Co-working is for those of us who work at home, but get a bit bored and like company. You know, the semi-anonymous sort of company that exists in a cubicle world. So we find a place to rent a desk. Perhaps if I didn’t work at home with Jim, and didn’t live in a neighborhood with neighbors who were home often enough to be coworkers, I’d be into this. Might it be a city thing? Do any readers rent a space to co-work with others? How does it work for you?
Is a mentor an advisor? A friend? Both? Inside Higher Ed explores this topic as it relates to mentoring students. And do students benefit if a mentor is simply an advisor? Do they benefit more if the mentor actually “cares” about them? You be the judge. And keep in mind that mentoring is correlated to advancement and retention at work. I swear.
And do your coworkers know your religion (or lack of religion)? That’s the discussion at Transient and Permanent as related to Unitarian Universalism. I’ve found that no one cares about my religion at work. At least not in a Catholic workplace, Indian workplace, or Jewish workplace.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
My Hindu cubemate has told me about their funerary and wedding traditions. And we have discussed my oddball history of evangelical education. When a Jewish person is taking a holiday off it comes up, but only so far as “You’re taking off Yom Kippur? Is that the fun holiday or the atonement holiday? That sucks. Oh you’re just using it so you can mow your lawn finally? Well, see you Wednesday then.”
But generally, I’ve noticed people at all of my jobs have shied away from talking about religion far more than they avoid politics. Possibly because it’s considered more personal?
October 28th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I’ve heard from a number of people in LA that people just don’t talk about politics at their jobs (religion seems fine), and I’ve certainly found that to be the case.