I haven’t written a post like this in a while. The last one was in 2016. My work life got fractured, not entirely in a bad way, and harder to describe. I was speaking to a friend this week and mentioned working for the Flickr Foundation, a position I’ve held since 2023, and he asked “How many jobs do you have anyhow?” and I thought I’d spell them out. Both of my parents have died, both had IRAs so some of my income nowadays comes from that, but it’s not work. I made about 25K last year at my various jobs; I had the option to earn more and chose not to. My life is oddly simple in some ways. I was polishing my resume for no real reason except that it’s a new year and I’ve had work on my mind. Here’s an abridged version of the letter that I wrote to my friend about my life of work in 2024.
It’s a great exercise for me to think about the jobs I have. My partner always asks me “OK what are you putting down?” when I tell him I’ve picked up some new little side hustle. Here are the things I do with my time that feel joblike.
1.Flickr Foundation – Community Manager – This is a well-paid consulting gig which is also super part time. The office (which is in London) isn’t really used to fractional OR remote workers so it’s a new thing to adjust to, but the work is worthwhile, helping all the Flickr Commons members use the platform well and inviting new members to join. It’s a dream come true job; I wish it has slightly less admin.
2. Library – Technology lady – This is super part time, poorly paid, walking distance from my house. I am the “computer lady” and hang out on Thursdays to help people with their technology issues. This also gives me some “I actually work in a library” cachet which helps in the world of tech and in the world of writing.
3. Writer – Various – I do poorly paid blogging both for the town of Randolph’s marketing website and also a library computer newsletter. The fun part is that my blog posts sometimes get picked up by the newspaper and I love seeing my name in print.
4. Internet Archive – Qualifying Authority – I work with (not for) the IA as a qualifying authority for people in their print disability program. If you’re anywhere in the world and you can’t read print (for various reasons) you can fill out a Google form and I will review your case and if you qualify, you get access to the entire IA print-disabled scanned collection.
5. MLTSHP – Legal/paperwork – this place is now a fully-owned subsidiary of the Massachusetts Mutual Aid Society (my non-profit) so it’s mostly just being on the steering committee and being the person who can run the place. It’s a great, small community. This is what MeFi could have been. Volunteers pitch in to do coding, run little community-building things, etc.
6. Town of Randolph – Justice of the Peace, Board of Abatement, Board of Civil Authority – this is civic work. Being an elected JP (elected seven times, two-year terms!) means you serve on these town boards. So if people have issues with their property tax or water bill, they get a hearing before us. It’s complicated and time consuming. I am co-chair with a woman who can RUN A MEETING like no one’s business which is great because while I don’t mind doing the paperwork, I am spacey, can never remember people’s names etc. We also run the elections. And I marry people. I did my 34th wedding on Monday. I get paid in candy bars and coffee.
7. Public speaking – This is a thing I used to do as my main income but over the past COVID-y years I’ve wanted to do less and less of it. Travel is a lot less fun. I care about the planet. I still occasionally do this but I’m a bit out of practice and it feels weird and stilted. I am okay with this being mostly in my past but it’s an odd adjustment. A lot of my “social” dreams are about being at library conferences (and I still do some of this locally, just a lot less)
8. Vermont Library Association – Web Team Lead – I help the VLA have an actual presence online and in all the time I’ve been doing it (over 20 years now) there just hasn’t been anyone else who has wanted to take that over. I can’t tell if that’s me being unrealistic about other people’s desires (“No one can replace me!”) or if it’s true. I’m basically the Hawkeye Pierce of the VLA, never come to meetings, treated like a quirky slightly-feral librarian.
9. U of Iowa LIS & National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Advisory Board member – I sit on these boards and help these programs be better. Very infrequent meetings but still… meetings! I mostly enjoy this work, these organizations run very good meetings.
At this point the jobs veer much closer into hobbies. My work on Wikipedia is really mostly a hobby. Social media is a hobby even though I find work there (and my various hats either make me interesting on social media or circumspect). I walk nearly every day with my friend Rachel and her pitbull named Einstein. I have plants I fuss with. I write letters and sort out my stamp collection. I stay clean enough that people don’t complain and fed enough that my brain mostly works. I see Jim as much as I can and Kate a little less than that. I have concerns about getting old this way but I think that may be the human condition.