Every single craft has been paying “The Passion Tax” for generations. This term (coined by author and organizational psychologist Adam Grant) — and backed by scientific research — simply states that the more someone is passionate about their work, the more acceptable it is to take advantage of them. In short, loving what we do makes us easy to exploit.
If the phrase “vocational awe” isn’t part of your lexicon yet, stop scrolling and read Fobazi Ettarh:
Vocational awe describes the set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in notions that libraries as institutions are inherently good, sacred notions, and therefore beyond critique. I argue that the concept of vocational awe directly correlates to problems within librarianship like burnout and low salary. This article aims to describe the phenomenon and its effects on library philosophies and practices so that they may be recognized and deconstructed.
I see it in every field I’ve ever worked in: publishing, open source software development, higher education. It describes pretty much every industry that relies on creativity, altruism, or both.
the inverse of this is why defense contractors have such great compensation and benefits
This is Thelockpickinglaywer and what I have for you today is something very interesting. As you can tell by the agonizing screams of the damned, I have recently left the mortal coil and, upon arriving at my destination, was informed that I did not qualify for residence. I was taken by an angel of the Lord to the mouth of Hell, and when the angel left, he closed this rather large red door and sealed it with a divine key. Although I’ve never seen this particular model of lock before, I’ve spent some time investigating the cylinder with this small shard of bone. By sticking it in the back of the keyway and slowly pulling it out, I can tell that this is a five-pin tumbler lock, that can easily be single-pin picked using this shed demon scale as a tensioner tool. Let’s try that right now. Alright, nothing on one. Nothing on two. Three is binding firmly, click out of that. Nothing on four. Five is binding, little click there, back to one. Once again, nothing. Two is binding, and we’ve dropped into a false set. Little click out of three. Nothing on four. Little click on one, counter-rotation on two, and we got this open. Okay folks, I think the main takeaway here is that no matter how much faith you place in a mechanism designed to ensure your safety, be it spiritual or physical, there is always a state in which it can fail. In any case, thank you for watching. Memento mori, and I’ll see you next time.
This is basically what my physical therapist had me do for my back problems last year and it helped with the pain so much! Also walk for at least thirty minutes a day, even if it’s just in small chunks throughout the day.
This quest for joy is much more meaningful and motivating than the shame and guilt other cleaning gurus.
Marie kondo makes me so happy because she pays attention to the reasons of mess, shame, guilt, hopelessness, and addresses them!
None of this wandering into someone’s house and assuming they shat out the mess because they’re a dumb fuck who hates being clean and they’re dirty and gross because they hate society and order, but it’s ok bc we can FIX It and they will be normal again haha.
Like honestly, Marie “I love mess” Kondo is a breath of fresh air, after watching “experts” ask struggling human beings “why they are so stubborn?” , and “when did you last use this?” so often that all I felt when I tried to clean was upset and panicked.
This is much better and she is a nice lady.
Her “tidying up” is not get rid of everything but instead - you have more stuff than you have space, lets see IF we can get rid of anything but let’s also show you ways to fit more stuff in your space in a way that you can use it better
it’s not - your shelves should be bare of all but one item, it’s lets use lots of boxes so things are organised and put them on the shelves instead, so they’re neatly kept and you can find them and not have to buy new the instant you realise yes you did need it
Her method is focused on asking yourself WHY you have these things. Sentimental band tee shirt that doesn’t fit anymore? Keep it! It sparks joy! Collection of sentimental band tee shirts that’s become a sink hole of stuff you never use or even remember you have? Keep the ones that still make you light up inside, but ditch the rest because they’re not serving you. There’s a whole chunk of her book about things like “you hold onto things that are not you because you have this idea of who you should be. Let it and the symbols of it go.” Throw out those “how to make cheese” books bc you are not a cheese maker and seeing them makes you feel guilty and bad about never actually pursuing your cheese making fancy. BUT! if seeing these books reinvigorates your interest in making cheese, put these books somewhere more visible so you remember you want to learn to make cheese.
I know “it sparks joy” became a meme and therefor its meaning was diluted, but that’s what her method boils down to: filling your space with things that make you happy, and making it easier to access those things and that happiness. it’s not about adherence to some minimalist fashion. It’s about making your space serve you and your pursuit of happiness.
““Mother,” I slowly repeated in Korean. “I am not a boy. I am a girl. I am transgender.” My face reddened, and tears blurred my vision. I braced myself for her rejection and the end to a relationship that had only begun. Silence again filled the room. I searched my mother’s eyes for any signs of shock, disgust or sadness. But a serene expression lined her face as she sat with ease on the couch. I started to worry that my words had been lost in translation. Then my mother began to speak. “Mommy knew,” she said calmly through my friend, who looked just as dumbfounded as I was by her response. “I was waiting for you to tell me.” “What? How?” “Birth dream,” my mother replied. In Korea some pregnant women still believe that dreams offer a hint about the gender of their unborn child. “I had dreams for each of your siblings, but I had no dream for you. Your gender was always a mystery to me.” I wanted to reply but didn’t know where to begin. My mother instead continued to speak for both of us. “Hyun-gi,” she said, stroking my head. “You are beautiful and precious. I thought I gave birth to a son, but it is OK. I have a daughter instead.””
When I worked in retail, there was this one time I was on the floor when a middle-aged couple approached me. They asked if we sold Hanukkah candles - I remembered we did have a Hanukkah section, so I took them over. But when we arrived, all the normal candles were gone, and all we had left were tiny things the size of birthday candles.
I apologized but they cut me off, saying “No no no, this is perfect, actually!”
See, it turns out that it was their baby grandson’s first Hanukkah, and his mother had bought a tiny, baby-sized menorah to sit next to their usual one just for the occasion. And everyone was having trouble finding the right-sized candles until today.
And honestly to this day I’m just losing it over tiny baby menorah.
Since this post I have had several Jewish friends and followers tell me that their families also had baby menorahs for a first Hanukkah and that is just great.
ALT
