Maps of our design.

I walked in, and forty minutes later I walked out with an internship. No, really. That's what happened this afternoon.

It's a gig at the Performing Arts Library branch of the NYPL - in a city like this, it makes sense to specialize in that area - for one full day a week, ten to six, starting next Wednesday. I got an e-mail about it on Monday totally out of the blue, something I'd forgotten applying for since I sent in my CV before I moved across town. I called back right away, set up an appointment for this afternoon, and got a forty-minute tour of the place where I did my best to balance professionalism and congeniality. I think I managed, since I got the gig.

When I got asked if I saw my career taking me to museums or performing arts, I responded honestly and said that with my life being the way it is right now, a year out of grad school in a slow economy, if I managed to land a job in a museum, in an archive, or in a branch of a public library somewhere, then that'd be where my career took me. Then I explained I did want this position because it was a chance to work with objects and information in a salient, meaningful way.

I now have something to do every day of the working week, none of which results in a positive cash flow. But some of it might, so I'll show up and see what happens.