Day 219 -- are we fooling ourselves or buying into a myth?

I had three meetings today to deal with three different issues of business -- research, program admin and professional practice. Each went well and I did enjoy the tasks and discussions involved. It did mean that little else on that infamous 'to do' list other than the meetings occurred. It does appear that some of vacation will involve working from home, again. This happens each year, but moreso in the past couple of years for various work reasons. Not the end of the world, but a bit disappointing.

So why does this keep happening? There may be more work than fits the available non-sleeping hours, but why do I not recognize that? Why am I continually expecting something else to occur? This reminds me of the definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results <smile>. Now much of my research interest lies in the impact of mass media on our daily lives -- not just what foods we choose, but the attitudes, beliefs and values instilled in us by marketing gurus. Even when one knows the techniques used to play with our psyches, one is not immune. If it were only so. I feel that some of my expectations of fitting everything into a usual work day lie in the myth of being able to 'do it all'. This plays out with both men and women, but the twists to this for women are particularly sad. We are led to believe that women can run a household, hold down an executive position and be a  wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend -- and complete all roles to perfection. If I've seen one ray of hope as an educator, it is that the young women in classes are not prepared to give up everything for a job -- they are adamant that there will be a work-life balance. We never talked about such things at their age. I do hope they find a way to balance things better than the baby boomers have been able to do.

So -- the song for today has two lines that spoke to me. One -- "I'll get up and do it again" reflects the sameness and routine of it all and Two -- ""the ads take aim and lay their claim" notes that it is far from an internally produced issue. This live version of the song has several wonderful artists on stage together. Enjoy!

The Pretender -- Jackson Browne with Crosby, Stills and Nash