A Series of Jobs

1986

My first job was to rent VHS tapes at a grocery store. We kept a rotary file for our customers’ transactions.

Next, real-estate photographer. I shot, processed, and printed the negatives for a hard copy publication. I carried a pager, called clients from a pay phone on the side of the road and used a keymap to navigate around the city.

2024

My car drives itself to work every day where I “guide” 3–6-year-old children in a Montessori classroom.

We use an app to document and photograph activities offering parents real time proof their child was learning that day. As soon as we lift a device to their faces they know to pose and smile which is creepy, so I try and shoot from the hip. God knows the damage we are doing.

I watch teachers set up scenarios with the kids like “You, take this shovel and pretend to dig.” Then report their child had an archeology lesson. Or hey slide down the slide with your arms up and look like your having fun. She then reports they are developing their gross motor skills.

I cant compete with those scenarios and don’t want to. I do like to watch, observe and and hopefully catch a moment where they are genuinely interested and learning, and as a Montessori driven “Gen X Girl” I encourage real analog learning. Physical clocks, thermostats, scales, yard sticks, jam box, headphones, photographs, maps, books. We plant seeds and grow shit. I force them to listen to my music. I will say “Who are we listening to?” They repeat “Bob Dylan, Creedance, Led Zepplin.” Even their parents don’t know song titles or artists, because of their machine driven playlists.

Our “work” has been replaced by machines. We work from home, filter our faces on zoom, or better yet get “work done” on our faces. There is no more work to be done or jobs to do and if we actually have one we are all full of shit because of feeback, AI resumes, and reviews, that have taken our souls away. We are all robots doomed to hand down a future full of lies and deceit.

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