Getting Desperate…
The other day on his blog, Franklin confessed to having a system for posting that kept him
“from making public things I’ve written in the throes of depression, things so maudlin that Sylvia Plath would roll her eyes and tell me to just get the fuck over it.
Well, Franklin, I’ll see your eye-rolling Sylvia Plath and raise you a comparatively optimistic Anne Sexton. Lately I feel that everything I write is dripping with misery and self-indulgent speculation about the hopelessness of it all.
Somehow I feel compelled to tell you all that in the midst of my whining, I do manage to maintain a little perspective. This morning I was listening to NPR and they were interviewing a woman from Mississippi (or was it Missouri?) who makes $6.70 an hour working at Burger King. As if that doesn’t suck in and of itself, it turns out that her salary is too high for her to qualify for Medicare (Or is it Medicaid, and what is the difference? I feel I ought to know this, and yet somehow the thought of trying to make sense of it all gives me a sudden case of a coma.) They went on to point out that as a woman with 3 children, she would have to make less than $87.00 per week in order to receive coverage in her state. What the fuck? And don’t get me started on the woman who has Cerebral Palsy and is not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare or maybe both, and now has to give up the dog who is trained to alert her to oncoming seizures because she can’t afford him. Yes, my friends, things could be worse. I realize this.
I am trying to use my “perspective” to bolster my spirits, but mostly, I think my new “perspective” is starting to feel more like further “evidence” that there is a vast conspiracy to kick people when they are down and more than that, to punish people who are poor. I keep trying to remember if things felt this hopeless and dire when Reagan was in office. I’m sure it did. But somehow, this time around seems worse.
No news on The Perfect Job, and I’m pretty sure at this point it is safe to say there won’t be any word at all. Nevertheless, I have applied for a few other less exciting things and I’m going in to talk with a placement agency later this week. So, there is potential escape on the horizon.
Also, I finished one of my socks and am well on my way into the second one. The second one should go much more quickly, as it will likely involve less ripping back and trying to fit the right number of repeats into the space of my size 8.5 foot.
May 11th, 2005 at 2:11 pm
That sock is gorgeous, though with the needles in the end of it, it looks a wee bit like a blue star-nosed mole on steroids…(note to self: you may try on your sock while you are knitting it, but for the love of wool and all other things that help to avoid pain, DON’T WALK.)
Want to move to Canada?
Good luck with your plans to escape the evil minions…
May 11th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
That is one nifty sock, and rather a fetching chessboard as well. Do you and Mr. Knittiot square off against each other to pass the long winter evenings?
When I was in Amsterdam, I got a question from a Dutchman (he was quite in earnest) about why Americans are so generous to the needy in other countries and so miserly in helping out their own. (Holland has rather spectacular system of social support.) All I could say was what I always say: I have no idea, because I don’t seem to think about these things like most Americans - at least not the ones in charge…
May 12th, 2005 at 6:56 am
You aren’t the only one who doesn’t know the difference between Medicare and Medicade. I wonder why it is that so few of us know or even care about the difference.
I really love your socks, I can’t wait to see what you do with the ones on 0’s!
May 12th, 2005 at 10:51 am
There very much does seem to be a system in place to screw the poor even more than being poor screws them. There’s an invisible line and once one drops beneath it they’re no longer even citizens, it seems.
But your sock, by all that’s good and beautiful, is magnificent.
Americans as a group appear to lack compassion utterly, but taken as individuals we’re concerned and loving. I don’t understand how this works, but as a nation we’re obscenely rich and children die in our gutters. *shaking head*
May 12th, 2005 at 11:59 am
whoa, deep.
great sock.
I can’t think of anything witty or good to say.
May 12th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
“I can’t think of anything witty or good to say.”
When in doubt, beth, make a crack like “nice gams” or mention something factual about fruit. Works for me. *nirg*