A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS AND INTERVIEWS

Welcome

In Overviews on September 9, 2011 at 11:49 am

Work Stew is a collection of original essays and in-depth interviews. To learn more, please visit the FAQ.

New essays and interviews will be added regularly, so please check back. You can sign up to receive email notifications of new content—look for the button at the bottom right of this page. Also, Work Stew now has its very own Facebook page; if you ‘like’ it, you’ll be able to see periodic updates in your news feed. You can also receive notices of new content via Twitter.

 

Please note: essays that are no longer on the front page can be found by browsing the archives, using the search tool (located in the footer), or clicking on a contributor’s name below:

Pamela Arturi An advocate for people with disabilities describes how she got rich.

Molly Bishop Shadel A law professor writes about juggling her wide-ranging legal career with a personal life.

Jen Boyer A helicopter pilot recalls how she worked her way to the cockpit.

Zach Brockhouse A surveyor contemplates the history of the land he’s mapping.

Mary-Katherine Brooks Fleming A former trader concludes that “crazy” is not always wrong. 

Gerald Casale A founding member of the ground-breaking and enduring band Devo reflects on what constitutes “work.”

Samantha Cole A prep school grad embraces her “inner laborer.”

Suzanne Farrow A former Enron employee gives us a glimpse at the humanity behind the headlines.

Bernard Fulton People have a lot to say about lobbyists. This is what one lobbyist has to say for himself.

K.T. Garner A forest ranger in training, who has cleared many campsites of bears, says that the humans are typically the most challenging of all the wildlife.

Kate Gace Walton The editor of this site describes her search for what psychologists call “flow”—that exhilarating sense of being wholly absorbed by your work.

Menekse Gencer An entrepreneur finds inspiration for her mobile money business among the Maasai people of East Africa. 

Norman de Guerre A senior executive posits six questions to consider for people wanting to swap their job for a calling.

Amy Gutman A writer explores the question: When job opportunities are few and far between, is it acting spoiled to hold out for an offer you really want? 

Michael T. Heath Two essays: 1) a mild-mannered product tester goes rogue and 2) a parking enforcement officer describes a day in the life—one unusually good day.

Tasha Huebner A self-employed Wharton grad takes a hammer to the old chestnut, “Do what you love, and the money will come.”

Gopi Kallayil A Googler ponders the power of intention after an idea scribbled on a piece of paper almost immediately springs to life.

Paula Kiger A customer service professional recalls her breaking point.

Gary Kott The Cosby Show’s screenwriter shares the secret of his success; it involves suitcases.

Dawn Leahy A chef who works on luxury yachts tells the tale of her toughest day on the job.

Malvolio A Harvard grad goes to Hollywood and gets fired—a lot.

John F. McMullen A technologist connects the dots in his 50-year career, and finds that it all makes perfect sense—in retrospect. 

Lindsay Moran An ex-spy 1) ponders the hazards of working while parenting and 2) following the Abbottabad raid, reflects on her decision to leave the CIA (two essays).

Peter Morningstar A pediatrician who loves his Bad Little Job.

Kelly Murphy Mason A minister describes the spiritual pilgrimage that led her down a new and surprising career path.

Erica Photiades A young teacher who graduated from college and ran smack dab into the recession.

Laurance Price A South African-born filmmaker thinks through his next move. Maybe mushrooms.

Amy Redd-Greiner A single mom reflects on her return to college 20 years after first starting to work towards her degree.

Rhino A soldier describes what it’s like to come home, including what goes through his mind when someone says to him, “Thank you for your service.”

R.P. Rodgers Two essays: 1) Lessons learned from an aspiring screenwriter and 2) the recollections of an adman from a kindler, gentler (smellier) time.

Terri Rowe A longtime factory worker reveals the secret identity that has sustained her since she was four years old.

Michael Sacopulos A lawyer describes how he came to represent both docs and cats. Big cats.

Marcy Schwab A banking executive gives us a glimpse into her decision-making process by introducing us to the voice in her head.

Mark Spearman A communications professional on 1) finding meaning amid the cubicles and corporate speak and 2) the value of unions (two essays).

Alison Umminger A writer asks the vexing question, “What if one is *not* as awesome as one would like to believe?”

Jeff Wenker A father of two concludes that he’s probably a better stay-at-home dad than Osama bin Laden ever was.

Ross Fredrick Williams A hairstylist-to-be discovers a human-haired wig—and a lifetime of happiness.

Robert Clark Young A writer who is currently working as full-time caretaker to his elderly parents seeks to augment his income—by trying to buy pre-IPO Facebook stock.

To learn more about how things are going at Work Stew, check out this recent update.

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New Interview

In Overviews on May 27, 2012 at 8:50 pm

Episode #38: a chat with Hilary Price who was the youngest woman to become a syndicated cartoonist when her daily comic strip Rhymes With Orange was first picked up.

In the interview, Hilary talks about her middle school inspiration, Sandra Boynton; her short-lived stint in food service; and the first cartoon she sold, which was inspired by her own mother.

She also also describes her creative process and recommends that anyone trying to create anything read Art and Fear now. Right now.

Why a podcast? Work Stew is a place for people to share their thoughts and stories about their working lives. Essays are one way to do that, and in-depth interviews are another. The hope is to build, over time, a rich collection of distinctive voices, captured in both the written word and the spoken word.

How to listen? You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or you can listen to all of the episodes here: Show Notes and Audio Players

Suggestions? New episodes of the Work Stew podcast are released every two weeks. To suggest an interview subject for a future episode, please write to kate@workstew.com.

Past Interviews:

A bomb technician assures me that what he does is really pretty safe.

A husband-and wife team who make their living as long-haul truckers describe their life on the road.

A licensed acupuncturist explains how she found her way from TV production to Chinese medicine.

A former CIA spy and a former PR exec discuss their mid-career forays into teaching. 

A lice removal expert explains how she got into the business of “nit picking” and why she finds it so satisfying.

A veteran actor reflects on “playing” for a living.

An OBGYN talks about caring for pregnant women even as she herself was struggling through the pain of infertility.

A writer and lawyer who has already had at least four distinct careers talks about her path to date and the next chapter.

Santa tells all: how he landed the job, how much it pays, and—mandatory ‘ho ho ho’s aside—whether it’s any fun.

An independent filmmaker recounts how she came to form a production company with her sisters. All four of them.

The voice in my GPS describes how she got there. Turns out she’s an accomplished singer and songwriter.

An entrepreneur explains how her new venture was inspired by her experiences as a breast cancer survivor.

A third-generation funeral director describes what it’s like to have death at the very center of your life’s work. 

A memoir writer reflects on the complexities of making your life into your work. 

The founder of City Fruit talks about her work harvesting produce from Seattle’s backyards.

A physician explains why she’s put her successful medical career on hold to pursue her passion for music.

A writer of closed captioning for adult films on how he got into such an unusual line of work.

A particle physicist describes what it’s like to be focused on topics that most of the world knows nothing about.

A certified mediator explains why he loves getting involved with other people’s disputes. 

A comedy writer on the path he travelled to arrive at his role on Comedy Central’s hit show Tosh.O.

A long-time flight attendant who recently retired from the airline industry to become…a gorilla caretaker. Seriously. 

An author describes her thirteen-year run-up to the publication of her first book.

A marketer-turned-cook describes how hard she works, how little she earns—and how much she loves her new career.

A socially-conscious entrepreneur who left the non-profit world to start a venture focused on ethical sourcing.

A high-rise window washer describes how he got into the business of dangling off skyscrapers.

A veteran political speechwriter discusses the challenges of writing-for-hire.

A professional dating coach on how she turned her favorite pastime into a successful business.

A part-time podcast producer describes how her show got started and why she plans to hang on to her day job.

An air traffic controller tackles listener questions, including the inevitable: “Have you ever napped on the job?”

A high school math teacher explains why she left her VP role at Merrill Lynch to work at a school in Harlem. 

Starbucks’ top strategist describes how she went from teaching middle school to a corner office.

A political appointee explains why he traded in a Silicon Valley career for a job with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

An ACLU attorney recalls his NYC joyride with CIA abductee Khaled el-Masri.

A Google executive reveals his secrets for achieving a sense of peace in our frenzied, networked world.

A Hollywood screenwriter on what’s hard about telling stories for a living.

A lawyer turned entrepreneur who says being hit with a class action lawsuit was actually a good thing.

An intrepid investigative reporter explains how she went from a job on Rodeo Drive to a hut in Afghanistan.

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Bring on the Hanging Chads

In Editorial Notes on May 25, 2012 at 12:00 am

Below are links to 12 randomly selected entries that were submitted to Work Stew’s first-ever writing contest.

This batch of entries (Batch #1) will remain online from Friday, May 25 through Thursday, May 31.

Please vote for those entries which you feel should become Finalists. Each Facebook ‘Like’ on a given entry’s page counts as a vote for that entry.

To learn more about the voting process, please see below. You can also drop by Work Stew’s Facebook page to ask questions.

Work Stew Contest Entries: Batch #1

Entry #1 “Imagine yourself at a party talking to a stranger…”

Entry #2 “Congratulations! You’ve made it through college…”

Entry #3 “I’m flattered that my work influences your desire to become…”

Entry #4 “I heard you want to write short stories…”

Entry #5 “Before you go to that first interview…”

Entry #6 “During your training you will have to learn how to teach…”

Entry #7 “How did I become a teacher?”

Entry #8 “Congratulations, and welcome to global health research…” 

Entry #9 “I’m sure I’m not the only person to think ‘what if’…”

Entry #10 “It’s not going to be easy…”

Entry #11 “So you want to be a writer…”

Entry #12 “Bright eyed and eager, she sat next to him…”

The Voting Process

  • Starting on Friday, May 25, the qualified entries will be published in three batches, with approximately 12 randomly selected entries per batch.
  • Each batch will remain posted for one week (Friday through Thursday), and during that time you can vote for your favorites by clicking the Facebook ‘like’ icon at the bottom of each entry.
  • To help address any concerns of ‘batch bias’ that might crop up, all of the qualified entries will then be re-posted for a final, three-day burst of voting (June 15-17).
  • At the end of this process, 10 entries will be passed along as finalists to the contest judge, Pam Belluck. Seven of the ten finalists will be chosen solely for having the highest number of Facebook “likes”; three will be chosen by me, without any regard to vote count.
  • Ms. Belluck will then select three winners: first place ($1,000 prize), second place ($400 prize), and third place ($100 prize). The winners will be announced by July 1.

About the Judge. I am honored that Pam Belluck, an award-winning journalist and the author of the forthcoming book Island Practice, has kindly agreed to serve as the judge.

It was important to me to find a judge who has long inhabited the world of non-fiction writing. Ms. Belluck, a Princeton graduate and Fulbright scholar, has written for The New York Times for more than 15 years. She has been a national bureau chief twice and is currently a health and science writer at the paper.

Also, and especially pertinent to this contest, Ms. Belluck has just tackled the challenge of capturing a true-life story about work: Island Practice (due out on June 5) tells the tale of Dr. Timothy Lepore, an unconventional doctor on Nantucket: “If you need an appendectomy, he can do it with a stone scalpel he carved himself,” begins this preview. Best-selling author Warren St. John declared the book “a truly wonderful read” and described Ms. Belluck as a “natural storyteller with a reporter’s eye for detail and a stand-up comic’s dry wit.”

It is these qualities that I know Ms. Belluck will bring to her role as judge, and I can’t wait to see which of the finalists strike her as the most compelling.

Thanks,

Kate Gace Walton, Editor of Work Stew

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