Tuesday, November 10, 2015

juxtaposition

I attend a BAFTA NY Board meeting this morning.

By 8:30,  I'm in a room with film and television professionals, discussing meaty issues pertaining to a world-renowned entertainment organization.  I contribute to the discussion, and listen with interest as others pose probing questions, offer solutions, and present creative options and ideas on a myriad of subjects. It's a dynamic group, and a lot gets discussed and decided in ninety minutes. 

Following the meeting, I head back to Saks. There, I learn how to sign in and out, using an online clock. I am taught how to carefully enter my starting time (10:30 today) — the time we are all dismissed for lunch (noon) and the time we are told to return (1pm) — and the time we are told we can leave (5:32). I sit in front of a decades' old computer terminal and watch modules. It is a long, laborious and exhausting day. I'm not even paid for a lunch break. 

Before taxes, I earn $66 today. Well, actually $60.50 if I subtract the subway fare there and back.  $11/hour annualized is, without exaggeration, substantially below the NY poverty level. 

I come home exhausted. Zelia and I had planned to see a screening of Love and Mercy, but neither of us feel like it.

I begin the day as a Board Member of a prestigious organization and end it clocking out of an hourly job.

Some days it's hard to stay optimistic. Today is one of them.

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