Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Journal.
To Be a Leader. Top Story - July 2017.
To be a leader is not to put the world on your shoulders alone, but to trust enough that others will be able to carry the burden with you. To be a leader is not to bark at others and give orders, but to bend your back with them and show them the way. You will know that you are a righteous and humble leader when nobody realizes that you have been leading them.
By Jeniah Clarke9 years ago in Journal
On My Way (Working for Duncan Disposal)
I haven't had many jobs in my life; I'm pretty diligent when it comes to working to make a name, and then keeping it stable. When things get old, and or are just tiring to a point where it's not worth it to me anymore, I move on. That's what brought me to work at Duncan Disposal. I was a garbage man, and at first, I thought, "Well, fuck it, I'll be making a lot more than I do now" (Working at Jimmy Johns at the time). But then it got to "God damn it, another 70hr work week and I got shit to show for it." Along the way, I gathered a few good stories, and I worked with more than a few interesting people. Doing routes all over the place. Some days I would be gone from 5 am, till 8 pm... Sometimes I would get off work around 12 pm. It all depended on the route I was doing, and if any other trucks needed a loader to fill in. I was a loader if you hadn't guessed. On the bright side to all of the shitty work I had to do, I got pretty built. I went from an easy 135lb, to about 150, and all that I had gained was straight muscle mass. I felt great, smoked a lot, but ultimately, I was always in a good way... right up until pay day. It was a fixed rate, so no matter how many hours you worked, you got the same paycheck week after week. At least I got to see some really cool places all over the state. I don't recall a good few of the EXACT locations of where I worked at, but I can describe the places pretty well. It's funny though cause one of the most gorgeous places I went through was Hell, Michigan. Gorgeous landscaping, lake side views, and there was this really cool little storefront that was kind of like a landmark to the city. We would stop in there every time we were out that way. Some really gross people out there too though, here's a good one for that line though.
By Zachery Lee9 years ago in Journal
The Price of Education and Teaching: Part IX
Because I really had no 'resources,' I went back to my husband's apartment but started looking for a place to rent close to work. It took me about a month, so I lived a month of almost complete silence and took my daughter out in her stroller so we could spend time together away from our hell; it was interesting that his side of the family never came around during this time, and not even before. I have a feeling my husband still hadn't told his family what was going on; it would've been too humiliating for him.
By Martina R. Gallegos9 years ago in Journal
My Adventures as a Pizza Delivery Driver
Before becoming a pizza delivery driver, I really had no idea what went on, business wise at the store. I really did not know where that I would be going, how many pizzas, two liter sodas, twenty ounce sodas, or water, that I could also be taking to any of my many customers. Our Store also offers extras like plates, napkins, drinking cups, multiple pizza dipping sauce cups, banana peppers and jalapeno peppers.
By Rhonda Farley9 years ago in Journal
On My Way (Work at Erwin's Orchard)
I was 18 when I got my first job. My friend Amber (mini munch) was working at Erwin's Orchard as a seasonal monster for when they did the corn maze and haunted house. I dig the blood, guts and gore, and the money would be kind of sweet so, I jumped on it the first chance I got. It was actually a pretty sweet gig, I got to work with my munchkin and my buddy Nate. I got my face painted up every weekend to go stand in the strobe lights in the middle of a maze, lurking through the corn and sneaking up on people from a distance. I made 3 people piss their pants, and old woman shit herself, I also almost got jumped by a group of drunk Mexicans who were carrying bottles through the course. Best. Job. EVER.
By Zachery Lee9 years ago in Journal
Breakfast Sandwich Makers are Tools for Mourning
The Breakfast Sandwich Maker is a $15 tribute to American economic malaise. It hit the market at a time when the U.S. Department of Labor stopped counting people who gave up fruitlessly looking for work in their unemployment statistics in a desperate attempt to paint a rosier picture of the Great Recession. Well-paid talking heads in big coastal cities were telling average Joes and Janes in flyover country that the new normal was scraping by with a little help from the dole. And as so-called experts sat with garbage smiles and wagging fingers, telling flyover country to check its privilege as jobs went overseas and foreclosures stole homes, this machine made its debut on Meijer and Walmart shelves. And while its utility in the kitchen may be questionable at best, this machine and its generic knock-offs served a greater purpose: to help working-class men and women to grieve the passing of the Good Life.
By Patrick Murphy, MS, LLPC9 years ago in Journal
