2006.09.14: September 14, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ghana: Nashua Telegraph: Peter DiCampo writes: I’ve left The Nashua Telegraph, joined the Peace Corps, and leave for Ghana in a few days
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2006.09.14: September 14, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ghana: Nashua Telegraph: Peter DiCampo writes: I’ve left The Nashua Telegraph, joined the Peace Corps, and leave for Ghana in a few days
Peter DiCampo writes: I’ve left The Nashua Telegraph, joined the Peace Corps, and leave for Ghana in a few days
"We’re confused, we’re uncertain about the future, we’re irresponsible. We drink too much. We don’t know how to cook food or do laundry or pay bills. We don’t have enough money, and what we have, we spend on things we don’t need. We go out all the time because we don’t want to be at home. We’re bored here, but we don’t want to leave. It’s too hard to get a job in our field, and if we have one, we’re not sure that it’s what we want. Really, we’re never sure what we want, and we don’t know why. They have their own choices to make, and I’ve made mine. I’ve left The Telegraph, joined the Peace Corps, and leave for Ghana in a few days. After a summer of indecision, I’ve finally decided that adulthood can wait."
Peter DiCampo writes: I’ve left The Nashua Telegraph, joined the Peace Corps, and leave for Ghana in a few days
22 and counting
By Peter DiCampo, Staff Photographer
Published: Thursday, Sep. 14, 2006
We’re in our early 20s, and we just got out of college. We’re trying to start the rest of our lives. Some of us are trying not to.
We’re confused, we’re uncertain about the future, we’re irresponsible. We drink too much. We don’t know how to cook food or do laundry or pay bills. We don’t have enough money, and what we have, we spend on things we don’t need. We go out all the time because we don’t want to be at home. We’re bored here, but we don’t want to leave. It’s too hard to get a job in our field, and if we have one, we’re not sure that it’s what we want. Really, we’re never sure what we want, and we don’t know why.
Is it us? Is there something wrong with us, with this generation in this part of the world, that makes us unable to function as adults? Is it because we were brought up not wealthy but comfortable, that we never learned the value of a dollar, that we have the safety net of our parents? Do we spend money we don’t have because we’ve never had any proof that saving is important? Are we never completely satisfied and always uneasy with our decisions because this is the first time in our lives that we’ve really had decisions to make?
Twenty-two years old, at home again, and starting my first real job, I spent this summer photographing my friends in an attempt to answer some of these questions. In the end, I found no answers, but I no longer feel I need any. While I still have the doubts and fears that come with reaching this age, I’ve let go of the feeling that there’s something wrong with me, something wrong with us. We’re just growing up.
The five people featured here are, in my mind, examples of this age, teetering between college and adulthood, finding themselves with new responsibilities but often unable to leave childhood behind.
They have their own choices to make, and I’ve made mine. I’ve left The Telegraph, joined the Peace Corps, and leave for Ghana in a few days. After a summer of indecision, I’ve finally decided that adulthood can wait.
When this story was posted in September 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
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Story Source: Nashua Telegraph
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ghana
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