Erotic work...
No real wuk..
A minibus conductor asked me one day if I don't work.. and another driver asks me if I am on leave or if I am sick - they ask me because they see me during the day rather than in the morning and the evening. A neighbour also asks when he sees me daytime.. like you on some long leave.. last week another man asked me 'What are you working on now' and today another man asked ' What work do you really do... ?"
I could say mind your business.. I have been tempted to say if I tell you I would have to kill you ; but I mumble things like.. I do this that and the other.. computer work, work from home.. whatever I get, spy on people..
I wish I could perfect the art of being sophisticated and vague which will leave people wandering and have plenty speculation ..
No shoes and socks..
I work from home.. like some dressmakers, tailors, caterers, tutors, mechanics, farmers - been doing that since November 2008. The Internet is the main tool of the trade. So.. my laundry is light since no fancy clothes to wear to work, and only on very rare occasions would I wear socks and shoes. I have had meetings in my sleeping clothes (the excuse "sorry our bandwidth is crap so no video"). Disadvantage is that after 1pm , place get hot really bad and I go and sleep and I am not sure if I am as productive as if I was nicely dressed up in socks and shoes in an air-conditioned environment.. but I will never know.
No filing cabinet..
A website designer friend said that I should create a space in the house, and actually do a thing about coming to work on time, in proper clothes and so on. There is no space really in my house to have an office. But.. what has also happened is that I have also been forced to cut back and reduce paper to a minimum. Every time I think that I need to buy a filing cabinet, I think no no no.. I need to recycle the paper and ask for digital documents and question whether I really need to keep all that paper. I have a scanner now and I intend to scan all the other documents which I have been keeping.
Erotic work..
What is this work that I do, or I don't do enough of? It is a mix of things, some of which I am paid for in money, others for which there are other benefits and others for which there is nothing in return except headache. Audre Lorde in her essay, the Uses of the Erotic writes "The aim of each thing which we do is to make our lives and the lives of our children richer and more possible. Within the celebration of the erotic in all our endeavors, my work becomes a conscious decision - a longed-for bed which I enter gratefully and from which I rise up empowered."
So... what wuk do you really do?
Unpaid work this Monday May 1 will be commemorated for caregivers. I do not have to cook, clean, look after, nurture, nourish , wash clothes.. only do this when I feel like. I used to think that the volunteer stuff could be done on whim, when I was available and when I had time.
Nah.. it aint wuk out suh.. because after about 16 years volunteering, I recognise that all wuk.. paid or unpaid, demands the same level of commitment to quality, to ensuring that the goals are met, that people are working , that accountability is achieved.
That longed for bed..
So.. I would love to think that all the work, paid and unpaid, are longed for beds.. but nah..the unpaid work especially could be full of the stresses and tensions that impede the work being done.
Does the work make my life of the lives of my children more richer and more possible? Nah..well sometimes, economics means that I cannot pick and choose the paid work all the time and be grateful when I get it.. while duty and a sense of obligation means that I also don't quit some of the unpaid work which might not make my life richer (or my children). However, I celebrate when the work does both.
Working well..
Working well requires great planning, as does chilling out and taking time off and scheduling the empowering work in between the work which brings in money or for which there are no noticeable immediate benefits.
Learning and training is part of work - necessary parts. So whether it is domestic violence, child abuse prevention, rights for LGBT people, Linux, Drupal, ICT4D.. it is work. Learning means pushing the boundaries to get new experiences.. and to also evaluate and check what is happening. One of the dangers of how I am working is that quality could be sacrificed for some other expediency. I got two unexpected blows to fanciful notions of myself because of the lack of quality checks.. as a friend reminded me .. critical review is necessary for growth.
So really.. like you aint got wuk fuh do.. yuh writing stupidness..
Writing on this blog is work - part of the learning. The work includes preparing a digital archive for the Caribbean IRN; developing an oral history project which will take advantage of the technology available and also learning the rigours of qualitative research; develop a platform for an e-zine, struggle to implement a platform for a user community; editing user documentation; work with the NRDDB on this project.. including learning, teaching and finding tools to ensure that the objectives can be met; seeking funding for work in 2012, training some Help & Shelter people in facilitation skills; working with a friend on another important article he will write; finding a solution for a collaboration platform which involves a steep learning curve; facilitating the labs for an online journalism course and then marking the assignments..; finding a solution for an online database implementation; planning the SASOD film festival ; and testing, monitoring, checking on two projects .. one more intense than the other...
The CVs are merged not very well here.
Some of this paid, some unpaid; some erotic.. some far from it.
A minibus conductor asked me one day if I don't work.. and another driver asks me if I am on leave or if I am sick - they ask me because they see me during the day rather than in the morning and the evening. A neighbour also asks when he sees me daytime.. like you on some long leave.. last week another man asked me 'What are you working on now' and today another man asked ' What work do you really do... ?"
I could say mind your business.. I have been tempted to say if I tell you I would have to kill you ; but I mumble things like.. I do this that and the other.. computer work, work from home.. whatever I get, spy on people..
I wish I could perfect the art of being sophisticated and vague which will leave people wandering and have plenty speculation ..
No shoes and socks..
I work from home.. like some dressmakers, tailors, caterers, tutors, mechanics, farmers - been doing that since November 2008. The Internet is the main tool of the trade. So.. my laundry is light since no fancy clothes to wear to work, and only on very rare occasions would I wear socks and shoes. I have had meetings in my sleeping clothes (the excuse "sorry our bandwidth is crap so no video"). Disadvantage is that after 1pm , place get hot really bad and I go and sleep and I am not sure if I am as productive as if I was nicely dressed up in socks and shoes in an air-conditioned environment.. but I will never know.
No filing cabinet..
A website designer friend said that I should create a space in the house, and actually do a thing about coming to work on time, in proper clothes and so on. There is no space really in my house to have an office. But.. what has also happened is that I have also been forced to cut back and reduce paper to a minimum. Every time I think that I need to buy a filing cabinet, I think no no no.. I need to recycle the paper and ask for digital documents and question whether I really need to keep all that paper. I have a scanner now and I intend to scan all the other documents which I have been keeping.
Erotic work..
What is this work that I do, or I don't do enough of? It is a mix of things, some of which I am paid for in money, others for which there are other benefits and others for which there is nothing in return except headache. Audre Lorde in her essay, the Uses of the Erotic writes "The aim of each thing which we do is to make our lives and the lives of our children richer and more possible. Within the celebration of the erotic in all our endeavors, my work becomes a conscious decision - a longed-for bed which I enter gratefully and from which I rise up empowered."
So... what wuk do you really do?
Unpaid work this Monday May 1 will be commemorated for caregivers. I do not have to cook, clean, look after, nurture, nourish , wash clothes.. only do this when I feel like. I used to think that the volunteer stuff could be done on whim, when I was available and when I had time.
Nah.. it aint wuk out suh.. because after about 16 years volunteering, I recognise that all wuk.. paid or unpaid, demands the same level of commitment to quality, to ensuring that the goals are met, that people are working , that accountability is achieved.
That longed for bed..
So.. I would love to think that all the work, paid and unpaid, are longed for beds.. but nah..the unpaid work especially could be full of the stresses and tensions that impede the work being done.
Does the work make my life of the lives of my children more richer and more possible? Nah..well sometimes, economics means that I cannot pick and choose the paid work all the time and be grateful when I get it.. while duty and a sense of obligation means that I also don't quit some of the unpaid work which might not make my life richer (or my children). However, I celebrate when the work does both.
Working well..
Working well requires great planning, as does chilling out and taking time off and scheduling the empowering work in between the work which brings in money or for which there are no noticeable immediate benefits.
Learning and training is part of work - necessary parts. So whether it is domestic violence, child abuse prevention, rights for LGBT people, Linux, Drupal, ICT4D.. it is work. Learning means pushing the boundaries to get new experiences.. and to also evaluate and check what is happening. One of the dangers of how I am working is that quality could be sacrificed for some other expediency. I got two unexpected blows to fanciful notions of myself because of the lack of quality checks.. as a friend reminded me .. critical review is necessary for growth.
So really.. like you aint got wuk fuh do.. yuh writing stupidness..
Writing on this blog is work - part of the learning. The work includes preparing a digital archive for the Caribbean IRN; developing an oral history project which will take advantage of the technology available and also learning the rigours of qualitative research; develop a platform for an e-zine, struggle to implement a platform for a user community; editing user documentation; work with the NRDDB on this project.. including learning, teaching and finding tools to ensure that the objectives can be met; seeking funding for work in 2012, training some Help & Shelter people in facilitation skills; working with a friend on another important article he will write; finding a solution for a collaboration platform which involves a steep learning curve; facilitating the labs for an online journalism course and then marking the assignments..; finding a solution for an online database implementation; planning the SASOD film festival ; and testing, monitoring, checking on two projects .. one more intense than the other...
The CVs are merged not very well here.
Some of this paid, some unpaid; some erotic.. some far from it.
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