Category Archives: Miscellaneous Mondays

Miscellaneous Mondays: Privacy is a Privilege

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Is Privacy our Right or Our Privilege?
 
 
I do not have the privilege of keeping my personal information private. Granted, I gave away some of that information willingly when I joined the internet social media phenomenon. However, nowadays I am not privileged to make those choices. Did I join facebook and provide email address and personal information to the site? Do I provide personal information to other users on my page? Yes. Nowadays, however, I do not have a choice. How can this be, you ask? Simple. 
 
Scenario:
 
Girl walks into a bar. 
 
“Are you hiring?” The girl asks.
 
“Of course. If you go online to our website and click on the employment tab you will find the link to our application process and once you fill that out and send it in, our hiring manager will review it.” The employee responds.
 
“Can I give you a resume now? Can I speak to the manager in person?” The girl asks.
 
“Um. No. You can only fill it out online. That’s the way the process works.” The employee answers.
 
“Okay. Thank you.” The girl responds.
 
 
Okay, so this may not happen at a bar, per se, but it does and did happen to me quite a few times. Doesn’t it show how industrious I am that I WALK INTO THE ESTABLISHMENT to apply? I mean, wouldn’t you weed out some applicants if you simply had a policy that each and every applicant had to walk in the door to apply? I blame regulation….
 
So, back to my privacy issue. I go online to fill out the application  Short of my social security number (and some applications want even that for “background checks” I am giving out any and all information regarding who I am, who I was, and who I will be. Information on the internet is always there somewhere. They may claim that my privacy is retained and that they won’t use this information in any other way except in the application process but there is still the possibility of information leaks… Never heard of them? Yeah, that’s what I thought. 
 
Identity theft is an issue but I’m not privileged enough to be able to guard my personal information like I guard my valuables. 
 
Not only are there the direct website job applications that ask – and require- personal information but also websites such as Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Linkedin.com etc that you WILLINGLY and PUBLICLY proclaim certain personal information tidbits. Who’s invisible now? 
 
But it’s all worth it, right? To get that job? Figure me this, I have applied to hundreds of jobs (mostly online) and some in person. My information is floating all over the internet like plastic in the ocean. No matter how much I try to clean it up, the ocean is so vast and the particles so small it is an impossible task. The plastic is there FOREVER! What do I have to show for all this eternal lack of privacy? I have several lengthy excel sheets detailing all my efforts trying to find a job. I’ll tell you what I don’t have: a job. 
 
 
 

Miscellaneous Mondays: Meet Your Idol

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Celebrities and Dictators
I recently attended an author event at the local library. The author, Terry Brooks, discussed his latest novels and how he became a writer. Without using the phrase, he talked about “the good old days.” I rather enjoyed his firsthand account of his early encounters with writing/publishing. I have read about 10 pages of his 35 novels. I personally met him and he wrote an encouraging note in my copy of the Sword of Shannara (which I am in the process of reading). I liked meeting a noted author, however I would not sell soul and self to shake his hand. 
Many people, when asked who are they dying to meet, answer with a big-name celebrity or a dictator with whom they would like to have a word or two. My response is, eh whatever. I’m not a fanatic but I wouldn’t mind a personal recounting of their life, how they went from no-name to big-deal. But then I figure, that’s what documentaries and memoirs are for! 
To me it’s the experience and the humanization of a celebrity rather than the bragging rights enabled that I like about meeting an idol/famous person. 

Miscellaneous Mondays: Movie Madness

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Miscellaneous Mondays: Movie Madness
Ten seconds into the movie Spring Breakers and I thought, “What in the world?” I was also slightly uncomfortable that I had asked my stepmother to come watch it with me. Wouldn’t you be too if your age group was portrayed as slow-motion shaking booties and breasts? Not to mention more than just bad decisions by the characters but the director, editor, writer, producer, actors etc. The entire movie was a bust with only one redeeming quality. I got to see several shots of my college and even identified some of my classmates. What in the world James Franco, are you trying to be Johnny Depp?  I think you need a character with a bit more depth to pull that off, instead of one who can’t seem to spout off more than several lines multiple times and no, “Spring break” is not a memorable take home quote, it is a common phrase already in use. Soft core porn is better than this. Even those movies (National Lampoon franchise?) have a plot. This one kept on and on, implying they were getting to the center story but no, just more slow-motion beach scenes and alcohol and money being thrown around. I was bored. Bored! A movie with sex, drugs, alcohol, partying, violence and I was bored. The characters were one-dimensional and their personal/back stories were implied but not explored so the audience was left hanging. The weird sound effect scene changes (a gunshot) were annoying and unnecessary and did not add anything to the movie. Once again I lament the portrayal of America/college/Spring Break/young adults/etc that this movie has made. 
Spring Breakers? More like Spring Flop