ISSUE 76 | JUN 2017

BAD JOBS

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Lisa Cerami

A Wounded Humanist Tries to Read

my poorly paid part-time contingent position at a regional private college - she didn’t smile enough at her chair - trans experience of oppression - gaslighting is the term I use for what has happened to me at my job - a room of my own and 500 a year - the discipline is in shambles - a Friday afternoon in 2015 - my husband doesn’t get it - and I care, I care - I went back on meds - my contract was changed from temporary to terminal

Ainsley Morse, Bela Shayevich

From Kholin 66

She was a men’s bathroom attendant - one guy says I’m a genius - everything people say about you / is the truth - my parents / are loudspeakers - it was too little, too late — he’d mostly moved on to trading in antiques

Graham S.

1-800-Legal-Helpers

the spring of 2008 - one of the country’s largest bankruptcy law firms - a suspiciously gung-ho middle-level supervisor - keep perpetuating this ruse - the poorest, most desperate people in the country - came to work in dress shoes and changed into slippers

Emily Sachs

Leaving the Wolves

rural, far-northern California - nursed them with baby bottles and venison - the tea kettle’s whistle wasn’t normal today - I started working here in 2008 - clearing vegetation around power poles and power lines is not interesting - families stay here for generations, republicans and libertarians rule - Kyle can be an alcoholic because he can’t lose his job - the Jews own all the banks and keep all the money for themselves - what a stupid woman I am for believing the Holocaust happened - he aims his snout toward the sky and begins his song

Dubrick Wilson

Public Interest Research Group

MASSPIRG, CALPIRG, TexPIRG - Environment America (Environment Massachusetts, Environment California…) - a small and superhumanly cheerful army of Erin Brockoviches - a soul-crushing slog racked by economic insecurity - applying for an unpaid internship with your local PIRG - Fund offices exploit their workers with as much gusto as Walmart - working at TPIN almost certainly accelerated my embrace of militant Marxism