In early elementary school I planned to join the army and become a general. By sixth grade I though I would become an engineer. I was impressed with my uncle’s stories of doing human factor engineering during WWII. In 7th grade I outlined my life plans year by year. The only thing I remember is they end with me becoming a Senator. About 8th grade I planned to be a minister. Becoming an atheist ended that. At a church summer camp I expressed a desire for multiple careers ranging from be a dock worker in South Africa to . . . I don’t remember.
During the summer of my sophomore year in high school I read David Riesman’s Lonely Crowd. I found a whole new way of thinking and began to plan on becoming a professor of sociology. In high school I had visions of the limits of American professional life and my alienation from it. Pictures of fat, boring business men in Forbes disgusted me. I had a vision of myself sitting up nights, scotch in hand, in a large standard issue suburban house with a big-titted blond wife in the bed. It was a lonely vision I wished to transcend in some unknown way.
Nov 22 1958
Career Plans
In early elementary school I planned to join the army and become a general. By sixth grade I though I would become an engineer. I was impressed with my uncle’s stories of doing human factor engineering during WWII. In 7th grade I outlined my life plans year by year. The only thing I remember is they end with me becoming a Senator. About 8th grade I planned to be a minister. Becoming an atheist ended that. At a church summer camp I expressed a desire for multiple careers ranging from be a dock worker in South Africa to . . . I don’t remember.
During the summer of my sophomore year in high school I read David Riesman’s Lonely Crowd. I found a whole new way of thinking and began to plan on becoming a professor of sociology. In high school I had visions of the limits of American professional life and my alienation from it. Pictures of fat, boring business men in Forbes disgusted me. I had a vision of myself sitting up nights, scotch in hand, in a large standard issue suburban house with a big-titted blond wife in the bed. It was a lonely vision I wished to transcend in some unknown way.
By Daniel • Visions