No Boot Straps

I was listening to NPR the other week and heard someone say, "How can you tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, when there are no bootstraps right now?"

I have no boot straps. I've got plenty of boots - I love wearing boots. But we're talking the proverbial bootstraps here. I've been searching for them for over a year now. I have been on unemployment (and now off). I have submitted dozens of CVs and cover letters. I have been subjected to over a dozen interviews. And even more rejection emails, sometimes letters, or simply nothing at all. Still no bootstraps.

My younger sister Sarah was here visiting with my nephews a few weeks ago. She has no bootstraps either. Well, she kind of has bootstraps. The sort of in between type. You know...not really a "career" job,  but it least it puts gas in her tank. She has been looking for her bootstraps for a shorter time than I have - maybe 4 months. She is a recent graduate of undergraduate studies. I am a not so recent graduate of graduate studies. Neither one of us can seem to find these damn, illustrious boot straps.



Since I have no boot straps, I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. Where can I find them? Will I recognize mine when I see them? Maybe I should just make my own? Why can't I find boot straps?? And what about those that I have found, that I thought could be mine? I didn't even get the chance to try them on and never found out why they wouldn't fit.

I am not an economist nor would I even claim to understand the intricacies of our economy. Or its failure. [Multiple arm loans, people living outside of their means, shady mortgage brokers, shady Wall Street players, greedy high-ranking employees (ahem, CEOs, COOs, over-paid government employees that need to retire (thus freeing up some boot straps), and an assortment of others).]

I am, however, a researcher. I like to study things. Observe them. Learn from them in an effort to make meaningful changes. Yes, my area of research is within public health. However, the means of obtaining data, the methodology, is universal. I even like to play a game when I meet random people...how much data can I collect from a casual conversation with someone by saying as little as possible? It helps keep my interviewing skills honed. I just practiced in the cafeteria of the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum (much to the dismay of my sister and two nephews - see the look on their faces).

We had to share a table with a woman who was eating lunch. I learned a lot about her. How she met her husband, where she grew up, how she came to work for the State Department, that she moves every two years, and never wanted to have children, likes sitting with strangers, and also, believes in destiny. I elicited this information by giving a little of my own, smiling, leaning forward, and furrowing my brow [See photo on the left. Yes, Sarah photo-documented my "interview" if you will...as a means to pass the time during which she and my nephews were bored out of their gourds. On a side note, this random stranger thought perhaps I hadn't found my bootstraps yet because the ones I had been looking at were not my destiny...merely practice to help me find the real bootstraps].

My point in all of this...perhaps my bootstraps are just this. To be an interviewer you ask? To be an interrogator? Perhaps a spy? No, silly. To document what all of us [us implying "us" jobless folks that would like a job] are experiencing. To see what is different about being unemployed [and seeking employment] in today's society. My gut tells me it is very different than in previous decades. Not to diminish the experiences of people in years past. It was most certainly a difficult time. But let's add in the Internet, email, completely web-based processes, social media, social networking, and on and on an on.

I must acknowledge that I am lucky to have it relatively easy...I know that. My quest for work is out of my desire to do something positive in the world. Not because my family is hungry. I hope I am not making light of this for people who are desperately seeking work.

So with that said.... Anyone unemployed? Want to talk? Be interviewed about your experiences? Tell me your story. I'm all ears....can't promise this will help you find your bootstraps (or mine for that matter) but perhaps it will help us reflect, learn, or at the very least, vent.

Anna Marie