Who is We?
We are still kicking after more than 10 years. I say “we” but all along I have meant me, myself & I. It has been an up and down ride. Admittedly, when I quit working at my corporate job back in 2012, I didn’t really have a firm idea about where I was heading. I just knew at the time that going to work everyday for an organization that represented many of the things I actually detested, such as making us work on projects that benefited the The Company (in this case Nike, Inc) but were ultimately detrimental to our own community, was smothering me inside. It was not the best decision I could have made financially speaking but the only path forward for me if I wanted to preserve my sense of having any personal integrity.
Attitude?
I believe that many, if not most, working people experience this same internal conflict. We humans evolved to be members of groups in which we all have a voice–a voice that matters to our family, tribe, and community. In the modern workplace, we are basically told to shut up and do what we are told. This may be more true under American capitalism than it is anywhere else in the world. It is probably another reason for all of the unhappiness and dysfunction that we see in the US. A drink, or two, or three, or four sometimes feel like the only way to chase down the awful taste one gets in their mouth after swallowing a full day of humiliation at work. Do I have an attitude? You’re damn right I do and so should you if you are at all paying attention.
I’m not ready to make nice.
And so, I press on, working as a freelance web designer and developer. It is really hard sometimes to keep up with all of the work and then also keep pace with accelerating technological change. I will never become wealthy at this, especially considering I may be replaced by AI bots any week now. But, as you can tell, I am no longer fit for employment, being a trans woman with socialists attitudes and all.
But, good thing because I can be here as long as I am able to build and maintain the web presence organizations who seek to add benefit to our world.
Wendy Emerson, September 2023