Too Much Reality
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– Susan Berlowitz
Just before Thanksgiving, I was let go from a good, steady freelance job that I felt lucky to have. I have worked in the music industry for a quite a few years, and it has been imploding in upon itself since the middle 1990s, with one corporation after another consolidating, resulting in countless layoffs, espeically in New York City and in Los Angeles. The Clear Channelization of this country, in 1996, did not help our industry, either. My client, an indendent music publisher in NYC, lost her biggest client, and it has been all downhill from that day to this.
Like so many other individuals in this country, I am looking for any job that I can get. Last night, I came home to find a three-day notice to evict on my door. That’s a little bit too much reality for me. I just spent two weeks standing out on street corners in NYC, working for Grassroots Campaigns (a political consulting company hired by the DNC), raising money for Howard Dean’s “50-State Plan.” The seven days I spent with them was an education! People who stopped to talk to me opened up, while choking back tears, and told me their stories. I kept a daily detailed log.
On my second day of work, I was told, by my FM, or field manager, that I sucked. In the past, I have worked middle management and upper management jobs, and if I had told an employee of mine that they sucked, on their second day, or on any day, at the very least, I would have been reprimanded, I’m certain, by someone. I can’t believe this is the world that we are expected to accept– with a smile, accompanied by big pay cuts. Oh, yes, I forgot, the Grassroots Campaigns training we received definitely qualified all of us for the “perky” brigade. It was straight out of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book. They were also into “passion.” My daily log includes — 1) to whom I spoke, 2) the locations to which I was assigned, 3) conversations in the office, 4) my immediate daily FM (field manager), 5) morning conversations in the office and more. Orignally, I was drawn to the Grassroots Campaigns ad by the words, “Hiring Immediately.” In addition, I believe in Howard Dean’s plan.
When a person needs a job, the words “Hiring Immediately” are like music to the ears. From the beginning, though, my days were probably numbered. I don’t have time to beat around the bush! Every morning meeting began with a question — 1) What movie star (alive or dead) would you want to play your life? Answer: Susan Sarandon. I could feel the shudder go around the room. 2) If you could recommend only one book of literture, what book would that be? Answer: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver — another shudder — although most people in the room had never heard of the book. I caught on quickly that independent women didn’t score very high on their lists. After three days, when I shared with one of the FMs that I didn’t ever plan to vote for Chuck Schumer or Hillary Clinton, regardless of what they were running for, the air became quite chilly. I told Pete, the FM, “I am a true progressive, a liberal, and I am proud to say I am.” The young whippersnapper, 25-something, couldn’t handle it.
The best part of the job was standing out on those street corners, hollering out my grab line, “Do you have a moment for the Democrats?” — and talking to the people who stopped. Some of the unemployed people actually emptied their pockets out to me — $7, $4, $2, etc. Others were closer to losing their apartments, like me, and couldn’t give. I also talked to quite a few Europeans and Canadians, who just shook their heads at the state of the union — The United States. I wish I would have known about United Professionals when I was out on the streets. Some of the unemployed would have been excited to learn that someone, somewhere, is advocating for them.