lavender freedom

Sometimes we ask ourselves the question, "What keeps us in this work?" Literacy workers in Canada are well-educated, smart and wise. They are self-directed learners who work hard at staying current in their field. They are self-directed innovators who use any available resource to maximum advantage. They play well with others. They could work anywhere.

In some places in Canada, literacy workers have stable employment, fair wages, good benefits and pleasant working conditions. But in most places, the opposite is the standard. So why do these talented and experienced people work here? Many talk about job satisfaction and I agree, but I wonder, if for some of us, there is not something else doing on.

I was twittering today and @hodgeman pointed to this interview with Bruce Campbell--any Xena fans out there?--who is a bit of a free spirit.

Mr. Campbell long ago stopped pursuing, deciding that instead of chasing stardom in Los Angeles he’d rather make his own movies, write a few books and basically not get involved in anything that would interfere with his ability to hang out on his middle-of-nowhere property, a lavender farm outside Ashland, Ore. ... Pleased as he is with the attention, and the steady work, Mr. Campbell admitted that there are days when he remembers why he has avoided taking parts in television series over the years. “For five years you’re trapped like a rat, in this lovely cage with silky paper on the bottom of it and a golden door that’s always locked,” he said. “Everyone takes good care of you, but you can’t go anywhere.”

Perhaps part of the literacy crazy wisdom is a free-spritedness that makes us resist the easy paths and the compromises that we have to make to walk upon them.