America

Whenever Nora and I listen to the radio at home, the dial is tuned to WXPN, the public radio station out of Philadelphia. It is an amazing source for new music as well as to walk down memory lane. We have been members for quite a long time, the initial membership the result of a Christmas gift from me to Nora soon after we discovered, and became regular listeners.

This past week, WXPN has been playing the top 885 cover songs, as voted on by the listeners. (WXPN is found at 88.5 on the FM dial, hence the number of songs).

Just a few minutes ago, at #35, the Yes version of Simon and Garfunkel's song "America" was played. I was immediately transported back to English class, freshmen year in high school, 1972 when Mr Topper used the song, the original, not the Yes version, as a discussion topic. He played the song a number of times, in its entirety, as well as portions, to spur the class to consider, and to interpret. 

Here are the words. 

 

[Verse 1]
"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag"
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And walked off to look for America

[Verse 2]
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America"

[Bridge]
Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said, "Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera"

[Verse 3]
"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

[Verse 4]
"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America

I can't say for sure that Mr Topper's introduction of this song had anything to do with the travels I embarked upon after leaving high school. I do know that after a lackluster semester at college as part of the track that was expected of students like me, I dropped out.

After a few years of bill paying but unsatisfying jobs, I began to travel, first by bus, then with my thumb. Although I never made it to Saginaw, I did take two cross country bus rides, both which began with Pittsburgh as the first stop. The first took me to the Grand Canyon, out and back with two days at the great crater, the second one more ambitious, all the way across America, and up to Seattle, then back to home, a dozen cities in 14 days. For those who are curious, a two week bus pass, if memory serves, cost $150. Total.

Once emboldened, I hitchhiked across the country and back in one incredible six week trip, then also made trips to Rochester, New York and Houston, Texas. I slept outside a lot, in places one doesn't normally sleep, but also at parks, local, state and national. 

And, of course, I encountered many other young people, doing the same, some traveling like myself, some working at national parks for the summer, some aimless, some with purpose, many Americans, but also many from Europe. All looking for a version of America that matched the version of themselves, or who they wanted to be. 

While I can't speak for anyone else, I gained a wonder and belief in our country, both of its natural beauty, and its inhabitants, my fellow Americans, that stuck with me for most of my adult life. After all, I was dependent on others to travel about, sometime even for food and shelter, but was never stranded for any substantial length of time. Always on the move, meeting new people who were looking for a conversation to help the miles pass quicker, or for ideas as to where to look for America, and themselves.

That's what makes it all the more sad, to see how we have changed, as a country, and as a people, since then.

How cruel our national policies have become to those whose only crime was to be born in a poor country, or in a place where sun exposure results in a darker skin color. 

Even worse, how we treat fellow Americans who choose to love someone of the same gender, or whose gender identity is not as black and white as some would prefer. Or who have spent their lives as public servants. Or choose to intervene when they encounter government sanctioned intimidation and violence in their communities. 

But the real shame is that I wonder if young people, born on American soil, brought here as an undocumented child, or living overseas in a country where opportunity is lacking, would still seek America as I did forty plus years ago. Would still think that all our welcome on our shores, especially considering the rhetoric that issues from the White House about people from certain countries. 

In those days, I traveled, and encountered other wanderers with very little resources. My recollection is that I spent about $120 during my six week trip. Today it seems clear that only people with money are welcome here, and that some of our leaders do not see America as a place to look for opportunity or one's self, but only for people with marketable talents or big bank accounts. 

When I hitchhiked in the 1980's, I was told that you can't do that today, it isn't the sixties anymore. When I recount my travels, I am told the same about today, that it isn't safe to travel in this manner anymore. I didn't believe that advice then, and while I often joke that I would like to recreate those days some time, to try it again as a senior citizen, I wonder how safe I would be. And that makes me even sadder than the thought that I might be too old to try.   

I don't know if Mr Topper is still kicking around somewhere, although I would like to think that he knows that he had an impact on at least one student. An impact that planted the seed of self discovery, and of understanding something about America by experiencing it up close and personal, one ride at a time, one adventure at a time, one new experience with a fellow American, at a time. 

 

 

Bullshit Jobs

I've posted twice before under the heading of Jobs. The first was in October of 2010. See link below.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2010/09/labor-costs-and-jobs.html

For those who don't remember, unemployment in America in October 2010 was just a few ticks under 10%, having barely moved from its high water mark in the previous October. It would take another year, October 2011, for the rate to drop below 9%, almost another year to get below 8%, almost two more years, September 2014, for the rate to drop below 6%, until May 2016 to drop below 5%, and then another 18 months or so to hit 4% and stay around that number or less. In other words, opinions about how to increase the number of available jobs/reduce unemployment, were a dime a dozen.

My post was a response to an opinion piece I read in the Inquirer which offered the solution of reducing wages so that employers could hire more people.  

The second post was from January 2011, a commentary on the movie Working Girl, a favorite of mine. My focus was on the comment, made by the lead character, that you can bend the rules once you make it to the top, but that everyday people can't do the same while they struggle for that big break. Here is a link to that post where you can read the word for word quote, and the rest of my comments. 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2011/01/working-girl.html 

Today's post will be nothing like those, however, as it is inspired by the book I just read Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber.

This is not a recent book, having been published in 2018, the book itself resulting from the reaction and feedback Graeber received from an essay that he wrote in the spring of 2011 for a magazine called Strike. In it, Graeber suggested that a significant percentage of jobs that existed were not only not necessary, but that those who toil in those jobs are unhappy, both because the jobs are not satisfactory and because they know that the jobs could disappear tomorrow and no one would notice.

Be advised, Graeber is an avowed anarchist, in general, but also specifically when it comes to the topic of work. He truly believes that, not only is the 20, 25 hour workweek achievable, but that there are forces that actively work against the concept. 

It is not possible for me to adequately explain Graeber's theory, even though I will be commenting on it for the remainder of this post. If you are so inclined after reading my post to understand it more thoroughly, please read it. I got my copy from the library.

More specifically, if you have or have had a job that seems pointless, or even one that you have an inkling that if such a job disappeared tomorrow, the world would be a better place, read the book.

Further, if you have noticed that too many jobs seem to be soul sucking endeavors, and that these jobs form the basis as to why so many people "live for the weekend" or seek life satisfaction outside their mode of employment, read the book.

That being said, here are my comments.

This past week, Nora and I visited our children for the Thanksgiving holiday. I mentioned to my son that I was reading Bullshit Jobs and he seemed downright excited having known about Graeber and his theory long before I encountered it. Knowing he was aware of the book, I commented that he, along with his wife and sister, currently worked bullshit jobs. He did not disagree as his understanding of Graeber's theory is that complete. 

For me, the biggest, most salient points made by Graeber are that jobs that are actually the most necessary, that provide actual goods and services that people need, are often the least paid, while many of the jobs that pay the highest compensation do very little to enhance society.

He also believes that capitalism has created a plethora of these bullshit jobs due to the ego of the multitude of administrators and executives who need to brag about the number of assistants and junior whatevers that work below them.

And finally, that the powers that be vastly prefer that we toil 40, 50, 60 hours a week rather than having time to analyze and understand just how such a massive amount of the resources and wealth that are created by the workers of the world, end up in the hands of so few people. 

He ties this desire to "keep us busy" with the proliferation of entertainment devices. Like the battles between lions and humans and among gladiators, as occurred in the Coliseum, we have our own sports arenas where specialists play games for very rich owners who have convinced us that we should support "our" city's team. While today's distractions are highly paid, some progress there, the owners have no loyalty to us fans, as indicated when they hold us hostage for publicly paid for billion dollar stadiums with the threat of moving elsewhere. 

And let's not forget the athletes who salute the fans when winning, but flee for the next big contact to whomever pays their way.

What is really ironic, is that the vast majority of Americans will tell you that they want their government, their political leaders, their super rich businessmen, to create opportunities for the working classes. To provide compensation that allows livability, or affordability, if you will, and the possibility of providing a better life for our children. 

Yet at the same time, have been convinced, brainwashed even, to holler at the top of their lungs against the thought that we need a more equitable income distribution system, all because the rich have hijacked the narrative, by labeling it socialism, having successfully taught us that socialism is anti American, anti God even. 

As if the billionaires would take their ball and go home, as the characters in one of their bibles, Atlas Shrugged, do. The simple fact that without workers to run factories, distribute goods, provide services, and then actually purchase them, no one would be a billionaire.

They need us more than we need them, but they have bamboozled us into believing the opposite.

Again, Graeber is much better at enunciating his theory; I have done him a disservice by attempting to explain the details of his book.

But the down and dirty conclusions that he reaches, that too many hair dressers, bus drivers, retail workers, garbage collectors, police and firemen, nurses, teachers and day care workers, and all the people whose work provides the actual goods and services we need to survive and thrive, are paid far less than the hedge fund managers, myriad middle managers, executives, corporate lawyers, bankers and yes, government bureaucrats. 

Without the former, life would stop. Without the latter... well one can only wish to see what might happen. 

At the end of the book, Graeber dives into UBI. 

Universal Basic Income.  

But he discusses it with a twist, in that he believes such programs could make a real difference for, not only those struggling for whatever mental or physical reason, but for the everyday person who might have an artistic talent but works a 9 to 5 job to pay the bills, perhaps even at a job that provides no real social value. 

Who knows how many great works of art or sculpture or fiction have not been created because a child was discouraged to focus on music or the arts by parents (and society), but instead, directed towards a more lucrative career. 

Or what amazing medical discoveries have not been made because scientific research pays far less than almost any sales position.

Or, if you want to put a family values spin on it, how many children were without the proper parental supervision, or love, because their parents paid astronomical daycare fees so that very underpaid day care workers could raise their kids.

As I say very often, what America needs is a week long strike by all the people who get paid crap wages but whose work is critical to the functioning of our society.

Graeber's book provides even more reasons for me to believe that.