Since I've started settling into this retirement phase, I'm both looking forward and looking back. I said that I want to write and rabble-rouse, now that I have the time. Today I was penciling in my rabble-rousing on the calendar for this week: Monday a 15 minutes of silence rally on the museum mall downtown at noon. That's to honor the memory of Martin Luther King who was killed on April 4, 1968 while supporting the sanitation workers. Now here we are all these years later and labor is in the forefront again. Tuesday is another rally to oppose proposed legislation that would drastically reduce worker protections in North Carolina. Same place, 1:00.
I've been a worker, in one way or another, all my life. I've always identified with people who work for a living, because I am one. It's never been my ambition to be rich; simply being able to support myself and the people I love is what has mattered. I've spent most of my life on the lower rung of the middle class, financially speaking, but I've never been tipped over the edge into homelessness or hunger, and for that I am grateful. I did put in my time as a welfare mom in the 70s though. That was no fun at all.
I've been thinking about the jobs I've had, good and bad ---- and awful. So I thought I'd make a list.
My first paid job was teaching swimming to kids in the AYA summer rec program. I made .75 an hour. They got their money's worth --- I didn't really know how to swim, so they gave me the beginners and a long pole to fish them out with. My youngest sister was in the class. Different times, back in '63.
Babysitting --- lots of babysitting. 35 cents an hour
I got married less than a year after high school, after one semester of college. I thought I would be staying home and having babies. He thought I'd be getting a job. I got a job.
assembly line -- building detonators for bombs in a munitions factory --- worst job ever.
kitchen and dining work in the mess hall at Bainbridge Naval Training Center
File Clerk -- NRMC
Work study - library U of Ill
Waitress - Tom's Steakhouse
Waitress - Lums
Bartender - HoJo
Bartender and waitress - Shanigans
shipping clerk - vacuum factory
child care
Teacher - 5th and 6th grade
file clerk - Dept. of Labor
computer operator - EDS
file clerk - DOL
retail gift shop - Beefeater Shop Lajes AFB
Crisis Counselor
Grad Teacher Asst - Illinois State Univ.
concession worker - Checkerdome (yes, the year that NC State won basketball)
Family group counselor
Home Day Care
Tutoring
historic interpreter - Lincoln Log Cabin
teacher
waitress
Census worker
business owner - Travels through Time - 14 years
also waitress for the first 5 years of TtT
Durham Arts Council Interim CAPS director
Teacher - Poe Montessori Magnet School WCPSS
RETIRED!!!
That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure I missed some. No wonder I'm tired.
How interesting! Were these all in order of appearance? You have done a lot. It would seem to me that you could put your experience to good use...I often think of the times when (and I think this was before my time) folks looked to the elders for historical perspective on life and society. That seems to be right up your alley, in terms of the history aspect...I don't see you as "aged"! Hehe! I do see you as possessing a certain wisdom and curiosity...two qualities that I think go well together.
ReplyDeleteYes, they're in order. The first was age 13.
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