xoxoANP!

A woman on my class listserv asked why my intention was to leave corporate America and what I intended to study. I include it here, open source, and encourage advice, etc. xoxo

Why I Have Decided To Leave Corporate America

I deconstructed my desire to be in corporate America in the first place and realized that the stunning triumvirate of Why I Wanted To Be A Corporate Citizen was as follows:

1. I wanted to do what my dad did (wear a suit to work; carry a briefcase)
2. I wanted to prove that even though I didn’t go the Ibanking/Mconsulting route, I could still be a powerful capitalista
   1. And not feel bad about switching my major from econ to history
3. I dreamed of writing a big donation check to my hometown high school and somehow make them all feel guilty for making me feel ashamed of my relentless knowledge-seekery and total-geekery

I no longer have these needs, which isn’t to say they were real/authentic/etc. at the time and served a momentary and useful purpose, but I no longer need to prove these things.

I also realized that I was looking for jobs to do that I could tolerate for a few years, and had planned on switching to education in my forties, and switching to politics in my fifties.

Wait a second, I thought. Why not focus on something on which I can spend the rest of my life?

What I Intend To Study

I would like to spend the rest of my life answering questions that I’ve already been asking my entire life. Broadly speaking, these questions surround the intersection of technology, society, and self:

“We shape our internet technologies, and thereafter they shape us.”

True or false? If true, how, and with what downstream implications?

And then “little” offshoots of that:

• How does the role of internet technology, esp. w/r/t web 2.0, dovetail with the decreasing importance of place in American society? Consider: the suburbanization of America, continued alienation of man from self and others, loss of connectedness and decrease in social fabric. Do these trends inform how we have shaped our webspheres, and how we behave within them?
• What happens when we reframe Marx with the assumption that the Interwebz exists? And then, so what?
• Now that we have internet technologies, is there a more optimal way to organize gubmint that more effectively addresses the first principles of the Constitution?
• What’s up with the checkbox? How do marketing databases shape sense of self and observed behaviors both offline and online?

You know, stuff like that. So, I’m guessing sociology or perhaps social psychology but my current methodology for finding the right program involves:

• Futzing around and looking at the research projects of current faculty for various programs
• Come up with a short list and long list of People For Whom I’d Like To Be A Grunty Grad Student
• Start the informational interviews / suck-uppery of people on this list
• Refine

Any advice or thoughts or ‘tevs very much welcome.