What is the American Dream?

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/04/2012s-college-grads-land-in-minimum-wage-jobs/

Some troubling statistics from a job report focused on the college graduates was released by The Wall Street Journal and just a heads up, it is pretty grim. "According to the Labor Department, there were 284,000 graduates—those with at least a bachelor’s degree—working minimum-wage jobs in 2012, including 37,000 holders of advanced degrees. That’s down from a peak of 327,000 in 2010, but double the number in 2007 and up 70% from a decade earlier," said Ben Casselman of The Journal. I've always accepted the reality that since I'm studying to work in career thats been struggling for the past 15 years, a barista job is almost inevitable once I graduate. However, there's something about actually seeing concrete statistics on paper that just gives me chills. And for those (myself included), who were hoping that this was just a function of the economy, Casselman assures us this "may endure even after the economy improves." To avoid any further impression that this is turning into one of those stereotypical existential crisis blog posts, I'm going to change gears and talk about Bill Jacobson's visit to Ithaca College last week. Something that stood out to me while he was talking about blogging is how one of his contributors uses a pseudonym, "Fuzzy Slippers" because she doesn't want students knowing she leans to the right. Although I would understand why a conservative professor would be more secretive if the taught at Ithaca College because the majority of the student body seems to be liberal, at Cornell University I would have thought that students would be less critical of their professor's politics. That is not meant to be a criticism of Ithaca College, but based on how some students in the Independent Media conducted themselves, when Jacobson spoke about some occurrence in Massachusetts, it is in indication of sorts that IC students are more willing to object to conflicting political views. What I liked the most about Bill Jacobson was his humility. He wasn't boasting about his success as a blogger, but more giving more of an retrospective of how his blog reached acclaim and in doing so, gave advice to myself and my colleagues.