Jewish Musings, Wednesday 9/6

[lee058]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.


Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:




Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy



And for those of you who stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE!

Today's topic: What college classes/life experiences helped you at work?

For me, I was fortunate enough to be able take technical writing classes, which helped me decide that that was what I wanted to try. My communications classes taught me how to write and share information; my film classes taught me how to observe details; and my philosophy classes taught me how to think better.

As for life experiences, travelling after college taught me that there were many different types of people, and that some I could get along with while others I couldn't.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[hollygail]

I went to a humanities school and had to take classes in many different types of subject that I wouldn't have chosen had I had carte blanche in choosing what to study. I learned something from Plato about reality vs "belief systems" (the shadows on the wall of the cave, which taught me about how some people think about God and religion, although God and religion were definitely NOT part of the class). One class in the Speech Dept. gave me information about how to make presentations, which I had to do in more than one job. Living through college taught me about managing my time; balancing being in school, getting assignments done and done on time, doing my own laundry, cooking meals (I didn't live in a dorm that provided meals; I rented an apartment with the man I married at the beginning of my sophomore year and who worked while I went to school), housework, etc. Balancing all those "life" pieces of life taught me how to organize my work day during my career days. Theater classes and acting (only one example: playing both Cecily and Gwendolyn in separate readings from The Importance of Being Earnest) taught me how to deal with people different from me (and believe me, having grown up in New York City, which as far as I could tell was "the" center of the universe, did not prepare me for living anywhere else; theater, however, did!).

[lee058]

hollygail, Since I grew up in a suburb of NYC, I also felt that it was the center of the universe! I always called it "THE CITY" and never thought I'd live anywhere else. Lo and behold, my life path turned out quite differently.

[gazelle18]

The college class that helped me the most in my work life was Journalism. I was a journalism major , and worked on the college newspaper. Although I didn’t become a journalist (sadly), the lessons I learned about writing quickly and clearly were valuable in the job I did end up doing.

[peachymom1]

I wanted to be a language teacher, so I got a degree in Spanish & Linguistics. I also learned French, Italian, Hebrew and some German. I interviewed at a high school in Los Angeles to teach Hebrew, but since I didn't have a credential in Hebrew specifically (though I had enough units to qualify me to teach it), they didn't hire me. :+( I had no trouble getting a job as a Spanish teacher, though, and I also subbed for a friend's evening Spanish and French classes a few times.

Although I didn't remain a teacher, I did do a lot of tutoring during college and then when I was a SAHM. The reason I was able to be a SAHM for five years was because I could edit and type papers for college students, and tutor them in languages as well. I did this all at night after DH got home, and on weekends. It was a lot of work, but I loved it. We live close to various community colleges and universities, so I was able to get a steady stream of business by putting up flyers there, and then by word of mouth.