Leaving America

as a pending computer science graduate, i face a decidedly bleak job market. unlike some of my unfortunate compatriots, i went into this discipline with both eyes open. the offshoring rage was well established by the time i decided to go back to school. i chose to study a subject i loved. other nicer, english-speaking countries are actively encouraging their citizens to get technology-related degrees. they give extra points to prospective immigrants who possess these degrees. so, it's a win-win situation for me.

my list of possible destinations in order of current preference: canada, australia, uk, new zealand. i am also considering spain since i speak spanish as well. i keep reading about how none of these countries have a great standard of living like the united states. when you get to the heart of what these jingoistic nutballs are saying, you realize how utterly commercialized and materialistic their notion of "standard of living" is.

we've all encountered this constant and never-ending refrain from the right: the poor in america are enormously rich compared to the poor in other countries and even the american poor people from decades ago because they can afford tvs, cars, microwaves, dvd players. but, you notice there is nary a word about quality of housing, access to health care, access to a quality education, and generally all those things that i consider important factors in "standard of living".

these people are just one step away from giving walmart credit for vastly improving the "standard of living" of the american poor. yes, we can buy lots of consumer goodies on the cheap. when they are broken, it is cheaper to buy more shoddily made, fragile crap than to repair the shoddily made, fragile crap we already own. gee fucking wizz. what a paradise. in america, the poor can buy cheap plastic crap made by *really* poor people who can't afford to buy that same cheap plastic crap.

if you are looking for a consumer's paradise, the united states is definitely your cup of tea. you can indeed afford to buy a great many consumer goods on a limited income in many areas of the country, and in comparison to other countries, the taxes are very low. however, the vast apparatus that allows the manufacture, transportation, and sale of cheap goods incurs an enormous cost in pollution and environmental damage. electronics are particularly bad since they become obsolete quickly and are often not worth repairing when they break. so into the landfills go many toxic heavy metals when they are left on the curb for the garbage collectors.

but i digress.

i have a far more zen relationship to 'stuff' than in years past. the trials of moving multiple times over the last ten years cured me of most of my pack rat habits. i am going to get rid of even more stuff when i move again this year. my ideal home would have a lot of clean and open space. my personal hell is a home where every available nook and cranny is filled with 'stuff' ... every surface covered with a pile of 'stuff'.... closets bursting with unused and forgotten 'stuff.' i hate going home and tripping all over 'stuff.' i hate not being able to find something because it is buried under a pile of 'stuff.'

even though the act of parting with stuff in the past was bittersweet and often painful, i never regretted it in the long term. at this point, i don't even remember the things i chose to renounce. i have embraced a kind of minimalism in my fantasy of the ideal home. i enjoy imagining clean, sleek furniture that is both utilitarian and beautiful surrounded by unobstructed space complete with spotless hardwood floors. in this fantasy, a warm breeze flows though open windows, fluttering translucent and weightless curtains that are also of a simple and elegant design. i want to live in the kind of home where you don't often stub your toe or bang your shins against 'stuff'. the space doesn't even need to be particularly large. not having a lot of 'stuff' allows one to live comfortably in a smaller home.

america has embraced 'bigness' as a moral virtue. when you go out to eat, the portions are enormous. the average size of a newly constructed home has ballooned since the fifties. despite a brief down-sizing in cars due to the oil crisis, the average size of an american automobile has steadily risen upward. the one arena where we worship small size is electronics. american culture devours space like no other. after all, we need more and more of it to contain all the things we are urged to purchase. our super-sized lifestyle disdains frugality and efficiency except where the average worker's paycheck is concerned.
i want off this treadmill.