Inch by inch, Row by row.

Let me first explain why I quit the original second-choice for summer job (first choice was Hyannis Sound). Sarah and I were “hired” to work for the Campaign to Save the Environment as canvassers. The office is in Harvard Square. The pay was supposedly 400-600 per week depending on what we can fund-raise, because we will earn 35% of what we fund-raise. To top it all the job is meaningful!

In reality:

Sarah and I weren’t actually hired. We were “hired” to a 3-day observation period, at the end of which we would “make staff” or not, depending on our canvassing performance for the first three days. So we do get paid, at $8.00 / hour, for the two 8-hour days. But we didn’t make it to the third day. First, the commute turned out to be like 1.5 hours on each end, so our 8-hour work day was actually over 11 hours. Second, to “make staff” one would have had to raise $135 per day, and even after making staff there are still intense standards for fund-raising and zero job security. The first day I raised $2.00 and $20 the second. If I hadn’t quit, I probably would have been fired. Third, the deal IS NOT in fact that we make 35% of what we fund-raise; rather, we make 35% of the weekly average of what we raise. That’s a drastic difference. Finally, none of the other people working there were enthusiastic about the job. The girl training me the first day was on her iPhone applying to and interviewing for and getting another job. That wasn’t encouraging.

So those were all the blemishes Sarah and I discovered. Beyond those, though, the job turned out to be not as meaningful as we’d thought. Its main focus is to solicit, and I’m not comfortable harassing people on the streets for money. To pass out petitions and raise awareness and stuff, that’s acceptable. But money was too heavily the focus of Environment Massachusetts.

So I’ve been sitting on my thumbs for two weeks since, but I started my job at Nourse Farm around the corner this morning. I’m a field hand, and it’s a great job. I work hard, long days and it’s all outside, and it’s growing local food, and I feel like it’s the purest form of labor – growing food from the earth! So even after one day it’s already really rewarding. All day I had the song “inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow. all I need is rake and a hoe!”

I also applied to work in a bookstore cafe in town, had a good interview, but haven’t yet heard anything. I’d prefer two jobs for variety’s sake, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I was working 35-40 hours at Nourse Farm. Things are looking up! The sooner I make lots of cash, the sooner I can go on crazy expeditions.

List of Desired Expeditions:

1. Montreal via Middlebury with Marion.

2. Block Island

3. Cape Cod

4. Hershey Park to see Kevin

5. Acadia / Cadillac mountain to see the sun hit America earliest.

6. Potentially road-tripping with Marion back to SD and flying home, but we’ll see.