A Brief Case for the Useful Arts

The other day I decided to create some lists for my life. Lists always clear things up for me. As I sat down to write out things I wanted to further study (possibly graduate school?) and learn how to do, I quickly saw that I had a desire to use my hands/physical being to create things. Crawford has hit on something. We humans like to produce/create, but in our fast pace, consumeristic, academically driven society we have lost the ability and desire to do manual labor. Society often looks on it as blue-collar labor for those who did not have the chance to go to college to get a high paying job, but in reality people who have learned to use their hands have also learned how to think in a conceptual manner. Life is not so abstract. One who has manuel skills can live life in a simple and satisfying way. Four years of college and a degree in history might not have prepared me for life as well as I thought.