them again.
I don't know what happened with my friend and that job, but I do know that a few days later, he had worked it out that a different publication- Canoe and Kayak Magazine- would publish my article.



So that's good. But, dude, what the hell is up with this economy. We're vying for jobs with people who have decades more experience than we do, people who should be our bosses and our mentors, not our competitors. And on the flip side, I'm sure they're not thrilled to be fighting for entry level jobs against kids just out of college with no families, little financial obligations and nothing preventing us from working 100 hour weeks just to get ahead. Or keep up.

Although, I do have something preventing me from working 100 hour weeks. It's called The Office, season 1-5 on DVD, and, for now, it's as good as family.

The economy is something that I don't feel responsible for, unlike other catastrophes, like, say...anything environmental. I mean, I wouldn't have A-okayed that criminal war in Iraq which bumped up our military's already ridiculous consumption of fossil fuels, and about those oil plumes in gulf of Mexico? I listen to NPR. I've heard all about the lax safety standards. But I can't overlook the fact that all supply needs a demand, and that demand is me, pumping up my Subaru so I can drive long miles to the grocery store, because I choose to live in the country. I get it. I'm working on it. I really am .

But the economy, Jesus, I didn't do that! All I've done in the last 25 years is buy things and pay overdraft fees! Seriously, that really sums it up nicely! I've been pumping money into the economy from the moment I was first handed an allowance. So who do we blame for this mess? This-the-world-is-your-oyster-well-not-really-ness? Really, who set up the workings for this economic crisis and who set it off? All I know is that there are a lot of people responsible, and I blame them all with a limitless store of resentment and anger. I mean, I'm really angry here.

I'm going to go figure this out. I'll get back to you.