Administrative Quote by Kevin Sessums
“I had no administrative function at the New Yorker. I am what we used to call in construction back in Kansas City where I grew up "a dog-ass subcontractor."”
About This Quote
Source Memoir: "The Other Side of Paradise", 2015
Describes his early career as a low‑status construction worker before becoming a writer.
In simple terms: He was once a construction worker before writing.
Key Takeaway
Recognize humble beginnings.
Themes
career
identity
humility
Mood
introspective
hopeful
Type
biographical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- construction sites
- journalism
- publishing industry
Key Concepts
social mobility
self‑definition
writing
Questions to Reflect On
- How did your past work shape your writing voice?
- What obstacles did you face changing fields?
A Different Perspective
Transitioning careers can be challenging and uncertain.
![“I'm sorry to keep focusing on the New Yorker, but everybody who was growing up when Calvin [Trillin] and I were growing up wanted to be published in the New Yorker.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/844/kevin-sessums-9486_growing_i-m-sorry-to-keep-focusing-on-the-new-yo_2262220.jpg)
![“David Remnick [the New Yorker's editor in chief]is about as interested in anything gay as I am interested in anything to do with baseball. It drives me nuts.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/eae/kevin-sessums-9486_baseball_david-remnick-the-new-yorker-s-editor-in_636097.jpg)
![“I just so desperately wanted to be published in New Yorker, and I'd so desperately try to get something in it. But I'd always get nice letters back telling me that Mr. Shawn [William Shawn, the New Yorker's editor from 1952 to 1987] just didn't like this or didn't like that about what I submitted.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/042/kevin-sessums-9486_editors_i-just-so-desperately-wanted-to-be-publi_606050.jpg)
![“[Calvin Trilllin] is not writing about things that I can criticize. I can call these other people out for what I think they are not doing. There's a big difference.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d59/kevin-sessums-9486_bigs_calvin-trilllin-is-not-writing-about-thi_59424.jpg)
![“[Larry Kramer] thinks Charles de Gaulle was gay. He thinks Max Schmeling was gay.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/045/kevin-sessums-9486_gay_larry-kramer-thinks-charles-de-gaulle-wa_160828.jpg)
![“Sometimes if I am walking down the street and thinking about my panoply of God, Ganesha, Parvati [Ganesha's mother], I say "Lucifer," because he belongs in that panoply. I miss him. That's why I'm a theist.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b00/kevin-sessums-9486_ifs_sometimes-if-i-am-walking-down-the-stree_338066.jpg)
![“We didn't know each other [with Larry Kramer at Yale], but we had a lot of mutual friends.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/efb/kevin-sessums-9486_friends_we-didn-t-know-each-other-with-larry-kra_608949.jpg)
![“I believe we really became friends [with Larry Kramer] when we bonded at our fifteenth class reunion in 1972.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/68c/kevin-sessums-9486_believe_i-believe-we-really-became-friends-with_642749.jpg)
![“One of the few nice things about [time in Yale] was you got to know people before there were labels on them, so you got to know them as people, not as either gay or straight. Because as far as we knew, we thought everyone was straight.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3ca/kevin-sessums-9486_gay_one-of-the-few-nice-things-about-time-in_687609.jpg)
![“I wrote an essay too, and mine started something like, "When I was asked to contribute to this book, I said, 'I could do a piece on [Larry] Kramer as a pain in the ass, but I suppose you have too many of those, as it is.'" And Sarah's began something like, "When I read about America's angriest…” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/259/kevin-sessums-9486_activist_i-wrote-an-essay-too-and-mine-started-so_727114.jpg)
