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PERSONALSTATEMENT

A BITTERSWEET BUSINESS
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A
FAMILY-OWNED CANDY STORE
BY ELLIOT ALPERN

Almost five years ago, my life
changed in a way few would
ever dream possible and
even fewer could actually claim to
have experienced. Everything was
thrown into disarray - my very
social identity was transformed,
and I was powerless to stop it. Like
so many before me, I fell victim to
my father's career change. Luckily,
this isn't a story of displacement to
a remote region I can't pronounce,
but of how my father decided to
open a candy store.
First: No, I cannot get you free
candy. This is something I can sel-
dom take advantage of myself. I
don't mean to be selfish, but I can't
allow some random reader to jeop-
ardize my supply. Second: If you
approach me, chances are I will
not happen to be carrying around
whatever your favorite candy is.
I'm not a pinata. Third: I've seen
both Willy Wonka movies, and I'm
sorry if I spoil your fantasy, but as
of yet, we have neither a chocolate
waterfall nor an army of orange-
faced midgets. Get over it.
In early2005, my dad was struck
with the inspiration that our little
LAW SCHOOL
From Page 7B
-igan State, which is a much newer
law school and doesn't compete
with U of M's, the State kids will
apply for those government jobs,
and now they're finding out that
kids who went to Yale or U of M
and were at the top of their class are
also applying for those jobs," Bre-
dell said.
This means students from lower-
tier schools who usually rely on the
government jobs are left out in the
cold. Many of the "scamblogs" -
like "Shilling Me Softly" and "Third
Tier Reality" - are created by these

suburb of Pittsburgh was in dire and helping customers find that
need of a candy store. His father had one candy bar that, decades earlier,
owned a clothing store in upstate had made them a very happy child.
New York, and I would guess that, I saw my friends daily and had my
just like him, my dad was bit by the finger on the pulse of the town. It
entrepreneurial bug. It's a fairly was perfect.
common pest that tends to run in The problem with perfec-
families - lucky me. Nothing in his tion, in any case, is that it doesn't
previous lines of work in aerospace, exist. Some things can be close
Apple computers, a bookstore and for a few fleeting moments, but
a society for automotive engineers from a tower of cards to your last
would lend itself to or explain his great relationship, they tend not
to last. A business
"I spent about two solid years takes an inordi-
nate amount of
considering the store a parasitic effort to main-
tain, and anybody
influence on my life." who grew up in
a small-business
newfound career, but he had made family can tell you that a store is
his decision. like another family member. It
Village Candy opened in the needs to be cared after at all times;
small town of Sewickley, Penn. you can't put it in a kennel for a
about one year later, with upcom- vacation. When it has a problem,
ing freshman Elliot Alpern as its everybody connected to it has a
first employee. Initially, it was a problem. Accordingly, when you
fulfillment of everything I wanted: become ingrained in a business to
free candy, a salary and a boss who, that extent, it becomes a part of
at times, I could relate to. Tasks in who you are.
a given day included sorting jelly After 2006, whenever a friend
beans, bundling licorice into bags would introduce me, it would go

something along the lines of "This
is Elliot. His dad owns the candy
store." It was a cool novelty for the
first few times, but as "hisdadown-
sthecandystore" became my last
name, I began to wonder whether
or not that was my public iden-
tity. First impressions are hard
to change, and though I accept-
ed the role, I always wondered
who thought of me as Elliot and
who had simply classified me
as "that kid with the candy
store."
I also swiftly learned
that working for your par-
ents is extremely different
from working for an objec-
tive employer. Your parents can
call you in a scant five minutes
before the arrival of 1,000 pounds
of M&Ms (seriously, by way of
tractor-trailer), and they gener-
ally know your whereabouts for
the day, making it impossible to
claim a predetermined schedul-
ing conflict. Almost any time of
day, any day of the week, I was
unofficially on call, waiting to give
emergency relief in the event of
the local summer camp bringing
unfailingly excited preschoolers
to spend exactly $1.50 each in con-
fections (and honestly, who trusts
four-year-olds with arithmetic). I
wasn't an employee so much as an
indentured servant.
I spent about two solid years
considering the store a parasitic
influence on my life. Two years
taking for granted a store filled
"But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't
thinking about the debt that I'm
taking on right now."
Dendrinos is seeking a career
in the public interest sector and
described how that wouldn't have
been possible without the forgive-
ness laws.
"If I'm only making $35,000 a
year I won't have to pay that much
in loan interest," she said. "I would
not have come here if that hadn't
happened because I could not pay
back my loans on that income."
Though the legal sector is
becoming more competitive with
shrinking job opportunities, Kahn
encouraged students to still pursue
a law degree.

with Sour Patch Kids and Skittles,
with Smarties and Dots. And then,
one summer, it dawned on me that
all the odd-hour requisitions, all
the little kids that communicated
by screaming at airplane decibel
levels, all the people who knew
me as the business poster child
- were all great.
Those little
kids would
grow
up and
think
back
Swith nos-
talgia of
the local
candy store, a
type of memory
that is becom-
ing increas- ingly more
rare these days. For
me, I never real- ized that
working there let me
hang out with my dad
when I should've done
homework, let me lis-
ten to Led Zeppelin or
Jane's Addiction while I
earned money, and let
me, after an arduous or
depressing day, grab a hand-
ful of Reese's Pieces and
relax. So, like those little kids,
I'll remember the candy store well
into old age.
- Elliot Alpern is an LSA
freshman and an arts writer
for The Michigan Daily.
"You don't have to become a
lawyer if you don't want to. There
are a lot of other opportunities
where law training would be help-
ful in getting the position," Kahn
said. "There are some very suc-
cessful business people who didn't
go into law, even though they had a
law degree."
Zearfoss expressed similar opti-
mism for the future of law schools
and the students who choose to
pursue law degrees.
"Practicing law is incredibly
rewarding, and you also get to
feel like you're helping people,"
she said. "From this point of view,
those are the advantages of being
a lawyer even ina bad economy."

the
statement
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
The WightOf a
Will the monetary
sacrifice that comes with
law school pay off in
today's economy?
& Page 6B

students who are unable to find law
jobs and don't have the money to
repaytheir loans.
"It'svery comparable to someone
who runs off to Vegas and blows
$200,000 on one hand of Black Jack
and they lose - it's like for the rest
of my life I'm going to be paying
off this massive amount of debt,"
Sanderson-Cimino said, empathiz-
ing with the disgruntled graduate
students from other schools.
While Sanderson-Cimino didn't
find the advice from the Career
Services Office to be beneficial, the
alumni network at the University
and at Carleton College where he
completed his undergraduate stud-
ies helped him secure a job.

"The alumni network can be
pretty loyal. I actually found some-
thing mostly because I talked to
alumni from Michigan," he said.
Besides seeking help from alum-
ni, University Law School students
who have a job that pays below a
certain level can enlist in the Debt
Management/Loan Repayment
Assistance Program. There are also
federal loan forgiveness laws which
erase students' loans if they work
for at least 10 years in the public
interest.
"It's not Michigan's goal to leave
its graduates high and dry, there are
programs to kind of help you man-
age debt - especially if you want to
work in public interest," Estep said.

SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO THE LITERARY ISSUE.
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