tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post3442152484648183985..comments2024-03-29T05:33:43.878-04:00Comments on Murder is Everywhere: Why I Didn't Become a Writer Back ThenOvidia Yuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749549092493567689noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-62478700841280476582010-11-27T17:33:40.726-05:002010-11-27T17:33:40.726-05:00Beth,
Pittsburgh children were not alone in seein...Beth,<br /><br />Pittsburgh children were not alone in seeing artistic goals measured in by financial realities, especially if the child's parents suffered through the Great Depression. <br /><br />Although not mentioned in my piece, while a freshman in that same high school I took a ceramics class and won a National Art Award for sculpture at fourteen, but as pleased as my parents were over the prize they made it clear that medicine or law, not art, was the career path I should follow. <br /><br />In retrospect (especially from these times of the Great non-Depression) I appreciate their thinking--because they were right. My first career most certainly enabled the second.Jeffrey Sigerhttp://www.jeffreysiger.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-46876098482634646112010-11-27T12:55:13.128-05:002010-11-27T12:55:13.128-05:00How much did financially security play a part in y...How much did financially security play a part in your decision to write full-time? How many creative people can't choose to develop their talents because of the financial responsibilities that require full-time attention?<br /><br />Women in particular, especially if they are first-born, are put on a path early in life that requires them to place responsibility over personal choice. I have a friend who is the oldest of four. She and her sister, the second born, got some financial aid to middle tier colleges. Their choice of college was determined by their ability to pay the balance when they graduated; they became two of the millions with student loans that determined their job choices, too. The youngest, 14 and 12 years younger than his sisters and 8 years younger than his brother who went to a college with a co-op curriculum, was accepted at Harvard. His siblings didn't apply because that would have been a wasted application fee.<br /><br />The three older members of the family are a chemistry teacher, an English teacher, and a speech therapist. The youngest is a pediatrician. He left medical school with major debt but with less difficulty in repaying med school loans.<br /><br />The two oldest and the youngest had comparable GPAs and SAT scores. The youngest wasn't brighter or more committed to his education. Birth order made the difference.<br /><br />In my family, gender and birth order made the difference. Boys needed a better education; they were going to support families. Did any of us have thwarted creativity? I don't think so but it wouldn't have made a difference if we did.<br /><br />I bet there are a lot of people from Pittsburgh who had circumstances beyond their control that determined their path. <br /><br />BethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com