I've been mulling over the various plaints about museum jobs being a)
scarce and b) low paid, for several days--hope this is not too far off the
thread.

In the first place, how many of us actually end up working in the field for
which we received our degree(s)? Not me--and I suspect not most of
us.Things change and there's just no reason to be bitter about that or to
think that we were mislead in some way when we took that degree.

Secondly, what we are passionately interested in is rarely the way in which
we earn our living. Painters work as office managers, musicians wait tables
and writers sell insurance--there's no reason to assume that you have to
stop doing something just because it won't pay the rent right now.

I am seeing more and more people in various fields who have realized that
piecing together an income by doing various things is in many ways safer
and more predictable than one salary which can be lost overnight through
corporate downsizing. Many freelancers have managed to own homes and raise
families. Contract work in museum fields may indeed be the way to go for
the future.
Ivy Fleck Strickler                     Phone 215-895-1637
Drexel University                       Fax 215-895-4917
Nesbitt College of Design Arts          [log in to unmask]
Philadelphia, PA 19104

"Never forget that life is like a Fellini movie, and you're getting to see
it for free."