“So what are you going to do with your English degree? Teach? High school, middle or elementary?”
This question more often than not is directed towards those of us in the diminishing population of English majors at the higher education level of college, let alone is there a pause in between all of those questions for the person being asked to answer any of them.
Trust me, it’s not easy at all being the person that decided to take the risk of an unreliable work source, but still being put into the box of teaching because it is the only “safe” option to go with as an English major is so exhausting to hear from every corner of the Earth. Teaching in our society is considered a more practical, or “real” job compared to being a writer, playwright, or even a journalist. Maybe being an English major is a pipe dream to everyone who isn’t inside of the program, yet we’re still there just trying our best to strive just like any other major. We study what we want to because it is what we love, and by becoming experts in the subject, you would think that that would be enough to land your dream job, but alas our world does not work that way.
After meeting the Poet Laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, at his lecture during the book-signing portion, our short, but powerful interaction gave me the hope and courage to continue on the path that I know I want to take, English degree or not. He told me to write a poem about what a “real job” constitutes to me, and how to celebrate them, even though I don’t want to take that path. Of course what I would like to do is not by the most conventional path of any means, but that is because I don’t want to be someone who fades into the background of society as a normal member of it. I don’t want to be exactly at the forefront either, but definitely not blended in.
Here is that inspired poem:
“Being Real About ‘Real’ Jobs”
What is a “real job?”
Is it something we can touch?
Does it have to involve only physical, heavy labor?
Is it all about just making money,
For ourselves and the companies we work for?
Most will say yes,
But that limits a lot of other areas for our true potential. Do we get “real” jobs as part of our values
That we hold up in our lives,
Or do we only do it just so we can show off
Our expensive, empty, and lifeless possessions
That we hold in our living hands?
A real job is what supports you To keep on breathing,
Moving,
Breathing,
Day after day,
Doing the same thing,
The same routine,
All for paper that we hold tons of meaning to,
While we still don’t make the tons we have always wished for.
Does that make anything “real?”
Creating, making, shaping, forming,
These are things that we all do,
Whether it’s for our children,
Or our work,
We still do something.
We do what we need to in order to survive,
But does that mean compromising on a “real” job,
Or what you want to really do as a career?
As kids, we are encouraged to be as free and imaginative as we want, But as adults, we frown upon those jobs that are creative
Because do they really pay the bills?
No matter what society replies when you say,
“I’m an artist/non-conventional/alternative,”
There is still worth in art, music, literature,
Movies, television, and fashion.
Would you rather have a 9-5 everyday
For the rest of your life,
Or have your work outlive you instead
And inspire your grandchildren,
Your community,
Or even strangers?
All jobs should be “real” jobs because if they weren’t,
Then what’s really real?
