So, the travel section isn’t ready yet, like I wrote in the previous post but I’m working on it.

Today isn’t one of those days when writing comes easily. I had two cups of coffee, read two newspapers, and visited facebook more times than I’d like to admit before I typed anything to the blank document. I hate days like this and I almost gave in to my overwhelming desire to watch another season of Lost. But now that I have edited some work, wrote a few inquiries to interesting publications, and submitted poetry to an online review, I feel for the tfirst time in a while, satisfied with my progress. Hooray for preserverance.

On our way home from camping at Ice House Resevoir, my family and I stopped in Placerville for lunch. My mom also convinced me to do a tarot reading, because, you know, “You’re so lost and confused anyway, anything could help.” My mom had a point so I ducked into one of the four shops on Main Street in historic Placerville. This particular psychic was all business. She didn’t dress particularly mystical, opting instead for a blue mumu. We sat in her office, her desk cluttered with invoices, a computer and few books about spiritual healing. But there was no ambiance. No crystals or gems or any type of patch or insignia; she didn’t even give herself a special name. Instead, I was told to call her Cheryl. I cut the deck and the first card she pulled was of a rabit in a wood.

“Do you like to write?”she asked.

I don’t know how a rabit signifies a writer card, but she was right on. I told her I was trying to become a writer with little luck. She responded that all the stars are aligned for me and that I just need to keep writing. Subsequent cards told her all sorts of clues about me that led her to ask poignant questions that were right on. “I see you have two brothers; you’re in a relationship but it’s at a crossroads; do you constantly second-guess yourself?; You’re dying to travel, but you’ll marry a homebody; you should learn to pick your battles; so, your parents divorced when you were 14…” Cheryl, or rather her cards, summed me up in a few minutes, prompting me to ask a bunch of questions about my future. While I was hoping she would say that I would find a job soon, move out of my parent’s house, and start my career by January 1, 2010 (my self-imposed deadline for a life), Cheryl assured me that it would take a lot longer than that. I shouldn’t worry though, eventually I will make a living traveling and writing–how she knew that is my lifelong dream, I have no idea.

Regardless of whether or not Cheryl’s predictions come true, she managed to say everything I needed to hear. Her faith in the future restored my own and my will to keep writing, even if serving coffee for slave wages is more lucrative at the moment. So with that long-winded story, I am announcing my return to this blog with new-found motivation, inspiration, and faith in my future.

Check out the new section, dedicated to my travels in Dakar, Senegal. Most of the writing comes from my journal, though I’ve editied it a bit. Thanks, Cheryl the psychic, for reminding me of the inspiration I felt while traveling and writing.

Though I am looking for paid work, I have come across several unpaid internship opportunities that seemed too juicy to pass up. A few of the positions were exactly the type of work I hope to make a career–in publishing, a literary agency, or a magazine. I interviewed for a few of the positions in order to feel out if there would be employment opportunities after the internship is over. Again, I am willing to work for free to prove myself…up to a point.

At each company, my interviewer admitted that the chance of hiring would be slim–they just didn’t have the resources for an employee but still needed help with their business, hence the need for the intern. Some employers even mentioned that they need a “self-starter,” that they don’t want to “hold anyone’s hand” and that it would be the intern’s responsibility to gain knowledge on the job. Though I agree that the intern should be thirsty for knowledge and bring initiative to the position, if the internship is unpaid at the very least, the company should be offering mentoring, an opportunity to learn on the job. But no. At many of the companies, the overwhelming attitude was that they needed someone low maintenance who could perform tedious, but necessary, aspects of the job. In one particularly outrageous interview, the employer had an air of entitlement as if she expected students and recent grads to beg her to let them work for free for nine months with no chance of being hired and she couldn’t be bothered to teach the intern along the way.

A pointless 1-hour interview, parking ticket, bridge toll, and wounded pride later, I drove home from San Francisco seething and even poorer than when I started out. Fueled by my frustration and exasperation at her lack of respect for struggling interns, I started researching the laws around internships. Can unpaid internships really be legal? Or has the present economy turned young, struggling professionals into indentured servants?

A simple google search returned the maddening results that most unpaid internships are in violation of Federal and California labor and wage laws (with the exception of non-profits and a few other special cases).

Check out some of the enlightening information I found:

• Here is the law outlining the criteria for unpaid interns.
• And now for something in plain English: This blog helped me understand that the common practice of internships are actually in violation of California labor and wage laws.
• This 2007 SFgate article also points out that, more often than not, unpaid internships are illegal.

While internships can be valuable to students and recent grads as they build their resume and explore different career options, interns should also make sure they are getting what they need and their fair share of resources. It seems that almost every company could use an eager, sharp, and recently-educated worker who also comes pretty cheap–it’s time we start knowing we’re worth compensation and demanding our worth.

Check back soon for my personal list of criteria in order for an internship to be worthwhile. I’m all fired up over this issue–maybe because I’ve been cheated out of compensation for quite a bit of quality work!

Today I’m interviewing for an internship with a publishing company in Berkeley. Tommorrow, I have an appointment with a literary agent to discuss a position as an assistant to help organize the San Francisco Writer’s Conference. And a past employer has some potential freelance work for me. All positions probably pay close to nothing, if that, but I get excited about any possibility of work.

In preparing for these interviews I’ve been thinking about ways to portray my eagerness but tempering my desperation. I’ve come up with a few euphemisms* that I think work well for all desperate job seekers out there–especially recent grads.

• “No task is too small…” translates to “I will not only walk your dog; I will pick up its poop.”
• “…but I have a sense of the big picture.” =”While picking up said poop, I’ll be anticipating your coffee desire.”
• “My schedule has recently opened up” translation: “I haven’t changed out of pajamas for as long as I can remember.”
• “I can juggle multiple tasks at once” what is unsaid: “I can handle a pooper scooper and a dry cleaning slip all at once.”

*please take these wise words with a grain of salt. If you need serious interviewing advice, I’d suggest visiting another blog.

The new article I just added is an excerpt of a travel feature I wrote last year for a magazine I created, called “Roam.” The magazine is a literary travel guide, merging practical advice for the young adventurer with the editorial freedom and storytelling that is often lacking from tourism writing. I, along with a few other journalism students, published fifty copies of the inaugural issue and hopefully one day we’ll have the resources to continue it.

O.k. back to job hunting!

At its worst, sending out countless resumes and cover letters is time consuming, frustrating, even soul-sucking. I’ll admit the last term is a bit dramatic. But as I send out wishes and hard work in the form of emails and cover letters to the HR abyss, I can’t help but conjure up visions of the devil at a crossroads. Those are desperate moments.

Luckily, today and yesterday has been job searching at its best; which makes the desperate moments and job-hunting-demons seem completely manageable. As I sit at my kitchen table with my lap top and a delicious summer breeze wafts through open windows, I feel lucky that I am able to think about I really want to do. My job search isn’t about surviving (at least not yet…); but rather about finding fulfillment and satisfaction in a career. I’m forced to visualize my life, explore different options, and ultimately realize my potential–something not everyone has the opportunity to experience.

With  two interviews lined up in the next couple weeks, I’m giving myself a much-deserved break and uploading some of my poetry. It feels good to give some of my attention to creating something. That is, after all, the end-goal. Well that, and making enough money to eat, but “creating something” sounds much more idealistic and I’m in one of those moods.

Check out my work on the “poetry” tab located at the the top of this page. You’ll find a sonnet and a few free-verse poems I wrote for a class at Boston University. Hope you enjoy!

I created this blog to fight the tendency to let cover letters and resumes be the only outlet for my written creativity. Here you’ll find the tales of my job search–the trials, frustrations, and tiny victories– as well as my writing that is wonderfully not pay-check related