1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not? I’m a Staff Assistant with the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Penn State University. Although I suppose it could be argued that I chose to be doing this, what I tell people is that I sort of fell into it. My friend Sharon suggested I contact her old boss about possible part-time editing work, which I was at the time (and still) interested in procuring. That segued into a couple of hours in the evening five days a week (and some weekends), doing a lot of what I do now, just to a lesser extent and with more direct one-on-one work with my boss. Then, in September, a full-time position became available here, and I accepted it, not least of all because I make about three times what I did at my old job, and I don’t have to be on my feet all day in the basement of a bookstore. I do not, however, consider this my “career”.

2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be? If talent were no object? Shouldn’t it be? Shouldn’t that be the main criteria in deciding on your dream job? I mean, the idea of being a gourmet chef sounds intriguing, but I can’t cook worth a damn, and so I probably wouldn’t enjoy it half as much as something for which I had genuine talent. I am, in the theory, a writer. “Not enough time”, “not enough money” — these are just excuses. A writer writes. I know this. Getting myself to do it is another matter altogether. Right now, I’d desperately like to start a zine (web or print — there are benefits to each), but writing an entire issue on my own seems like an impossible (and not particularly appealing) undertaking.

3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices? My father is a chemical engineer, a director of research and development at Con Edison, while my mother is a registered nurse. I don’t think this has had any particular influence on me, although I sometimes note with amusement that neither my sister or I seem to have inherited our parents’ knack for the sciences.

4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family? No, not even remotely. I don’t really have a career, and the only family is the one I was born with.