A month ago, I started a part-time\nconstruction job. I am helping to build a house and guest house on\nsome rural property. The guest house affords some incredible views of\nthe ocean and a secret river. It would be the perfect place to hide\nout during the winter and write a novel. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the job, I perform all manner of\ngrunt work tasks: sanding, painting, hauling lumber and plywood, site\nclean up, various nailing, shining nails (I’ll explain that in a\nlater piece), a bit of sawing, drilling, etc. Nothing that requires\nfine carpentry because I have no skills whatsoever. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will say, I am improving every day on\nthe job, learning something new in reality and metaphor, and\nexperiencing a few tiny silent epiphanies here and there. I’m also\nwriting a lovesick country song in my head (more on that later as it\ndevelops…it could evolve into a concept country album much like\nWillie Nelson’s Red Haired Stranger<\/em>). One of the country songs\nreferences Karl Marx and Smirnoff vodka. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working a construction job requires\nlearning a new vocabulary, a professional jargon and slang. I’m\npicking it up, slowly. I like how the word \u201cpurchase\u201d is used in\nconstruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a couple of weeks, my body\nfinally broke itself in, and now I am gaining strength in body and\nmind. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n My boss is a fascinating person and a\nmaster teacher at teaching me the carpentry trade. He also bakes\nbread and makes his own apple brandy and Gorgonzola cheese. He’s an\ninveterate reader and knows what the word inveterate<\/em> means. He\nplays Cake and Wiemar torch songs on his playlist that we listen to\nwhile we work. He does a hilarious James Cagney impression firing a\nTommy gun with a palm nailer. Along with other great crew members, we\nhave interesting discussions at break and lunch about current events\nand the end of the world, which my boss believes is coming no matter\nhow humans try to prevent it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you really think about it, we aren’t\ndoing anything. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n My nickname on the site is The Shiner\nKid. I delighted the crew by bringing homemade octopus fritters I\nhauled away from a dive bar. We feasted at break and surely were the\nonly construction crew in the world at that time eating octopus\nfritters on site. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have lots of time to think on the job\nwhile performing repetitive tasks. One of the things I think about is\nhow this construction job contrasts mightily with classroom teaching,\nsomething I did for 25 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me list these contrasts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I never take the construction job home\nwith me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I generally arrive a little before my\nwork day begins, as opposed to 3:42 in the morning like I did on some\nteaching days. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I never have to devise curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I make more than $4.75 an hour, what I\nonce determined was my my hourly wage for teaching. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to use the Leatherman my ex wife\ngave me 22 years ago for our engagement every day on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I lose a lot of weight. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to hurl scrap wood. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to work methodically. Teaching\nfor me was never like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to correct double\nnegatives. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to say aloud. \u201cI want a cold\ncracklin’ Hamm’s.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to wear a Hamm’s t-shirt on the\njob. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can take scrap wood home with me for\noutdoor fires. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to piss in a urinal. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No faculty meetings. No grading. No\ndead weight colleagues. No fire drills. No active shooter drills. No\ndrug dogs. No taking attendance. No rubrics. No standards. No\nassessments. No filling out professional evaluation goals. No pep\nassemblies. No parent\/teacher conferences. No pledge of allegiance. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to direct anything. I\nfollow directions. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to monitor anyone’s phone\nuse. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to police inappropriate\nattire. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I never have to hear the word\n\u201cinappropriate\u201d spoken aloud. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have a paid day off to sit\naround a room with other teachers and try to improve workplace\npractices. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t get blamed for America’s ills\nby politicians, evangelical Christians and conservative news\ncommentators. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to worry about getting\nshot. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to see the instant results of my\nwork. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to practice untrained\nsocial work every day. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t spend thousands of dollars on\nclassroom supplies and food, treats and field trips for my students\nevery school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to perform repetitive tasks and\nthat allows me to write in my head. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to interest anyone in\nanything. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No staging open mics and rock\nfestivals. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No Pledge of Allegiance. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No angst at end of day. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No struggling with hundreds of instant\ndaily decisions that affect the future of young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No gossip. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No working for a boss who isn’t the\nbest at the trade he is supervising. ( I always longed<\/em> to work\nfor a principal who could kick my ass at the art teaching. Teach me\ndammit!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to cuss on the job. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to see a bald eagle while\nworking. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No banal announcements every morning. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to hear quail and thrushes. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to be complicit with\nparticipation in a system that largely trains\/brainwashes young\npeople to serve capitalism and ruin the planet. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to watch clouds. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get in shape while I work. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearing Jumpin’ Jack Flash<\/em> and\nFlashdance<\/em> never sounded better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to sing along to songs. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sleep much better. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get to run shims to carpenters like\nGunga Din ran water to soldiers. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t dread Sunday nights. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to worry about my body\nodor offending anyone. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n No field trips where students sneak\naway to smoke dope, fornicate or climb trees, or all three at the\nsame time. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t occasionally steal copy paper\nfor personal use. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have to use a computer on the\njob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A month ago, I started a part-time construction job. I am helping to build a house and guest house on some rural property. The guest house affords some incredible views of the ocean and a secret river. It would be the perfect place to hide out during the winter and write a novel. On the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1018,1035,6],"class_list":["post-5170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","tag-construction-site-writing","tag-construction-work","tag-matt-love","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5173,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170\/revisions\/5173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}