By Isabel Duarte<\/p>\n
Dr. Jay Driskell has been teaching atHoodCollegefor two and a half years in the history department.<\/p>\n
He is a historian who specializes in African American, Women\u2019s, and labor history. Question: \u201cWhat do you love about your job?\u201d<\/p>\n
Driskell: \u201cThere are these moments that I went through when I was an undergraduate when I put two and two together, these \u2018aha\u2019 moments\u2026 and I can see that happening. I think, for me,\u2026 there\u2019s really nothing more thrilling in life than putting two and two together. Actually being able to figure something out using the powers of your brain, I think is really one of the most satisfying things you can do and I am really glad when I can see students do that, too\u201d.<\/p>\n
Question: How did you become a historian?<\/p>\n
Driskell: \u201c[It was an] incredibly roundabout route.\u201d Due to various reasons, Driskell left home at fifteen and had to work all through high school. He graduated thirteenth in his class, and had a scholarship to write poetry at theUniversityofIllinoisinChicago.<\/p>\n
Question: What did you take from your college experience?<\/p>\n
Driskell: \u201cI hated college with a passion when I got there. I could not see anything I had in common with any of these losers who grew up in the suburbs and had nice, little cozy lives. It was really unfair of me to judge them in that way, because they had not been through what I\u2019d been through, and no one should actually go through all that if they can help it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Question: What is the demanding schedule of being a professor and a historian like?<\/p>\n
Driskell: It\u2019s worth it because [of] the \u2018aha\u2019 moments and [I] to use [my] brain for a living\u201d.<\/p>\n
Question: What advice do you have for your students?<\/p>\n
Driskell: \u201cIf you\u2019re not ready to be in college, take the time you need to get yourself ready\u2026 To be young and irresponsible is fine. Don\u2019t pay twenty thousand dollars a year to do it. Come to college when you\u2019re ready to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"