Introduction

As it turns out, setting up a blog takes less time than for a tea kettle to boil water.

In other news, hi! On the recommendation of my other half, I've decided to get myself writing again by starting this blog. I just graduated this past May from a small liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with a degree in International Studies (Human Rights NGO Administration). I've spent the summer applying to jobs while still living in my parents' home outside of Philadelphia. As of this moment, I am quite unemployed, and I'm finding a need to remind myself why I chose my career path in the first place.

You see, I'm not completely incapable of finding a job. Just recently, I was offered a corporate job with great benefits in Washington, D.C. The base salary would be higher than anything I'd be making at a non-profit at this point in my career, and there would be quarterly bonuses. The job would allow me to move closer to my boyfriend, to start paying off student loans and even--gasp!--save some money, and to otherwise start the next chapter of my adult life.

But I turned it down. I wasn't passionate about the corporation or its work. A place that generates too much money and too little social change is not a place where I can earnestly make a career. Of course I could do the job, but it would lack the heart that's so present in my academics and volunteer work. And I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I have a safe roof over my head while I continue to look for jobs that will excite and challenge me. I do not take that for granted, and so I'm starting this blog to keep my writing sharp and study issues that I'm passionate about while I continue my applications.

You can call me naive (perhaps), liberal (definitely), or anything else you like, but I decided a long time ago that I wanted to go in a different direction. And though I'm attempting to convince myself and my readers alike of this fact, I'm hoping this blog brings me a bit more confidence, a bit more practice in writing/editing, and a bit of an adventure.

-Caroline