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Archive for the 'Manifestos' Category

some good news, some bad news

Published
by
admin
on September 3, 2009
in Buzzwords and Manifestos
. 0 Comments

Today’s USA Today has an article about women in the workplace. Among the positive news:

  • Women now hold 49.83 percent of jobs in America.
  • They are earning more jobs in the fast-growing sectors of the economy like health care and education.

Now, for the bad news!

  • Women still earn 77 percent what men earn for the same jobs.
  • On average, women still work fewer hours and are more likely to hold part-time positions that lack benefits.
  • There are still people who believe that the man should be the breadwinner.
  • The words “man-cession” and “he-cession” continue to exist.

recession depression is womens’ fault

Published
by
admin
on August 3, 2009
in Manifestos
. 1 Comment

The US News & World Report is obviously trying to get on my bad side today. First they start off by announcing that the recession - or, “he-cession,” is affecting male “breadwinners” more than any other group. The depression and unhappiness that men face after being laid off isn’t just the result of losing their jobs, though - it’s the fault of their wives. Thankfully, the article has some “helpful” tips for those women who are totally harshing their husbands’ buzzes:

  • Support him. Forget about the fact that your job might have become more stressful or that you might be worried about losing it as well - just make sure your man is happy!
  • Offer “physical support.” In case you can’t read between the lines, this means “have sex.”
  • Encourage him. Even though you want to be a responsible adult and talk about what your options are regarding unemployment checks or trimming the family budget, if you ask about it you will be “prying.” So just devote more time to reassuring your husband that he’s wonderful and special.

You can read the full barftastic article here.

paula abdul and workplace inequality

Published
by
admin
on July 28, 2009
in Manifestos
. 0 Comments

When last season of American Idol added fourth judge Kara DioGuardi, many speculated that Kara’s addition was a potential test to see if she could replace Paula Abdul in case Paula decided to leave the show (because a woman can only replace another woman, obviously). Now, Paula’s embroiled in difficult contract negotiations that leave her status on the show uncertain. Her manager has complained to the press that Paula is being lowballed - she makes far less than fellow judge Simon Cowell and host Ryan Seacrest, and she’s holding out for more money.

As an avid Idol fan, I could go two ways with this. One is that Ryan and Simon both provide more value to the show than she does - Simon’s also a producer and helped create the show, and while it seems like hosting a reality show is easy, compare Ryan with a lesser TV host and you’ll see how talented he is at moving the show along and smoothing transitions. Ryan’s the only host, but Paula is one of three - or four - judges. Besides, her commentary is often rambling or irrelevant - do we really care that you like someone’s personality or outfit when they can’t freaking sing? Part of me thinks she should be grateful to Idol for resurrecting her career and making her a pop culture icon. After all, would she have had her reality show, jewelry line, endorsement deals, or other side gigs if she hadn’t made her Idol-fueled comeback? I doubt it.

On the other hand, there’s the Randy Jackson factor.

Continue reading ‘paula abdul and workplace inequality’

author finds success, assistant

Published
by
admin
on June 15, 2009
in Manifestos
. 0 Comments

As a writer myself, I am a sucker for a good “writer works for long time in obscurity and finally hits the big time” story a la J.K. Rowling. The newest addition to this class is Charlaine Harris, who wrote the “Sookie Stackhouse” series of books that were turned into HBO’s red-hot vampire series True Blood (which stars the lovely Anna Paquin as Sookie). In time for the second season premiere, the New York Times has a profile of Harris. In the obligatory “how she’s changed now that she’s famous!” section of the profile, the Times lists some of Harris’ new status symbols, which include a personal assistant (Harris’ longtime best friend).

While I get the Times’ point, which is that becoming famous and successful and busy often means that a person needs to hire an assistant to make sure all the work gets done, I don’t like the implication that an assistant is just another fancy object like a car or a hot tub. Statements like these lead to faceless assistant entourages (where they don’t have jobs other than standing around and making the celebrity feel/look important) or assistants working for people who don’t bother to remember their names and discard them as quickly as a day-old newspaper. It’s the same problem when glossy magazines write “trend” pieces about celebrity babies, treating the kids like accessories or pets with cute outfits rather than people.

So can we please stop listing an assistant as an outward sign of wealth and status? It’d go a long way toward helping change the way assistants are viewed in our culture - we’re people, not props.

awesome reader comment of the day

Published
by
admin
on June 2, 2009
in Manifestos
. 2 Comments

STA reader Missy left such a funny - and truthful - comment on this morning’s Julia Allison intern post that I decided to make the comment its own post:

I find it odd that you Americans hire “assistants” to both pick up dog crap and write articles or work in media.

Whats wrong with you people? I didnt know about this Julia witch, I live at the other side of the world, but reading her stupid NON-BLOG (its not a blog because it does not allow comments, therefore, its just website) I see she’s serious about having an intern with those characteristics.

Im still in awe when I read “FYI: A Non Society intern works with Julia, Mary and Meghan on both a personal and professional level. That means, one day you might be picking up dog for food Lilly and Mason, and the next you’re researching great date spots or the newest gadget.”

what??? I have never heard about internship for taking care of dogs, while being a College student, or a fresh new graduate! Whats wrong with these people?

And what the hell of all! why does she need an intern anyway? She’s just an Internet whore, come on!

Sing it, sister. To be honest, not all Americans do this, but there are plenty of power-mad, selfish jerks out there who seem to think it’s appropriate to make their employees wait on them hand and foot. Ideally, intern and assistant jobs would be like apprenticeships in relevant fields, but when you have lots of people competing for jobs, it’s a lot easier to make them do grunt work alongside their actual projects. That said, no one should ever have to pick up Julia’s dog’s shit except Julia.

the very belated review: ’swimming with sharks’

Published
by
admin
on May 7, 2009
in Fictional Assistants and Manifestos
. 0 Comments

I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, but after 2+ years of running this site, I had never seen the seminal assistant movie Swimming with Sharks. However, thanks to my brand new Netflix subscription, I finally watched the movie this morning. My initial thoughts (complete with spoilers, so if you haven’t watched it beware) are after the jump.

Continue reading ‘the very belated review: ’swimming with sharks’’

should we take our kids to work?

Published
by
admin
on April 24, 2009
in Manifestos
. 1 Comment

In all the hubbub around Admin Professionals Day, I totally forgot that yesterday was Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Originally planned as a day to introduce girls to the workforce and educate them about career options, some now argue that feminism in the workplace has advanced enough that girls don’t have to be taken into offices to see positive female role models - they’re on TV, at home, and everywhere else.

Brazen Careerist founder Penelope Trunk has a post on her personal blog about how she thinks the day should be be abolished, dismissed as no longer necessary.

This holiday now strikes me as one similar to Secretaries Day, which is a relic from the days when there were no computers and secretaries had thankless jobs and the men who were having sex with them on the side always forgot to thank her in the spotlight for the typing, so there is an official reminder day to buy her a card. That made sense. Twenty years ago.

She makes the valid argument that for many people, there’s no line between work and home anyway, and it seems uneccessary at best and annoying at worst to bring kids into a professional workplace.

Continue reading ’should we take our kids to work?’

would you pay for an internship?

Published
by
admin
on February 3, 2009
in Interns and Manifestos
. 0 Comments

It’s been established that people, especially white people, put up with the menial duties and crappy (read: nonexistent) pay of an internship in exchange for job experience, contacts, and a nice recommendation letter or two. In a dream world, you also get a job offer at the end of your internship, but I don’t think I have ever known anyone who had it work out that way. However, with the economic downturn, many people other than college students are taking on unpaid internships as a way to get their foot in the door at a company. That means that internships have become increasingly competitive, and people are getting desperate. How desperate? So desperate that some applicants - and their parents - are paying for the honor of working for free.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some desperate internship-seekers are ponying up cash so they can have the honor of faxing stuff.

Susan and Raymond Sommer of tiny St. Libory, Ill., were dismayed when their daughter Megan, then a junior at a Kentucky university, asked them to spend $8,000 so she could get an unpaid sports-marketing internship last summer in New York City. Paying to work “was something people don’t do around here,” says Ms. Sommer, a retired concrete-company office worker; her husband, a retired electrical superintendent, objected that if “you work for a company, you should be getting paid.”

Continue reading ‘would you pay for an internship?’

‘atlantic monthly’ offers worst internship ever

Published
by
admin
on December 12, 2008
in Interns and Manifestos
. 0 Comments

Lots of folks who work in the media world (like me!) got their start as interns. I had an internship in college and two more after I graduated, so I definitely spent a lot of time doing grunt work until I landed a position as an assistant, where I at least got paid to do grunt work. Many interns, both in school and out of school, have to work gigs on the side in order to make up for the minimal or nonexistent pay they’re getting at their “get your foot in the door” job.

However, one magazine has really gone above and beyond with its internship requirements. The Atlantic Monthly recently put out this intern ad, which was in turn posted on Gawker:

We are looking to identify 4-6 highly driven, bright, entrepreneurial emerging young professionals who might be interested in an exiting new digital media internship from January through May 2009 at the Atlantic Media Company here in Washington, DC.

I realize you and your peers may be focused on exams and/or the holidays and, for those interested, may already have spring internship placements, but I thought it was still worth sharing this opportunity with you in case you or someone you know might be interested. This last minute request is the result of a unique opportunity to be involved in the creation of several new digital media products that we expect to launch this spring.

Well, hey, that’s not so bad, right? Then they pull out the bomb: the internship is unpaid, and it requires 40 hours of work a week. Seriously? I know media jobs are scarce and lots of work is being outsourced, but who in the world can afford to waste 40 hours a week at an unpaid internship? Are these interns expected to also have time to go to class or work or both? Or is this part of a disturbing trend in journalism where only people who are already wealthy have the chance to get even the least distinguished of media jobs?

I expect Ryan Adams to announce his imminent move to Washington DC and subsequent internship at The Atlantic Monthly, like, any day now.

kanye west is the latest vanity intern

Published
by
admin
on December 4, 2008
in Interns and Manifestos
. 1 Comment

I haven’t used the phrase before, but I am officially dubbing it: the vanity internship. When Sean Avery “interned” at Vogue, it was a lark. When Ryan Adams decided to “intern” at BlackBook, it was an admitted publicity ploy for his new album. But now, it seems like plenty of other celebrities want to get into the game and pretend that they’re just like us regular folk by taking the places of actual regular working folk by getting fake internships and taking assy pictures of themselves holding up cups of coffee to imitate what it must be like to have a job.

Next up in line? Kanye West, who even the New York Times can’t resist calling “the infamously self-assured singer.” West announced that he plans to take a break from his music career to get involved in fashion, and his first step isn’t to design his own line–it’s to intern, preferably for Louis Vuitton or Raf Simons. He claims that interning will help him to understand the design process. I think if he even goes into the office and does anything even close to what a real intern does, the world might implode on itself. It’s nice of Kanye to try and appeal to the commoners, but it insults actual interns, assistants, and people who really did have to pay their dues in their industry of choice to act like any random famous person who doesn’t have a degree or any experience can just waltz on into a plum internship. We all know how this ends: he’s not going to have to actually intern, and then a couple months down the line he’ll launch his own line. Right. Just like all the other fashion interns do.