Flipping Burgers, Good or Bad, Can't Have It Both Ways

I won't stick myself in the middle of any "political debates", but I will say something about unemployment.  I totally agree that there are a lack of good jobs, to an extent.  I will also agree that people who are unemployed could SOMETIMES look a little harder for work than they do.  However, my generation grew up our whole lives with our parents and their friends, our grandparents and their friends, people you'd never even met before, everyone, telling us that we had to go to college so we wouldn't have to work "flipping burgers" or doing the hard manual labor jobs they did.  First, college isn't for everyone; it's just not.  Second, that philosophy and way of thinking is putting a negative connotation on manual labor, and that's a horrible thing to do; I personally have a lot of respect for people who do actual hard work everyday.  Just to be clear, I'm not one of them.  Now, all that to say this: when I see or hear someone my age that kind find a job and then hear someone older suggest that "McDonald's is always hiring", I'm really conflicted. 

 

Part of me wants to agree that a crappy job that pays less than you want is better than not having a job and making nothing.  On the other hand, I want to explain that the person you just suggested that to spent their entire life growing up with people telling them spend four - or more - extra years in school so they wouldn't have to take that kind of job, and now it's being flipped back around on them! 

 

Also, with this trend of pushing everyone who has any opportunity at all to go to college to attend, there has, obviously, been an increase in the number of people qualified for a certain jobs.  According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there has been large increase in the number of people enrolling in college, 21 million in 2010 up from 10.6 million between 1983 and 1985.  That means there are more people qualified for higher paying jobs than there were thirty years ago.  Yes, there are more jobs than there were then - I would imagine, albeit I didn't look up any statistics on that, I'm just ceding the devil's advocate point before it's even presented; however, are those jobs the ones for which we all went in debt and spent all those extra years in a classroom?  I don't think they are.  The competition for those jobs is much higher now than it has been in the past. 

 

I got curious and decided to look up some specifics on a particular field, and the medical field is one that is popular locally.  For example, the Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee was established as a way of trying to advise the nation on how many doctors we actually need in the US numbers were growing so fast.  In 1980, there were right at 460,000 physicians in the US.  There were more than 780,000 twenty years later in 2000.  That's big increase in a number of qualified applicants for a position.  NOW, on the other side of the argument, GMENAC actually found that it wasn't a saturation of the field, but that we might actually be facing a shortage, having only 276 physicians per 1,000 citizens. 

 

My point is still proven that the number of people attending school and being educated for “better” jobs has grown significantly - not just in the medical field, others as well - making it much more competitive to find a "good" job.  So, the next you think about telling the recent college graduate or twenty-something that they're lazy or should just go "flip some burgers" if he can't find anything else, remember that he or she was probably, well, brainwashed is a good word for it, to believe they shouldn't have to take those demeaning jobs.  

TMNT by IDW

It's no secret that I am a big, big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan.  I started with the cartoons with I was a kid, moved into the movies as they were released, and now, I'm reading the comics.

Of course, my interest in the characters and story goes much deeper than that.  I own all the usual toys a kid would own: action figures and such.  My collection over the years has grown way beyond that, though.  It now includes everything from house shoes to mugs and trading cards to radios.  This blog isn't about my collection, though.  It's about the newly rebooted TMNT comic series by IDW.  

The story has been told and retold.  The story from the original comic series by Eastman and Laird was the source material for the cartoon series, but the writers of the show played with the lore a little.  Then, when the first film was released, it played a mix of the original comic series and the ongoing TV show, but made things more grounded and gritty.  

This new series is definitely more on the side of realistic.  We're being introduced to new characters, old characters in new roles, hint drops at things to come, twists on character origins, etc.  The best thing is: I love all of the twists that are being thrown at us.  They are very clever.  It's not like the writers are going out of their way to make things different; the story just works SO well the way they're putting it together.  

So, if you haven't read any of these, yet, pick one up ASAP.  The series is only up to issue six at this point.  You're not too far behind.  It's the only comic I buy that I can't wait until next month to get my hands on the next issue.  

Silent, Sobering, Somber

The following is my account of visiting the site of the attacks on September 11, 2001.  I was in New York in late summer, 2008.  

On a recent trip to New York, I visited most of the tourist attractions that everyone does when they're in the city: The Empire State Building, 5^th Avenue, Times Square, etc.  I enjoyed the lights, the commotion and the general fast paced mode into which all the locals seemed to be locked.  I rode the subway, took my first cab ride, spoke to many people that didn't speak my language very well, got lost, looked stupid and still managed to have a good time. 

            Despite all of the things I saw and did, one thing will stand out in my mind forever.  In a part of the city away from the bright lights and the noise, is a place that packs an emotional force like no other I've ever visited.  It was once the sight of the center of trade for the entire country, the entire world.  It is now a memorial.  A place all Americans know as Ground Zero. 

            On September 11, 2001, the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor was put in motion.  Everyone remembers where they were, what they were doing and how menial any task set for the day became.  I was in school, and it was a day like no other I've ever experienced.  The feelings I had at the time bear no weight in comparison to what I felt looking at the site of what once had been the World Trade Center. 

            I was there late at night, long after the crowds of the day had moved through.  There were no people talking, no car horns blaring, no music playing.  There was nothing but the distant hum of machinery working to rebuild the destroyed foundation and the weight of an event so terrible, that despite the fact I had to personal connection to anyone directly involved, it still brings tears almost seven years later. 

            The group I was with all felt the same I believe, standing there looking up at the plaques that contained the names of all those lives that had been lost.  To look over name after name after name and wonder what it was like to be in the city the day it was taken over by a cloud of dust and debris.  To be able to look both directions and see nothing either way is a devastating thought.

            I can't drag from the recesses of my mind what it was like to sit and watch those tragic events unfold on TV, and there is no way I could ever imagine what it was like to be able to look up and see them happening right in front of you.  A place you called home, where you should feel safe, had just been changed forever.  I can't put in to words what it was like to stand there and look out over the rebuilding process.  Illuminated by spotlights, surrounded by noise, and yet still so peaceful, it was a place like no other I've ever been.  It felt as though one could still here every one of the victims of that day cry out. 

            We only spent a short time at the site, staring through the chain link fence that surrounded the construction, but it felt like much longer.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt a similar sensation by just visiting a specific location.  Arlington National Cemetery, Civil War battlefields, locations that were once the site of some violent act, none of them have ever had an impact on my emotions as did this once bustling location. 

A true musical artist captured the thoughts of the entire country in a song he released late in 2001.  Alan Jackson asked "where were you when the world stopped turning?"  During a late April evening in 2008, the world didn't stop turning for me, but something definitely made it slow its pace and made me wonder…how do we get back?  

Happy 27th Birthday...to me!

Today, I am twenty-seven.  I can't really believe it.  Time has passed so quickly over the last few years.  I'm only three years away from thirty, and that seems like such a big deal...in a way.  At the same time, I don't see why people make such a big noise when it comes to getting older.  I mean it's all part of it, right?  

I have come to the realization that I am the bachelor out of my group of friends.  Don't get me wrong, there are other friends of mine that are single, but I'm really the bachelor.  I DJ, play music (the drums of all things), plan concerts, work a day job at a video game store, own a motorcycle and generally act and spend money like I don't have anyone to support other than myself.  Mainly, it's because I don't.  A lot of people younger than me are married, and I'm more than happy for those of my friends who are; however, I can't imagine myself in that position.  A lot people say that it's because I haven't met that one person that is going to make me think that way, but I'm not completely on board with that theory.  I digress...

Despite the fact that I still live like a very single guy for the most part, I find that in comparison other people my age in the same situation, I'm much more mature than they are.  I spend a lot of money on non-necessities, but I make sure I pay all the things I have to pay first, put part of my check in my savings account payday...so on and so on...  I have realized that thirty isn't nearly as "grown-up" as I once believed it to be.  Watching how myself and my friends still act (married or not) we still tell the same kinds of jokes, laugh at the same kinds of things, geek out about stuff, want to go to theme parks, stay up too late and generally act like we're still kids a lot of the time.  The best part: I THINK THAT'S TOTALLY OK!  I shouldn't want to grow up so fast.  I don't! 

So, being twenty-seven, I have started to think about the things I want to do with my life.  I have made a sort of "bucket list".  Most of the things on my list are very attainable.  It really started as a list of things I wanted to do this summer.  It's grown beyond that point, though.  I have accomplished several of those things.  I'm still working on several as well.  I don't have any long term plans, and I don't have any idea about a career.  I do know how I want to be remembered and what I want to accomplish in my personal life.  I don't have any idea "what I want to be", but I'm really not all that worried about it.  I know WHO I want to be, and I think that's a lot more important. 

Book Rewview - Season of Rot by Eric S. Brown

It’s not often I read a book that I enjoy so much I want to review it; so, when I take the time to actually write about one, it’s one I really liked.  I often pick up novels and it takes me some time to get through them.  I don’t sit down and read a novel in one day, except on extremely rare occasions.  I will usually spread a large book out over a few weeks.  So, what I often find myself reading are magazine articles, short story anthologies or other collections of short works. 

With all of the time I spend with this type of writing, I had never read a novella before this collection of five novellas.  I really, really like the short form of this style, but at the same time, it sparks the one complaint I have about the stories: they get me hooked and then end too quickly.  Each of the stories in this collection could have been drawn out to fill an entire novel; however, I make this claim as a reader, not the author.  It’s very possible that if drawn into a full novel, each story would’ve become cluttered and not been nearly as well written. 

This is the first time (to my knowledge) that I have read Brown’s work.  He is a very creative writer, and his ideas are really what keep the stories going.  He writes dialog that sounds very natural, flows easily and captures his characters well.  He doesn’t spend too much time on details – these are novellas after all – though he gives you plenty of description to build the scenes, places and people in your mind. 

He uses lots of “to be” verbs which make the actions of his characters lack description they could easily have, but this is a fault of a lot of writers.  It could also say something about this concern in general.  It didn’t bother me at all that he used “is” more frequently than most college professors would suggest or allow.  Maybe this isn’t as big of an issue as one might think. 

I am a huge fan of post-apocalyptic fiction whether it be in movies, books or other media.  I don’t really care what the reason for the apocalypse turns out to be; instead, I just get really wrapped into the survival story that comes afterward.  I like to see people taken back to having to survive by their own means without modern conveniences.  Brown creates this world very effectively. 

Each of the five stories revolves around a zombie apocalypse event.   I am also a big fan of zombies.  That’s why I purchased the book in the first place.  Brown does something different with each story that makes it a little less predictable than the normal zombie tales.  Each story has some element that makes it unique. 

In the first story of the collection “Season of Rot”, we get a group of survivors trapped in a hospital with not way to escape.  Running low on provisions, the group is forced to look for escape.  They find help in the form of a lone soldier still able to communicate from his base of operations.  The problem is whether or not they can trust him, and if they’ll have time to decide before the organized undead breach their location.  This is probably my favorite story of the group.  The inclusion of the soldier character that isn’t quite what he first seems to be really made the story for me. 

The next story is “The Queen”.  Here we are introduced to a group of survivors living on a ship named The Queen.  The survivors face a world of zombies that think and act as human as their decaying bodies will allow.  Running from a zombie that’s toting a machine gun and driving a car makes things a little more intense.  The group has to deicide to keep on the move or find a place to settle down.  This story is possibly my least favorite of the five.  I still enjoyed it, but I just didn’t like the idea of the dead being able to use the things they had in life. 

“The Wave” finds some sort of cosmic energy wave making people insane and driving them to crave flesh.  The energy also sets back all of mankind’s technology.  A group of survivors find refuge, but how long will they be able to hold out.  This story puts two apocalyptic ideas into one: the loss of our modern convenience and bloodthirsty group of the undead.

“Dead West” is set a short time after the Civil War, and pits the American army against a much deadlier foe.  The American west has been consumed by a plague that threatens to cross the Mississippi and invade the far more densely populated east coast.  A journalist is sent to report on the progress of the fight against the zombies and finds himself caught up in the fight.  I really like seeing this journalist sent into the midst of battle.  We see that a lot today, but it still seems like an original idea for this piece.  Also, we don’t get many undead westerns; so, that was kind of refreshing, too.  I still couldn’t buy into this story quite as deeply as I did the others though. 

The last story in the group is by far the most original.  “Rats” is a different kind of zombie story.  The story involves demons and a war being fought all around the survivors making their way to what they hope is a safe haven amongst the madness.  The walking dead in this story are simply pawns in the war.  The perils the group faces outside seem to be a distant memory once they reach their destination, but how long can the safest place on earth remain safe?  I think this is by far the most creative story, and I really think this one could have made it into a full length novel.  The ideas and story Brown puts into place here are just so original.  I really enjoyed this one. 

All in all, I would completely recommend picking this up if you’re a fan of zombie or post-apocalyptic fiction.  Brown is a great talent, and he has a lot of other work out there I’ll probably be looking into myself.  Each of the stories is worth a read, and as a collection they’re really worth picking up.