Throwback Thursday-Schindler’s List

Oskar Schindler  was many things. A womanizer, a sometimes less than honest business man and a Nazi. But he was still responsible for saving the lives of Jews who were headed to the crematorium of Auschwitz.

The 1993 Oscar winning movie, Schindler’s List, starring Liam Neeson in the title role is stark, black and white and unflinching. It dares the movie going audience to not look away, to see what unchecked prejudice, hatred and murder looks like.

If there was ever a Holocaust movie, this is it. I have seen many Holocaust movies, but this one consistently ranks at the top of the list. With an incredible supporting cast that includes Ben Kingsley (Itzhak Stern), Ralph Fiennes (Amon Goeth) and Embethz Davidtz (Helen Hirsch), this movie leaves a mark on the audience. Steven Spielberg, as the director, leaves no stone un-turned.

This movie should be required viewing, not just for school children, but for adults all over the world.

After the Holocaust, the phrase “Never Again” became a battle cry to remember the victims. “Never Again” has happened again. This movie is a reminder of what becomes of us when we let hatred and prejudice take over.

Job Hunt

Looking for a job is like aiming an arrow at a target.

The bulls-eye is the perfect job, whatever each of us defines as the perfect job. The reality of the job search is that 70-80% of the arrows will never reach the target, with only 5-10% actually getting somewhere close to the bulls-eye.

A good job is not just a paycheck or the reason many of us get up at the crack of dawn five days a week. It is a reason to feel like we have accomplished something.  When I am unemployed, I feel useless. It’s a feeling that I hate.

One of the things I have been wrestling with this job search is learning to trust my gut. I sometimes don’t know if the feelings I am having is just anxiety or the my gut telling me that the job I am looking at is completely wrong for me.

I’ve made that mistake in the past, ignoring my gut about a job that was the wrong fit. It just sometimes feels like I should take any job, even with this nagging feeling, just to have a job.

All I want is a job. A job that pays me well and that I will be happy at for a very long time.

Is that too much to ask?

Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection Book Review

My mother’s generation was the first to have it all. They were the first generation to go to college with the intent of earning real college degrees and not just the MRS degrees that their mothers earned. They were the first generation to have real longevity in their careers and not just work until they married. They had it all, the job, the husband, the kids and everything that goes with that life.

That’s the life I knew growing up. I had two working parents. It’s life I hope to lead one day if I should ever marry and have children.

According to author and Barnard College President Debora Spar, in her book Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection, we cannot have it all. Something has to give along the way.  Referencing classic second wave feminists texts such as Fear Of Flying, Sex and The Single Girl and The Feminine Mystique while interviewing a variety of women, Ms. Spar comes to an interesting conclusion.

This is one of the best new feminist books that I have read in a very long time. While giving deference and respect where both are naturally due, Ms. Spar examines the life of the modern woman and how it has changed from the life that her grandmother might have lived fifty or sixty years ago. We have come incredibly far in only two generations, but we still have a long ways to go.

I highly recommend this book.