CI. Contradiction Nation -

As I walked into the office/play-pen area, yes, there was a ping pong table that people were actually using, the editor did not so much ask me, but rather told me, “This is your dream.”

No, pretentious sir, this is not my dream. My dream was the Ivy and dream fulfilled, so quit it with the antics.
The degradation by this interviewer was so palpable, I felt as though we were playing a game of whack-a-mole and I was the one developing strategic escape routes while he held the mallet mid-air.

America prides itself on it’s liberal facade and non-judgmental attitude towards the perpetual new generational instinct that is “expression.”

Our nation prides itself on not having the youth decide their career aspirations early on in their academic life, perhaps prior to high school, because that would be oppressive. The idea of “well roundness” is justification for an education that is mediocre and not specialized in a couple of disciplines.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that, is the formula for success in our neck of the woods.

I have lived by this idea and have sworn by this idea . I would even stare down the bridge of my nose at the horrendous dis-credibility of rote memorization used in schools abroad.
Truth is, I always thought rote memorization was an effective method. Many a time I had wished American schools were not so focused on some abstract concept of progressiveness that makes the way foreign schools operate, schools that my own father attended, seem out of date and ‘old school’.

Since when did work become a play pen? Since when did a work environment have napping rooms? Why do we need to alter the workplace in such a way that serves no other purpose than to  supposedly modernize and attract the newly-graduated youth?

The truth is, I applied for a completely different field of journalism in this company and yet they contacted me for something I didn’t apply for: science. I have never seen a science-y person. The closest people in my life, my parents, can attest to my humanities-driven speech and thinking.

I talk politics - in fact, a large part of my college career was in political science. Perhaps I should have stayed an extra semester and received a triple major for legitimacy sake. Yes, that was sarcasm.
Ironically enough, the American educational system always emphasized the greater good of learning, or absorbing knowledge, quality, as opposed to having degrees collected in quantity = Contradiction Nation.

Why did those people feel the need to compartmentalize me into science based on my resume? My major was in history and sociology of a specific form of science. I never claimed to have worked in NASA so I’m unclear as to why I am being quizzed on space.

I was under the impression, as an American, that I was still young enough to explore and steer my life in the direction that I want to.
The good people who I had met yesterday. beg to differ.

They presumed that I was some sort of scientist who had no qualms about playing Trivia Pursuit: Every Type of Science Edition.

We’re living in a contradiction nation; I believe this context may very well be the direct cause of the start-up phenomenon. If someone, for whatever reason, cannot fit the mold, then individuals are forced to create a new mold first ,and only then attempt to break-down the walls and pull out the weeds that are in the way.

We’re working against walls.

This is a contradiction nation and I’m just living it, not partaking in it.