Beyond Teshuva

[theyellowhobbit]

I tried to do this update a while ago, and wireless hated me :(

So there's a new blog out there written by and for ba'alei teshuva [though anyone can read it, of course] and kressel was asked to be a contributor, and then, through her good word, I was asked to be a contributor. I wrote my first article last night and submitted it this morning.

Mark, the guy running the blog, wrote me back to say that it wouldn't be put up until tomorrow or Friday because they're staggerring the entries now to give people more time to read everything.

Then he emailed me again a few hours later.


"I forgot to mention that I really liked it and it represents the diversity
of paths we are looking for."


So I feel validated. Huzzah!

Comments

[kressel.livejournal.com]

But you do realize, people are going to wonder, just as your rabbi did, why you feel the nose ring is an expression of the essential you.

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

So be it. I don't think it's such a big issue. It's not really essential me, but it's a link to old me. I personally just think it looks cool and really wanted it and it gives me a more positive self-image of myself. Other things, like losing weight, do that as well. And the nose-ring makes me unique. I can't stand not being unique. Yes, I know I don't actually need a nose-ring to make me unique, but the rest of me is trying to conform and appear as an FFB. I can't figure out who I want to be. I'm allowed to search. That's what college is for [despite many people's inaccurate notions that college gives you the education you need to get a good job...]

[kressel.livejournal.com]

You're right. You're definitely allowed to search. That is what being a BT is about.

But I disagree with you about college. I majored in Philosophy, which was totally useless. And here I am, age 37 and unable to go back to school for something marketable because my family can't afford to lose my income for two whole years. So grab those marketable skills while you have the opportunity. It gets harder as you get older.

[tobeginagain.livejournal.com]

i feel you, says the girl with the blue and pink hair.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

very few bachelor's degrees provide you with real, actual, marketable skillz, except in an abstract way. I have a history degree. Even if I were planning to teach, the degree is not useful by itself. I'd need an education degree or certificate. If I were planning to be an archivist or historian, I'd need to go to grad school. History is a great degree to go to law school with... but again, the bachelor's isn't what gets the marketable skill, right? It's the law degree.

I am now an IT Security Consultant with a background in Certification and Accreditation. Two of the things that I do a lot of are writing and analysis. My history degree taught me to do those things, but again, abstractly. I certainly didn't think I'd be doing risk assessments for IT Systems when I got my history degree. I couldn't have gotten my first job without having my bachelor's in something, but my bachelor's was not directly related to my career. Few bachelor's degrees are. They are merely a starting point.