judecorp | Interviews! Interviews!

From

bostonandrodyke:

1. What made you go into social work?
A lot of things, really. I had a Master's in Education (not teaching) and was working for a little research organization in Maine. I started doing independent research on LGBT youth in schools, and that got me to thinking I might want to work with that population. We (ex and I) were going to be moving so ex could go to school, and I decided I might want to go to school again, so I applied to OSU's school of social work. It seemed like the best fit for my goals and what I wanted to learn.

2. What do you find to be the best part of your work?
I like having a job that I can feel good about, which is why I like social work stuff. As for my specific job right now, I like that I can make my own schedule, so I can take care of my own stuff when I need to without a lot of hassle. Especially in the summer. And I like developing a helping relationship with people.

3. How does your spirituality influence your work?
My spirituality and personal philosophy teaches me that all human beings are worthy of and entitled to respect and compassion regardless of circumstance. The dignity of all life and the respect for same is the #1 guiding force in how I conduct myself, personally and professionally.

4. What's the best part of your life?
The best part of my life is feeling like I really made it, like I successfully emerged from an abusive childhood and have worked my way out of most, if not all, issues arising from that. I am really proud of who I am, of what I can do, of how successful and good I am as a person. I know it would have been easy for me to just have a bunch of issues and coast along, but I'm glad that I'm a stubborn old goat who wants to be perfect all the time, even if that means dragging myself out of my melancholy teens and really making a strong, confident person out of myself.

5. Can I start calling you my official mentor?
I don't know if you REALLY want to do that, seeing as I'm not working in my target population at all at all at all, and I'm getting waaay burned out doing what I'm doing. But if you can look past all of that, SURE! :)

From

estrange:

1. Would you ever try out for the real Survivor?
Funny, my Big Boss (the director of my agency) is a huge Survivor fan and we always dish Survivor together, and she is always telling me I need to go on the show. I don't know why - I think I would totally suck at it! I would like all the interpersonal stuff but I would really suck hardcore at a lot of the physical challenges. I'm strong but my endurance is for crap. Crap, I tell you! I think I finally got her to stop bugging me about it when I told her today that America does NOT want to see my in my underwear.

2. What has been the happiest time in your life so far?
I've been lucky enough to have quite a few happy times, although the most recent was getting married on Friday. It was just so genuinely blissful and I feel honored to have had the experience. However, I was also really happy when Jen and I spontaneously spent Christmas at Disney World the other year - it was great to spend all that time with her, and to have her all to myself for the holiday, and to have nice weather, and yeah, it was great. Yep.

3. Is anything missing from your life right now or are you happy with it the way it is?
I'm content with my life the way it is because I'm already so blessed and lucky. However, I'd like some things, for sure. Like a house of our own, and a baby on the way, and enough money to actually make this stuff happen. Yanno?

4. Are you afraid to die?
No, not afraid. But I sure don't want to. Not right now. I'm just getting started!

5. When you do have a child, what would you name him/her?
We talk about this quite a bit, actually, because we're babycrazy and pathetic and stuff. We have very few names we agree on at all. So far we can at least half-heartedly agree on Jackson and have kicked around other -son names like Mason and Pearson. Girls' names are a lot tougher for us. I think we've discussed Evan, Olivia, Ruth, Catherine... heck, I can't even remember which ones she likes and which ones she hates. I'll have to talk to The Boss.