Nov. 7, 2008

Despite the economic downturn, or perhaps because of it, some people are getting new jobs – Barack Obama, for one, Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel for some others,….and me, too, for some of the same reasons. It’s widely thought that the current desperate financial situation contributed to President-elect Obama’s success, and it also contributed to my search for employment. I need something a bit more reliable than sales at craft shows. 

So, I applied and just got hired for a part-time job at the ski resort a quarter of a mile from our house. The job is in the Sports Center, where I’ll be handing out towels, selling cross-country ski tickets, and serving beer and wine to parents relaxing while their kids swim in the pool. . I am quite thrilled to have the job, not just for the money (which, truthfully, is not very much), but because it’s a way to get to know more people up here on the mountain, and because I can ski up to the Sports Center in about 10-15 minutes, and ski back down to my house in about 5. A job that can be skied to? What could be more idyllic? And the job lasts only for the winter season, mid-December through early April, exactly the opposite of my busy show season. 

I’ve also lined up a couple more teaching workshops I’ll be giving in ’09 – so I’ll be teaching katazome at Frog Hollow in Middlebury in March, at Brookfield Craft Center in Connecticut in June, and again at FletcherSchool in Ludlow in August. I really did enjoy teaching this past summer and look forward to polishing up the class and giving it again.

Since this entry has been about my own obscure and unimportant life in this week of political and cultural enormity, I  may as well end on a superficial note: Hurray for Michelle Obama and her unusual arty clothes! What fun to have a First Lady who doesn’t look like a Stepford Wife! (But really, what was that black and red dress she wore on election night?)