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Trying to be upbeat.
The one thing I did at my internship today - just one thing - was go through eight boxes of documents and artifacts for an upcoming exhibition. It was wonderful.
It took me, the only other intern who came in today, and the visiting librarian who'd come with the boxes two two-hour shifts to finish everything, and that was us deliberately pushing through to finish everything before the day was over. Everything was wrapped up and sealed to make sure there was as little damage to the items as possible when they were shipped from San Francisco to New York. I'd unpack the boxes and open up the smaller packages and check for damages, the other intern took notes of what came out and where on a master list, and the visiting librarian cross-referenced everything on his computer. The whole thing was assembly line work, with the occasional opportunity to joke about something or other or comment on how difficult the items were to get out of the bubble wrap envelopes, with the same thing to do over and over until we finished up all the boxes. Mostly photograph reproductions, some realia, a few posters, some primary materials. I and the other intern got to do this because our boss was in meetings all day and the documents are going to an exhibition opening in just a couple of weeks and someone needs to do the ground-laying grunt work.
It was exactly the sort of work I'd love to get paid to do. Not the assembly-line part - but working with cool stuff, with other enthusiastic people, with things I saw in front of me and held in my hands. Something where I understood what the day's work was, and what I was supposed to do. I got to wear the little white gloves, and take care of each thing individually, and basically live the sort of thing I dream about for four hours. It's better than it's been for a good long while.
It took me, the only other intern who came in today, and the visiting librarian who'd come with the boxes two two-hour shifts to finish everything, and that was us deliberately pushing through to finish everything before the day was over. Everything was wrapped up and sealed to make sure there was as little damage to the items as possible when they were shipped from San Francisco to New York. I'd unpack the boxes and open up the smaller packages and check for damages, the other intern took notes of what came out and where on a master list, and the visiting librarian cross-referenced everything on his computer. The whole thing was assembly line work, with the occasional opportunity to joke about something or other or comment on how difficult the items were to get out of the bubble wrap envelopes, with the same thing to do over and over until we finished up all the boxes. Mostly photograph reproductions, some realia, a few posters, some primary materials. I and the other intern got to do this because our boss was in meetings all day and the documents are going to an exhibition opening in just a couple of weeks and someone needs to do the ground-laying grunt work.
It was exactly the sort of work I'd love to get paid to do. Not the assembly-line part - but working with cool stuff, with other enthusiastic people, with things I saw in front of me and held in my hands. Something where I understood what the day's work was, and what I was supposed to do. I got to wear the little white gloves, and take care of each thing individually, and basically live the sort of thing I dream about for four hours. It's better than it's been for a good long while.
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