No Thanks, Once Was Enough

No thanks, not interested. I’m standing pat. Yes, when I worked as an applied anthropologist, I had the capability to turn research into exhibits, programs, presentations, and various projects. I enjoyed it, and for many years I expected to return to it. What an optimist.

At some point, I conceded defeat, developed new interests, and realized that what had been my chosen “calling” was no longer something I wanted to pursue.

Currently I work part-time in video. I use a fragment of the skills I developed while working in my “calling”. I had acquired the video skills to produce visual documentation of the communities i worked in. This led to a wide assortment of projects and products all of which were popular, but had concealed research agendas of documenting the life, customs and beliefs of the people I worked with. I could say accompany a group on a Sunday fishing expedition, and record all the enjoyment that the participants had while documenting the techniques they used for catching fish, preparing their catch, and then getting it ready for the family table. The ethnographic study was incorporated into a celebration of domestic culture and tradition.

Not only did I feel it was useful work, but I enjoyed it very much.

But…. I worked much more than nine to five. It was holidays, weekends, and evenings. It was many more hours than the forty I was paid for, and in the end, the government I worked for decided it was disposable. My last weeks before the Folklife Center I had developed were “reinvented” out of existence by “Billy Bob” Clinton were a scramble to secure permanent homes for research materials, artifacts, and the products of years of work.

No thanks, once was enough.

I currently work part-time in video, and I’m satisfied. My evenings and weekends are mine. The people I work for are pleased with me. And the community I work in seems to be appreciative of my efforts. Yes, in a way, I am not the high achiever I once was, but I paid a price for it, and as I’ve said: No thanks, once was enough!