Cogito ergo(nomics) sum...(Part 1)

Or not, as the case may be. 

It's taken me a few days to get the time to finally write this post. It's stewed a bit. Slow-cooked ideas work for me, on the whole, so it's probably a good thing.

A little history is necessary first.

I have taught Pilates since 2003. Before that I had a whole other life.  Several, actually. I performed with ballet companies from the late 80s until 1992. I was a graduate student in 1995-1997. I started to make performance art and experimental choreography during my graduate degree, and still do so. I stumbled into on-line journalism from 1997 until 1998 and then wound up as web designer/programmer/analyst for The Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley from 1998 until 2003. 

It's the last job that gave me the most food for thought, actually. I was working at UC during the tech boom, and then during the beginning of the bust. I was there on September 11, 2001 and experienced the first Bush II administration through the lens of the university system. 

Initially there was a lot of money for technology and the people who specialized in it. Then as the national mood soured, the administration began budget cuts. Then came the hiring freeze. (I hesitate to say the year - 2001? 2002? Some time around then.) Finally they announced "Tidal Wave I and II." In polite language, the administration intended to bring in an extra large student body to be matriculated in two enormous stages, but had no plans to hire more support staff to take care of the extra work that would result. Although nothing was mentioned, everyone knew that the tuition would also be hiked hugely and the teachers' assistants would be used even more for extensive but underpaid work. 

So there we were, with no extra personnel, exploding inboxes and job description mission creep. Like many workers there I took on a couple of extra assignments, the biggest one being "Ergonomics Evaluator." 

"Ergonomics Evaluators" were a new thing at UC. Our offices and what was in them often dated back to the thirties or before - unadjustable boxy desks from long before the computer age and old swivel or heavy wooden classroom chairs in various states of dilapidation. The hours that people were required to work meant that injuries were a constant presence. Even as a part-timer I often packed 30-40 hours into three days of work. That was when my ten-year back injury started and when it got unmanageable. 

By 2002, though, I'd healed quite a bit from my injury through bodywork and taking Pilates lessons. I also began a certification program in Pilates. When the manager, who knew about my work with my own injuries, heard that I was learning to be a Pilates teacher she gave me a bunch of documents to read and told me to start evaluating peoples' workstations.

(more to come...)