Hi y’all!
I just celebrated my 60th birthday. I went to the Pasadena Playhouse to see “Sunday in the Park with George” with friends, who then hosted a great dinner party for me. It was perfect.
I have about $145,000 in student loan debt for attaining my BA and MA in European History & Humanities. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I chose a real degree that educated, cultured, and civililzed me. It colors life more grand! I am also a veteran of the U.S. Navy!
I am in my 20th year of work as classified staff member in library acquisitions ( I worked at Columbia University, Boston College, and now Pasadena City College, in the same field, and could never save a dime). I am now half way through my my 5-year Chapter 13 Plan (only $270.00 per month). I don’t have to resume paying my student loans until July 2025. SO…that is a nice breather. Rent in Pasadena is high, but at least we voted in rent-control in November 2022…which is being challenged by the California Apartment Association in the courts, so who knows (Capitalist bastards!). I have resigned myself to the probability that my social security will be garnished by 10-15 percent, depending on who is in power in the federal government by then…) when I have to pay my student loans. Clinical burn-out, stress, and anxiety will probably lead me to retire at 62, and take my small social-security, and 2 small pensions, and work part-time (20 hours) in retail, so I can have more time to read and write. It comes to a point that you have to decide if work is accelerating your death, or preserving your life. I am leaning towards the former. But, I am not going to despair!
I figure I can live in a van for three years, after I retire, save my checks, and by 66, or so, take my money to a state with a lower cost of living, and rent a cheap apartment until I die. This is what the country wants for it’s veteran-scholars, apparently.
But, I would never trade in my choice of studies for anything! There will be a resurgance of appreciation in the studies of the arts & humanities in the future…for SO MANY REASONS!
My loan will never be paid, but the Silent Genaration, and early Baby-Boomer genocidal politicians, bankers, and college and university presidents are to blame! Not me! I will live with pride and positive energy until the end!
Never Give up! Never Give In! Never stop fighting!
Here is a poem that I wrote for my 60th Birthday. Enjoy!