His Work: Professor of Physics and Mathematics.

Mr. Feldman says his work “doesn’t always seem like work” because it’s “inspiring, fun, tiring, [and] challenging in a good sense.” He explains to me that it’s what he does but doesn’t seem like a ‘job’ or just something you have to push through and do and he elaborates to tell me that it “certainly is work and a sense of professionalism that goes along with that.”

 As a professor you might think that Mr. Feldman spends most of his time in classrooms but in reality most of his time is spent in his office. He tells me that students are “the best part of the job” and that working with them is “always sort of an energizing thing.” He says it is “recharging something, it’s energizing in that sense even if it’s tiring in other ways… and it’s fun too.”

Mr. Feldman just moved into this space a little over two months ago and says ““it’s a really nice change” and in comparison to his old office he says “I didn’t realize how cramped I was.” He seems to like his new space and tells me “I feel a lot more productive in this space. I feel happier about it. It’s more comfortable. I feel like I have space to think, space to lay things out if I need to…. And it’s brighter and it’s warmer so I feel very pleasant about it. You know there are days when work is absolutely maddening, there are days when work is joyous, usually it’s both at the same time. But I feel that it’s a really good workspace. It’s not perfect but it’s really pretty good.” One of the things that isn’t perfect is the heating system because his office is almost always too hot.  It’s an old building and the thermostat is controlled through a different office, but he opens a window to let out some of the hot air and appears satisfied.

Mr. Feldman describes and compares his new office with his old one and tell me his old office was dark and cold. He then tells me “I got seven lights, and at night it’s really bright” in his new office. Mr. Feldman adequately substitutes the lack of natural light in the winter by placing clip lamps all through the room. “I’ve come to the realization that, yeah I need light. It makes you happy particularly because there’s not a lot of natural light here in the winter.”

Inherent in his work is a “certain freedom to pursue ideas and pursue work in a somewhat unstructured way, not an archaic way but somewhat unstructured” and he tells me that is “very much a benefit” because he has a decent amount of flexibility as to when his classes are scheduled and his office hours. “I wouldn’t think of my classroom as a workspace. I wouldn’t describe it that way but obviously it is. For one it’s very much a shared space so I don’t look at it as my space. To some extent, teaching and time in the classroom just doesn’t feel like work.” He compares it to a musician where the stage isn’t their workspace, it’s the practice room.

Themes: inspiring, fun, challenging, doesn’t always seem like work.