PhilAsify 101

I'm a little over two months into my freelancing career change and at the moment it's not going all that well. I haven't been hired for any steady jobs and the jobs I have been hired for haven't paid all that well--though I'm grateful to have gotten them, something is better than nothing. However, I am in pretty good spirits and I am learning a lot about freelancing and a lot about myself. I still couldn't be happier and I am positive things will get better. I have been listening to podcasts and reading blogs and articles about how to make it as a freelance writer and it's mind blowing how a lot of these folks share my mindset when it comes to college institutions. All of these freelancers want the same thing: they want to be their own boss, run their own life, make money the way they want to make it without being a slave to a corporate paycheck. So Naive I was... Sooo not worth it. Keep your diploma, I'll take that money back. I WASTED four y...

It seems the more I tap into current affairs, the more I feel that college is a crap shoot. It's a gamble. And for the Muslims out there, may I remind you that Gambling is HARAM ! (Forbidden for those not familiar with the Arab lingo) In pursuit of a college education, you risk getting into overwhelming debt. You're practically making a bet (also haram ) with those  lenders that you're going to nail a job when you graduate and will have fat stacks of cash to toss at them so they will get off your back. Easier said then done couldn't be a more appropriately used cliche to use for that. Case in point, a poor sap by the name of Nick Keith . Nick graduated from culinary school with $142,000 of debt on his head eight years ago and has yet to pay much of it off. Where is he now? Homeless! Living out of a van and on disability. It's truly a sad and horrifying story which you can read in full  here . Here's a quote from the article from Keith below.

Holy hell! The attack of the graduation caps! Ah, the month of May. Final exams are at last behind us and many of us have Google and Wikipedia to thank for that. So many people across the nation and the world spend this month preparing for that glorious day they get handed a rolled up piece of paper that symbolizes their diploma while Randy "Macho Man" Savage's theme music blasts over the intercom. For some high schoolers, this date is their biggest and for some their final noteworthy achievement of their lives. They are out of the system and are released to the real world--often with little to no preparation for what lies ahead. They are told that they have made it and are fed that tired line of the "world being their oyster". The possibilities are endless now and they can choose their path to success. For a number of those beaming faces, its their last stop, subsequently followed by finding a minimum wage job, knock up somebody/get knocked up (if they hav...