Struggling Ivy Leaguer Makes Good
Last Thursday 02138 - the independent magazine about Harvard alumni - carried and essay from Julie Buxbaum, a Harvard Law grad who threw it all away to pursue literature:
On the other hand, I am currently dressed in head to toe Old Navy. My highlights are grown passed my ears. That latte is a splurge, sushi an absolute no-no. And, of course, there is the constant, nagging guilt—like an angry rash—when I check my dwindling bank balance, when I remember I spent close to a quarter million dollars on higher education, when I realize that it was less than a year ago that I was making six figures. I was a litigator at a top law firm, an HLS graduate, a somebody. Now, well, to be honest, I am not too sure who I am, what exactly I "do."
Can you feel it? The poverty? The suffering? The struggle? It's poignant; painful, even.
Even more painful: Publishers Marketplace reports "Julie Buxbaum's debut novel THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE, about a 29-year-old attorney who lost her mother as a teenager and finds her well-constructed life falling apart when she can't commit to the man who loves her, to Susan Kamil at Dial Press, in a major deal."
To remind you, "major" is half a million dollars and up. Enjoy your sushi, Julie.
