Goddam Job, Alcohol is the new Cocaine, Mavis Staples

Above: Unnamed smoothie company forces employees to wear banana suits. Bystanders play the world's smallest violin.

I.

I've had many gripes over my twenty-one years. I complain a lot, it's just something I do. It therefore goes without saying that whenever I try to look for a job, the process is never a quiet one. I suppose I should have expected nothing from the NYC job market. And, for what it's worth, I really did try to expect nothing. Still, the bitterness I feel about it remains. But what canya do? You try to get a job writing something for someone. Almost anyone. As long as it isn't that damn Skynet industries or whatever that's always looking for interns and journeymen and what-have-yous on craigslist. Don't they know they're responsible for the terminator and the destruction of human civilization as we know it? What do you have to settle for? An interview with some trendy 5 or 6 out of 10 star pizza joint. I really tried to expect nothing and triumph. I've seen it work out before. But really, the deal is that you've got to be superconnected in this town. To money. Ancient money. That, or you've gotta be Hollywood Actor Beck Bristow. Chrissakes.

For more "I hate jobs" related stuff. Go to CODE 11, a sweet blog.

II.

Alcohol is the new cocaine. In the '80s people did coke. Also, this was true of the '70s. In the '60s it was weed and acid and fungus. The '90s were all about speed and ecstasy. I feel like the aughts is a throwback decade. (Yes, that empty) Right now we're re-living the heady epoch that immediately followed Prohibition. This period is known as the Great Depression.

III.

Mavis Staples is incredible. If you think you don't know her, you probably do. Either that or you've never heard "I'll Take You There," which says a lot about your character. Specifically, that it wants edge and vitality. I'm sorry I'm being so vicious. Well, only slightly sorry.


Below: Mavis Staples - "Eyes on the Prize"