Crazy Job Postings Part II

[Melissa T]

OK, this is my new favorite thread today. 

1) Janean, that show was amazing. I have a bit of an interest in folks who leave exclusive relgious communities (I'm from PA so I get the whole Amish and Mennonite thing, and I live in Brooklyn and have friends who are ex-Hasidic), so I watched it entirely rapt. 

2) Renata, now I'm really hoping that the Talent Specialists are Cylons. 

[Renata S]

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@Melissa T wrote:

OK, this is my new favorite thread today. 

1) Janean, that show was amazing. I have a bit of an interest in folks who leave exclusive relgious communities (I'm from PA so I get the whole Amish and Mennonite thing, and I live in Brooklyn and have friends who are ex-Hasidic), so I watched it entirely rapt. 

2) Renata, now I'm really hoping that the Talent Specialists are Cylons. 

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1) I'm intrigued by it too, since seeing the series. I'm in Montreal and there's a Hasidic community here that lives in an area of town that's now gone trendoid. So a bit of a weird cultural collision is happening there. Although I have met a Hasic grandmother who's an absolute hoot, I don't know that much about the community. When you encounter anyone from that community, they don't really interact. I once rescued some little kid's ball when it rolled into the middle of the street because I had a feeling he'd run after it. He was about 3, maybe. and I just told him to stay where he was while I ran to get it in the middle of the street. His mom, who saw the whole thing, didn't say one word to me. 

2) Melissa, I can't tell you how I know that, but when I started to think about how random the stuff I'm getting is, the hybrid unintelligence theory completely took hold of my brain. Those referrals are way too insane to be the result of any sort of normal unassisted human unintelligence. 

[Melissa T]

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@Renata S wrote:

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1) I'm intrigued by it too, since seeing the series. I'm in Montreal and there's a Hasidic community here that lives in an area of town that's now gone trendoid. So a bit of a weird cultural collision is happening there. Although I have met a Hasic grandmother who's an absolute hoot, I don't know that much about the community. When you encounter anyone from that community, they don't really interact. I once rescued some little kid's ball when it rolled into the middle of the street because I had a feeling he'd run after it. He was about 3, maybe. and I just told him to stay where he was while I ran to get it in the middle of the street. His mom, who saw the whole thing, didn't say one word to me. 

2) Melissa, I can't tell you how I know that, but when I started to think about how random the stuff I'm getting is, the hybrid unintelligence theory completely took hold of my brain. Those referrals are way too insane to be the result of any sort of normal unassisted human unintelligence. 

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I spent last weekend in Montreal! I hadn't been there before. Spent a lot of time in Plateau Mont Royal (and climbed all the stairs to the Chalet at the top of the hill), but definitely went through Mile End and felt the Jewish influences there... and the hipster ones. Ate at Beautys, which was great. I have similar experiences to your young boy/ball/silent mom scenario all the time in Brooklyn. A lot of it is the insular nature of a community which is taught that everyone else is "other", that they themselves are "other", and it's a bit of an oil and water situation where the 2 entities can be in the same space, but never mix. Back to Montreal for a moment: I absolutely adored the Citeé Mémoire I got to see projected at the Palais de Justice. I really love how the city embraces public art. To that end, the El Mac piece painted on a bldg on rue de Bellechase called La Mère Créatrice is stunning. I made a special excursion to see it because I adore his work. I was lucky enough to eat at Robin Square (they introduced me to pouding choômeur which I'd never tried before and put a sparkler in it for my birthday, which was adorable), Au Pied de Cochon, and Au Festin de Babette which were all wonderful and made me truly appreciate Montreal as a food city. 

My husband is working on some AI stuff and it's fascinating. Every time I think I'm comfortable with technology he tells me some new thing he's doing and I get completely freaked out all over again! 

[Renata S]

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@Melissa T wrote:

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I really love how the city embraces public art. To that end, the El Mac piece painted on a bldg on rue de Bellechase called La Mère Créatrice is stunning. I made a special excursion to see it because I adore his work. I was lucky enough to eat at Robin Square (they introduced me to pouding choômeur which I'd never tried before and put a sparkler in it for my birthday, which was adorable), Au Pied de Cochon, and Au Festin de Babette which were all wonderful and made me truly appreciate Montreal as a food city. 

My husband is working on some AI stuff and it's fascinating. Every time I think I'm comfortable with technology he tells me some new thing he's doing and I get completely freaked out all over again! 

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Too funny. I could have run you over on my bike if a Montreal road crew hadn't run it over a few weeks ago. I live about two blocks from La Mère Créatrice -- it just floors me when I walk by it. Such an amazing piece. I'm glad you had such a good time here. It's a city with a really amazing vibe. But really horrific winters. (Maybe that accounts for the vibe -- we're all just so pleasantly surprised to still be alive).

The AI stuff is just freaky. Although there are so many potentially cool things you can produce with all of these new techniques. I edit for someone who does a lot of whacky medical applications. I like it that he's out there figuring all this stuff out.  

[Melissa T]

Ahhh, Renata, I wish I'd known, I would have insisted (like a typical American) that we meet up for coffee or whatnot. We were in your hood on Sunday when it was raining like mad. Totally worth it to see El Mac's work, though. We stuffed ourselves at Poutine Centrale. 

[Renata S]

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@Melissa T wrote:

Ahhh, Renata, I wish I'd known, I would have insisted (like a typical American) that we meet up for coffee or whatnot. We were in your hood on Sunday when it was raining like mad. Totally worth it to see El Mac's work, though. We stuffed ourselves at Poutine Centrale. 

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I think you'd just pass for a typical Montrealer for insisting on coffee. I might not have been able to make it though. First my phone/Internet went (turned out to be a bad jack), then I was busy bailing. I live in a building that's probably circa 1900. I'm not sure if it was the rain but my bathtub started filling of its own accord. 

[Melissa T]

That rain was impressively constant. I hope you got your flood sorted. 

[Pandora H]

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@Janean L wrote:

One of my best friends is ex-Amish. (She is featured on the PBS series about leaving the Amish.) In addition, I was raised in an area where there are many Amish and Mennonite families. I happen to be fairly familiar with the culture -- about as familiar as a non-Amish can be, without being married to an ex-Amish or being a scholar.

The Amish are discouraged from reading fiction of any sort. Romance books would be considerd to be a waste of time.

Amish romance novels are definitely a "thing," however. The target audience is an older group of females who are looking for "Little House on the Prairie"-style books with a dash more adult content, but definitely rated no more than PG. The typical request is for "sweet Amish romance writing."

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Wow many thanks for sharing that. I actually thought Amish would be really ANTI-fiction across the board, but apparently I was mistaken (or outdated, heh).

I totally get your "Little House on the Prairie" reference, as I grew up reading those. And little else, because orthadox - think uber conservative, right wing Quiverfull families. was my life until I was 13. Most certainly, that degree of "realism" might be why this genre has gained traction in recent years.

I've read up on the Amish, and watched some documenteries (maybe I've seen the one you mentioned, even). Some parts of their lifestyle are fascinating and quite contemporary, and others are still firmly rooted in the 14th century, mores the pity.

[Janean L]

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@Pandora H wrote:

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Wow many thanks for sharing that. I actually thought Amish would be really ANTI-fiction across the board, but apparently I was mistaken (or outdated, heh).

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___Pandora --The Amish ARE mostly anti-fiction. The "sweet Amish romance novels" are written by those outside the community. Note especially that Amish children go to school only through the 8th grade. My friend graduated from Smith College, but only because of her own exceptional nature, intelligence, and perseverance. She also did this as an "Ada Comstock Scholar" (older matriculant), and did not earn her degree until she was in her fourth decade of life.  The Amish themselves most definitely do NOT produce authors.

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[Renata S]

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@Janean L wrote:

One of my best friends is ex-Amish. (She is featured on the PBS series about leaving the Amish.) In addition, I was raised in an area where there are many Amish and Mennonite families. I happen to be fairly familiar with the culture -- about as familiar as a non-Amish can be, without being married to an ex-Amish or being a scholar.

The Amish are discouraged from reading fiction of any sort. Romance books would be considerd to be a waste of time.

Amish romance novels are definitely a "thing," however. The target audience is an older group of females who are looking for "Little House on the Prairie"-style books with a dash more adult content, but definitely rated no more than PG. The typical request is for "sweet Amish romance writing."

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I saw this series, and I had to watch the whole thing back to back because I couldn't wrap my head around what it would be like to be exiled from your home community for essentially wanting to explore the outside world.

Thanks for clearing up the niche publishing mystery. I was wondering if it was something along those lines.