Day 8: New Media Content Director

I took some time off over the weekend from writing the blogs seeing how it was Memorial weekend, but I didn't take time off from trying to find a job. I applied to a couple Craigslist ads, but the pinnacle of this weekend was applying for a position with WTOC in Savannah for the position of New Media Content Director. I know, it is a bit of a stretch to think I will get that job, but for the most part, the Savannah area isn't swamped with graphic designers. That could be a benefit or it could be a curse.
I did, however, manage to land a freelance photography gig with a couple who is having a non-traditional wedding. With that gig I am looking to pull 50-100 dollars, but with all freelance gigs, it is not for certain until I am at the event. There is no date set, so I am not putting too much weight into that money.
Speaking of money, I saw an interesting article from The New York Times just a few minutes ago describing the plight of a 26 year old NYU grad who had somehow amassed 97,000 dollars in student loans and now had no way to pay them back. I was feeling quite sympathetic to her dilemma, as I am also a student loan borrower who often struggles with the idea of having to pay these loans back. Granted, I am nowhere near 97,000 dollars in debt, but "tomato, tomatoe." As I read more into the article, the blame shifted from the parents, to the school's financial aid department, to the lending companies for their lax regulations on student loans. I was feeling pretty upset about it until I got to the point where it stated her major, then it all fell into place. She spent 97,000 dollars on a degree in religious and women studies. Suddenly, the blame fell directly onto her, a Ms. Courtney Munna, for not researching her career field. What practical application in today's world could a degree in Religious and Women Studies apply? I decided to research it....
This is a line of text that I found at worldviewlearn.com, "Students who pursue a degree in women's studies learn how social and cultural influences have shaped the lives and roles of women throughout history."
Ok, so far, not sounding promising. That alone would have deterred me from the field altogether, because unless you are looking to be the president of a Woman's Lib operation, which from my understanding is strictly a volunteer basis, this is not the way to go about paying off 97,000 dollars in loans. But, I have to be optimistic and look harder because there has to be something, right?
Ok, I might have found something promising. She could work for any women's organization, global human rights, United States Agency for International Development, or the Peace Corps. Not bad, right? Doesn't seem like she has tried that though, because now she is working as a photographer's assistant. Seems to me like she has piddled her way through college with no concern about what she could apply her studies to and more of a concern on what was "easy" and allowed her to live off the loans until she absolutely had to do something and now that the time has come for action, she is ill-equipped and quite possibly moving toward a whole different direction than what her degree has prepared her for. Perhaps she got tired of the "religion and women motif" she had been groomed for, because nowhere in this career path does it mention anything about photography as a sub-field.
What strikes me as funny though is the picture that comes along with this story. She stands, seemingly confident with a smugly, arrogant look on her face in such a manner as to state, "I didn't do anything wrong, it's not my fault." Well, Ms. Munna, I blatantly disagree. You have decided to pursue a degree of which you were obviously incapable of deriving any practicality from and it isn't the loan issuer's fault, it isn't your parent's fault and it isn't the school's fault for allowing you to make such a bad decision. It is purely your fault for allowing yourself to become another useless degree holder.
Stop whining, stop trying to amass pity for your situation. Look up some of the aforementioned organizations and let go of the ties that hold you to San Francisco if need be. I have no pity for you, and I am sure that no one else who reads this story will. You can't have your cake and eat it too, Ms. Munna, no matter how much you paid for that cake.