Miya Tokumitsu earned her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania and teaches art history and art curatorship at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is a contributing editor...

Miya Tokumitsu earned her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania and teaches art history and art curatorship at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is a contributing editor of Jacobin, an online and print quarterly of the American le, where the following essay was published in 2015. In it, she critiques the clichéd idea that people can only be happy if they pursue a career they love. The essay’s success led to her book, Do What You Love and Other Lies about Success and Happiness (2015). Before you read, think about your expectations of your future job or career.

Do you think you will love what you do? Or do you think a job is a job, and not necessarily something that needs to be rewarding and fulfilling?

As you read, consider how clearly Tokumitsu presents her argument. Can you find her thesis easily? Identify the strategies she uses to remind you of her position throughout her argument and consider how effective they are.