Applying for a Job

So much emphasis is being put on technology these days, it is absolutely terrifying.  Yes, I mean it.  If the only reason to go to school is to assure one's employability upon graduation, heaven help us, especially if the only jobs presumed to be available are in the tech industries.

I find it ironic that the mental health needs of the culture are rising at the same time as this disturbing trend is ingraining itself into education at every level.  The message seems to be that the further removed the individual gets from individual perception the better it will be for everyone.

Who is kidding whom?

One of the most fortuitous things that ever happened to me was when I first went to apply for a job.  Newly arrived in New York and realizing that I had zero qualifications I read the NYTimes want ads starting at "A" for "Art Gallery."  The job consisted of typing letters, watering the plants, and doing whatever else needed to be done.  The boss, Otto Kallir, was (unbeknownst to me) one of the greatest art dealers of the 20th century and a lovely, lovely man.

I learned so much and made such good friends with such fine people, some living, like Hildegard Bachert, Kallir's secretary, now Co-Director of the Galerie St. Etienne having worked there for 74 years (and still at it, full-time) and some not living except in their art: Schiele, Klimt, Kollwitz, Grandma Moses.  The gallery's 75th anniversary is being celebrated this very day.

I was, it turned out, qualified in the most important way, which was and hopefully always will be, to make a personal connection.