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my workspace<br />
“It’s a very nontraditional job, and I like it<br />
that way,” Carpenter said. Before moving<br />
west, he ran a training center teaching<br />
others how to build wind turbines—a<br />
stable and comfortable profession. But<br />
when the opportunity arose, he jumped<br />
at something unconventional. Some call<br />
it a dream job, but Carpenter says it’s not<br />
so out of reach.<br />
Now the observatory administrator<br />
himself, Carpenter spends his days<br />
maintaining the ten-plus telescopes<br />
onsite, teaching daily classes to<br />
the public and pointing out “crowd<br />
pleasers” in the sky, like Saturn,<br />
Jupiter or the Orion Nebula, to<br />
his students.<br />
“I left everything for a job I knew I’d be good<br />
at, and other people can do it, too. Stop<br />
looking at me. You can do it, too.”<br />
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER <strong>2017</strong> <strong>1889</strong> WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 49
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