Couldn't have said it better myself

Sadly, Transitionland has hit the nail on the head:

An idealistic young man is promising, principled and future-minded.
An idealistic young woman is naive, stereotypical, and a liability.
An outspoken young man is a ambitious, intelligent, and possessing of wonderful
entrepreneurial spirit. He should be promoted.
An outspoken young woman is a bossy bitch who doesn’t know her place in the hierarchy. She should be put in her place.

I work in a place that's so packed to the gills with idealists, I'm not sure the first part applies quite as much in my specific situation, but man, there are soooo many workplaces (even supposedly "enlightened" ones) where all of the above rings painfully true.

Speaking of luck...

This is going to be a fairly short post. No photos, no long discussions of yarn or patterns, and no funny stories. OK, well maybe one story.

Once upon a time there was a girl who had just finished grad school. She loved what she had studied, and had really enjoyed the prestigious internship she did while in school. But despite her solid credentials, it took her over 7 months to find a job. When she did find one, it involved a long commute, but she didn't mind because that just meant more knitting time. However, after a few months in this new job, she became very bored and started to realize that there wasn't really very much for a person in that job to do, and definitely no room for taking initiative on new projects. A few months after that, the organization where she worked realized the same thing and decided to lay her off. She was very sad, but with the support of her family and friends, she got back into the job search. This time, it lasted 6 months, and when she did find something, it was only a temporary position. But it was with such a great organization, she decided to accept it anyway, and move several states away to start work.

She tried to view the temporary position as a "foot in the door" at this place she'd always wanted to work. But when the first temporary position was followed by three other temporary positions, she started to feel rather downhearted, wondering if they were just toying with her, and didn't actually like her enough to keep her around long-term. She kept applying to permanent jobs within the organization and kept getting rejected. And each new temporary position was offered just days before the previous one was due to end (or even a few days after), so she was always on edge about whether she'd have to embark on another half-year job search. It was exhausting.

But then one day, she saw an internal posting for a permanent job that really seemed like a great fit. She put a lot of thought into her cover letter, and prepared very thoroughly for her interview. Then she got a second interview, and thought she did pretty well in that. She felt hopeful, but didn't want to get too excited only to be crushed when she didn't get it. And then finally, it happened. She was offered the job. And a raise. And an office with a window, one that she finally felt authorized to decorate and really move into. And best of all, it was at this wonderful place where she'd been for a year and a half and come to love the wonderful people doing their wonderful work. She was so happy she could cry.