Hello!
The comments on this profile are unclaimed and thus are unverified.
Do they belong to you? Claim these comments.
Jenny Stockdale
Is this you? Claim Profile »
1 week ago
in MOBILE HOMELESS GRADUATE on The District Weekly
I appreciate the comments, folks.
I actually bounced this story off a bunch of people before I ran it because I anticipated these responses: Tell that lazy bastard to get a job, suck it up, be a man, you can't always get what you want (though, join the army was not one I came up with--kudos dds).
But, I thought it went deeper than that. Knowing Derrick to be a witty, charming, completely capable guy, it was hard for me to understand how he got to where he is. But then he told me what I told you, and it wasn't so hard to fathom anymore.
A lot of people I asked told me that they didn't have any sympathy or empathy for this guy, because if they could navigate the hurtles and tar pits unscathed, why shouldn't he be able to. I think that's pretty fair of them to say, too--just as I completely understand your comments.
I thought this story was particularly relevant for probably selfish, close-to-home reasons, some of which I'll share with you in hopes that you'll understand the point in my point-of-view journalism you seem to not like so much.
I'm a CSULB journalism grad too (except I wrote a lot in college, busted my ass at the school newspaper and know I want to be a writer). But, even as a writing professional, I make absolute beans from these stories (as do most writers, not to mention that journalists are being laid off at an alarming rate, along with everyone else). I also work in a shitty seafood restaurant serving thankless tourists for unreliable income (which is steadily declining with the plummeting economy, also, though it pays more than writing for beans).
In short, it's discouraging. How do you work your way up through your career, when your field is evaporating, you're distracted by second and third jobs and you can't even afford a place to live, to sustain you throughout your climb? How do you concentrate on anything higher than survival, when you basic needs are in jeopardy?
You say, "Get a job!" as if it were an easy thing to do right now.
But it's obviously not.
Side note:Derrick had PR Internships--not jobs, that's just his quotation--making $8.00 an hour taking coffee orders for the business class, so he was essentially still a server, making less money. (I would probably hate that too, and understand why he may have been disenchanted by it).
When I heard Derrick's story, it scared the shit out of me--because it could easily be me in his situation. Unless you're sitting pretty in retirement or grandiose affluence, it could be you, too.
I don't know what phase of life you are all in, but as a 25-year-old female who should be on her way to a successful career, I'm extremely frustrated at my circumstances--being held back by health insurance bills, rental inflation, a near 10 percent state sales tax, school loan repayment, a hostile job market and a magazine that can't afford to pay me what I should be making. Does any of this sound familiar to you?
Couple all that with the insistent voice that has pushed me (and maybe some of you?) to believe that I really can do anything, be anything...it's enough to trigger a nervous breakdown or a complete loss of hope. Which is what I think may have happened in Derrick's case, if you'll allow me that psychoanalysis.
I don't expect you to feel sorry for Derrick.
I don't expect anything from you.
Expectations only lead to disappointment, right?
Thanks for reading.
show all 4 replies
I actually bounced this story off a bunch of people before I ran it because I anticipated these responses: Tell that lazy bastard to get a job, suck it up, be a man, you can't always get what you want (though, join the army was not one I came up with--kudos dds).
But, I thought it went deeper than that. Knowing Derrick to be a witty, charming, completely capable guy, it was hard for me to understand how he got to where he is. But then he told me what I told you, and it wasn't so hard to fathom anymore.
A lot of people I asked told me that they didn't have any sympathy or empathy for this guy, because if they could navigate the hurtles and tar pits unscathed, why shouldn't he be able to. I think that's pretty fair of them to say, too--just as I completely understand your comments.
I thought this story was particularly relevant for probably selfish, close-to-home reasons, some of which I'll share with you in hopes that you'll understand the point in my point-of-view journalism you seem to not like so much.
I'm a CSULB journalism grad too (except I wrote a lot in college, busted my ass at the school newspaper and know I want to be a writer). But, even as a writing professional, I make absolute beans from these stories (as do most writers, not to mention that journalists are being laid off at an alarming rate, along with everyone else). I also work in a shitty seafood restaurant serving thankless tourists for unreliable income (which is steadily declining with the plummeting economy, also, though it pays more than writing for beans).
In short, it's discouraging. How do you work your way up through your career, when your field is evaporating, you're distracted by second and third jobs and you can't even afford a place to live, to sustain you throughout your climb? How do you concentrate on anything higher than survival, when you basic needs are in jeopardy?
You say, "Get a job!" as if it were an easy thing to do right now.
But it's obviously not.
Side note:Derrick had PR Internships--not jobs, that's just his quotation--making $8.00 an hour taking coffee orders for the business class, so he was essentially still a server, making less money. (I would probably hate that too, and understand why he may have been disenchanted by it).
When I heard Derrick's story, it scared the shit out of me--because it could easily be me in his situation. Unless you're sitting pretty in retirement or grandiose affluence, it could be you, too.
I don't know what phase of life you are all in, but as a 25-year-old female who should be on her way to a successful career, I'm extremely frustrated at my circumstances--being held back by health insurance bills, rental inflation, a near 10 percent state sales tax, school loan repayment, a hostile job market and a magazine that can't afford to pay me what I should be making. Does any of this sound familiar to you?
Couple all that with the insistent voice that has pushed me (and maybe some of you?) to believe that I really can do anything, be anything...it's enough to trigger a nervous breakdown or a complete loss of hope. Which is what I think may have happened in Derrick's case, if you'll allow me that psychoanalysis.
I don't expect you to feel sorry for Derrick.
I don't expect anything from you.
Expectations only lead to disappointment, right?
Thanks for reading.
4 replies
The Toad
Jenny--Thank you for sharing your personal insights with us. My wife and I are better than 40 years older than you are and we are scared shitless also. We are retired, trying to live on a fixed income and we face most of the same challenges you do: increasing costs for supplemental health care insurance, food costs that seem to increase at about 10% per month, the sales tax you mention, increasing (again) cost of energy, huge increases in water rates, PLUS the knowledge that hyper-inflation is inevitable given the actions already taken by the new administration. You are not alone. I don't want to give you false hope, but when we were your age, things always seemed to work out.
The reason people admire you and perhaps not Derrick is because even though he says he's ambitious, you clearly are. I think someone who graduated with a Journalism degree and yet never wrote a story is a professional slacker. Nobody wants to hire that kind of person no matter what his degree is, nor his upbringing. Rather, it's all about his character. And frankly it's gotten him to where he is now, and it's gotten you to where you are now. Guess which one of you I'd hire in the future? ;-)