Remember how I said back in September I ended up working on new projects out of the blue? This is one of them. I didn’t start with the cool chart above. I was in a room with a bunch of people with letters at the end of their name and manuals were handed out and my career path led me down a road where I was tasked with creating charts that a 12-year old could gravitate towards.
Reading through everything was a bit heavy. I went through IGETC in high school. It was a laundry list of classes to get through so a UC would find you adequate enough to saddle you with student loans until a recession hit. My chart was two columns - one for classes you needed and a second to list out the pre-requisites. I did all of my pre-reqs with any classes that kept me in the art department. Every last one of the amazing creatives who took a similar path to mine and vibed with the energy of that environment have talks today about whether California really is the state worth living in.
Going through the material at work it hits me that it’s Mike Rowe meets Anthony Bourdain. Every job you could think of was broken into categories with a list of classes you could take to get there. Instead of sticking to general courses, you could meet every requirement by enrolling in a class geared towards the stuff you enjoy doing. The project became cool and I had fun going through all of the material.
The event was today. 15 different sections of courses and as soon as it starts a student walks by with a platter of savory treats and I’m done for. Food services was one of the categories and for the next hour they were the backbone of this country. I gave them my attention and wished the rest all the best.
The event was held at a local high school. About half an hour in, one of my former students walked in, waved at the room, made a plate and walked out. I don’t know what category he will focus his studies on, but I waved because I understood regardless of his path we were definitely from the same tribe.
Once the event was over it was back to work and the write-ups gave me time to think about all of it. The general ed portion of liberal arts could be a lot to get through if you don’t have the ability to disassociate for long swaths of time while still retaining enough to be passible in the subject. Looking back, would you rather be adequate in all areas and pick the one you believe you would do the best in, or would you rather pick one and learn all about it leading up to college? It gives you a different way of looking at learning.
Finishing all projects means you have to eat something nice. I ended up at my usual orphan spot that lets you eat unlimited cheese bread with meat. The two things going through my mind were the events of the day and finishing my own tunnel-vision project. It ended with me picking up the phone and talking with one of my team members to explain that I had a course of action, but unsure if creatively it aligned with everything. It was a good talk and made the meal settle better. If you’re not starting out, but are at that point where it’s mid-project, just grab a bite to eat and it’ll fall into place.
