labour
I'm beginning to think that unhappiness is one of the simple things in life: a pure, basic emotion to be respected, if not savoured. I would never dream of suggesting that we should wallow in misery, or shrink from doing everything we can to alleviate it; but I do think it's instructive. After all, unhappiness has a function: it tells us that
... See moreBut then stress is a shameful thing, a proclamation of my inability to cope.
I am slyly pleased that I have pain to contend with, rather than a more nebulous sense of my own over-whelmedness. It feels more concrete somehow. I can hide behind it and say, See, I am not unable to manage my workload. I am legitimately ill.
Wintering, Katherine May, p. 19
I realise, suddenly, how this season of illness has rearranged my mind into a library of paranoia. I am afraid of being doubted, and I'm afraid of being found out. I am wondering what all those other people, whom I used to see every day, are thinking of me.
Are they gossiping, or has some morbid discretion fallen over my name? I'm not sure which is
... See morePeople admired me for how much I got done. I lapped it up, but felt, secretly, that I was only trying to keep pace with everyone else, and they seemed to be coping far better.
Wintering, Katherine May, p. 23
When seeking employment, we are often forced into a rat race competition in which we have to either: offer up a palatable version of our genuine passions and desire, morphing them into a grotesquely corporate version of what they were - something pure and born of love and curiosity, or potentially feel that we are embarrassing or even humiliating
... See moreInspired by quotation from p3 of The Factory (2013) by Hiroko Oyamada, translated by David Boyd (2019): “...I was a liberal arts major at university, where my research focused on the Japanese language. Specifically, I’m interested in how people communicate. While pursuing my research, I became curious about the use of language in print media. I was especially fascinated by the effectiveness of particular expressions and sentence structures. Ideally, I’d like to work in a field that allows me to utilise this background. That’s what led me to apply for this position. I remember being a girl and seeing TV commercials and newspaper ads for the products made here. I was drawn to the idea of working at this company because of its famously high standards, both technologically and ethically speaking…”
Let us not aspire to be like ants and bees. We can draw enough wonder from their intricate systems of survival without modelling ourselves on them wholesale. Humans are not eusocial; we are not nameless units in a super-organism, mere cells that are expendable when we have reached the end of our useful lives. The life of a sociable insect has
... See moreI didn't feel that the two should be in conflict - achieving your potential, and not being completely miserable. Happiness is the greatest skill we'll ever learn; it is not a part of ourselves that should be hived off into a dark corner, the shameful territory of the wilfully naive.
Happiness is our potential, the product of a mind that's allowed to
... See moreHere is another truth about wintering: you'll find wisdom in your winter, and once it's over, it's your responsibility to pass it on. And in return, it's our responsibility to listen to those who have wintered before us. It's an exchange of gifts in which nobody loses out. This may involve the breaking of a lifelong habit, passed down carefully
... See moreAt the time, it felt like the factory was enormous, maybe as big as Disneyland. And the souvenirs were as good as Disneyland’s, too. … Seeing the factory again as an adult, it didn’t feel any smaller. If anything, it had gotten even bigger. The factory’s influence over the city was too great to ignore. Everyone has at least one family member
... See moreYoshiko has visited the factory once before in her childhood on a primary school trip where she received little souvenirs including pens and cookies on her visit. She remembers at the time feeling that the factory was on par with Disneyland both in size and quality of souvenirs.
Now she is coming back to the factory as an adult, she feels that the factory is the same size or perhaps even bigger due to its influence over the surrounding area. Its logo is ever present and recognisable, and many local people have at least one family member working there, and thus encourage their children to work there too.
Working a good and stable career at an admirable company is framed as ‘Disneyland’ - something a child would look to for entertainment, awe, and wonder. It is no coincidence that Disney is a massive global corporation with allegations of poor working conditions, underpayment, and union suppression, not to mention their perpetuation of racial and gender stereotypes in its media.