CIV. HomeLand -

My first fall season after college was spent traveling everyday. Once Hurricane Sandy hit, however, my workplace was a war zone and so I remained at home.
As a bulk of my duties were based on my personal computer, I was able to complete all of my work.

It is correct for you to assume that work and work-related stress seems to creep it’s way up my existential ladder of priorities.

Working from home, I was comfortable, in the zone, and altogether appreciative to not be traveling miles away, only to do what I was doing at home.

It was not like I was meeting anyone or socializing outside of the office. Instead, I was always on a mad dash to run to the first car of one train, run through a tunnel, bolt to make the first car of yet another train, etc. By the time I re-winded from the day, I would have to go to sleep only to wake up less than 7 hours later to make the hours-long journey the next morning.

I was also appreciative to not have my new maxi skirt ruffled while in the subway; You know, the classic case of having an amazing outfit, or beauty in general, wasted in a dark office with no possible chance of appreciation by the fashion obsessed or possibly a future husband.

Working from home did not seem bad at all!
I was focused, still am, and I get my work done.

I was also reporting on the side; It is important to note that journalism is not based in any one place;The discipline is somewhat equivalent to a passport, or a MetroCard, if you will.

Reporting and conducting interviews never seemed like work to me. Instead, the aforementioned is something that I subconsciously consider a duty and a service to something that is larger than an office.

Growing up, I always thought home-schooling to be a cop-out, given that public and private schools were readily available. I especially felt that during the formative years of grade school through high school, one should socialize with peers from the same generation.

I’m not saying to part-take in every God forsaken American school tradition, like prom.
I’m just saying that it is critical to speak freely about curiosities in an intellectual environment, as opposed to remaining clueless about the truisms of life that are so often shielded by societal preoccupations.

It is healthy for one’s individual development, in a world where there are so many other personalities, to learn about the ugly, the beautiful, and the in-between.

In college, I found that most of the learning was done outside of the classroom, in parallel to being home schooled.
However, at that point of adulthood, it makes sense to focus on one’s self because one is progressing closer and closer to stepping off the cobblestones of campus and onto that concrete-sidewalk filled “real world.”

I was gradually opening up to the idea of charging through life without teachers and living as an independent individual.
When I say independent, I am not referring to independence as defined by those who cannot trace their heritage beyond America, I.e. it is more than normal to live with your parents until marriage.

With this new mindset regarding individual work-environments as indicative of adulthood, until about 5 months ago, I was still oblivious to the idea of working, with or without pay (internship), being based at home.

Having worked an office position in the Fall, I also worked a
“remote position”, meaning  I could be based anywhere as long as I interviewed who I needed to interview, attended whatever event I needed to attend, transcribed, and wrote.
With remote positions, you are essentially communicating with other team members, or in my case, my editor, via e-mail.

This whole concept of a remote position with laptop, digital camera, and flash drives in tow, was foreign to me, a person who was first introduced to those box-like computers in the 4th grade.

In February 2013, Yahoo CEO and president Marisa Mayer made headlines for having banned work-from-home positions. She had made headlines previously for becoming CEO while still in her 30’s and for returning to work a mere fourteen days after giving birth.

Why did she ban work-from-home Yahoo careers?

Some speculate that she is challenging others to live up to her work ethic.

This lady is a character and has some nerve.

The fact that she attests to having pulled exactly “250 all-nighters” while at Google is not testament to anything but a narcissistic need to self-indulge.

Furthermore, the fact that she is quoted as having said that she prioritizes God, family, and Yahoo, in that specific order, is juvenile and wreaks of a pretentious person who is insecure with being a woman.

HomeLand - Conducting internet searches, e-mailing, and typing, can be done at home. That is all that working at home means. Meeting contacts, conducting interviews, and aggregating research all takes place outside of the house.

Marissa Mayer thinks staying in an office is indicative working hard - clearly, she is terribly mistaken.

HomeLand - It’s like Candy Land for the motivated, secure in their walking shoes, 21st century, adult.