How the Other ‘Mericans Live Ninety-Nine Percent of the Time.
1
s t
E D I T IO N
ninety-nine ¢ vol. 1 \\ issue no. 1
Table of Contents What is the 99 Percent? 15 or 18
Experiencing Extended Adolescence
The Search
Looking for a Job in a Damaged Economy
Turning Things Around Keeping the Higher Hand
This is Not What I Had in Mind Working Outside of the Field
Making Money on Spare Time Professional Plagiarism
Nice Guys Finish First
Getting What You Want with a Smile
Networking Pays
Why to Invest in Connections
My Life Sucks
A Victim of the California Job Market
Occupying Sacramento What is the One Demand?
This was the question I asked myself on September 17, 2011 when Occupy Wall Street gelled. Out of nowhere it seemed a group of radical, angry people gathered to protest the distribution of wealth in America, from what I saw on the news. It had always been this way (or at least I had once thought). America had always been, and up until September, America still was the land of dreams. Sure there were the rich, the poor, the college student and the poorest, but things had always been that way. In my curiousity, I ventured out and reconnected with old friends and friends of friends who are part of the ninety-nine percent. And in their stories was wisdom that I attained and began applying to my own life a compilation of narratives and transcribed interviews. They offer their own tips and tricks on how they survive as the ninety-nine percent for your benefit. Enjoy.
United States of America
Federal Min. Wage
The average cost of living is 95 dollars per day.
$7.25 per hour.
The lowest being 90 dollars a day somewhere
$58
in Missouri.
$290 per 40 hour work week.
per 8 hour work day.
0
50
100
200 miles
The Road
California, USA
Min. Wage
The average cost of living is 37% higher than
$8
per hour.
the rest of the United States
$64
per 8 hour work day.
$320 per 40 hour work week.
This project took place in the state of California. It is a coastal state bordered by Washington to the north, the Mexican border to the south, and to the east by Nevada and Arizona. Over 1,600 miles were driven in the making of the project, not including miles driven within destinations. In a Toyota 4Runner, a total of 75 gallons of gas (assuming highway mileage, what a horrible choice of car). California is approximately 800 miles in length. I have concluded that many Californians have no business having a license to drive.
Napa County Compared to the rest of the country, Napa’s cost of living is 59.40% higher than the U.S. average.
August 2011
Life is Good
August 2011 Budget Due On August 2, the government budget deadline was extended to August 10—otherwise all non-essential federal government offices would be shut down indefinitely.
Debt Ceiling August 10, debt ceiling was raised to 16.4 trillion dollars.
August of 2011, I was looking back at my junior year as if it were a past life. After the completion of my thesis for my first degree, I experienced the rebirth of summer break. Sure, I had about 12 units of summer class (which was complete and utter hell), but after that I was living on top of the world. Here I was, this 20 year old in Napa Valley with nothing better to do but eat amazing food, socialize with local winemakers and business owners, and sleeping the day away. My freelance design picked up and money was coming in like it had never been before. Gone were the days of living off of ramen throughout my junior year. Staying up until 3 am because the denizens of the men’s dorm decided to wrestle in the room next door and abuse their surround sound in the room above. I eventually moved out of the dorm and into my own room with a family just off campus. One evening I had scheduled dinner with a friend who stayed in the area over the summer as well. This was my sixth time eating
out in St. Helena that week. It was a long week of working for my largest client yet, so every night felt like I needed to treat myself out… to at least a three course meal. It wasn’t until I finished my order that my friend couldn’t hold back her thoughts. “You eat a lot of food” This translated to me first as “you are fat,” or “you spend a lot of money.” Sure, I was reaching a very doughy stage of my life, but at least the money wasn’t an issue. For once in my life, it wasn’t and I was happy. Later that night I looked in the mirror. Okay, sure. I was hoping to cover my weight gain as a new body type as an almond.
Cost of Eating out Each plate cost on average 15-20 dollars. After ordering drinks, appetizers and the occasional dessert, each meal quickly climbed to 35-40 dollars each.
September 2011
Last Chance for Summer
I took up jogging. Classes were about to start. I didn’t do any back-to-school shopping since I refused to recognize that I was maybe two or three sizes larger than what I wore at the time. Before classes were to start, I felt it was time to make a pilgrimage to Los Angeles… home.
ahead in their college education at the time. Zoe, her boyfriend Benedict, Tate, and Dope. The five of us and a few others were inseparable before college took over our lives. I had moved away into the fertile crescent of California, while the others either blew away with the wind, but as for Zoe, Benedict, Tate and Dope
I dislike going home. It was if I was 16 years old again living under the roof of my parents I dislike going home. It were if I was 16 years old again living under the roof of my parents, so I made it a point to be out of the house as much as possible. I managed to book every hour of my waking moment with company, sometimes too much company. I was looking forward to meeting up with my high school buddies. They were all a class above me, so they were all at least a year
they had stayed relatively in the same area. Zoe worked at a sandwich shop near the high school we all attended. Tate and I picked her up first, carpooling since we lived in the same neighborhood. Benedict was on his way from his home in Pomona to meet us at Togo’s house. Dope would meet us wherever we were. Upon meeting Zoe, she hugged me (her arms didn’t reach as far as they used to).
We had decided to hit the downtown area. Driving down the financial district we noticed that there were a bit more homeless people than we had remembered. These homeless people were also a bit more louder than the others. Zoe had spoken up identifying them as the Occupy Wall Street Movement. ‘99 percent’, everywhere. We had a fun night in downtown. We ate out, walked the streets, had decided to see a movie. At the end of the night I took a glance at my wallet only to find I had spent only 20 dollars. To my surprise I had managed a fun filled night with friends, paying for my own share and only spending one of my 20 dollar bills? Impossible. Dope met us for the last part of the night. We had met at a dessert restaurant in downtown where we all shared a brownie. Dope, with the exception of myself, was the only one out of all of us to find work in his field. Fine work it was.
Calistoga
St. Helena
One of the original counties of California when granted state-
Calistoga’s cost of living
Cost of living Compared to the
hood in 1850. Napa Valley Junior College and Pacific Union
is 52% higher than the
rest of the country, St. Helena’s
College are the only two institutions of higher education located
U.S. average.
cost of living is 119.90% higher
Wine Country
in this county.
than the U.S. average.
LA County: Birthplace
Downey
Los Angeles’ cost of living is 47%
My permanent address. Cost of living is
higher than the average American
45% higher than the national average.
cost of living.
Dope is a full time employee of a large hospital in the Inland Empire area. He works 40 hours a week, no more, no less,
thing, hipster?” These comments sound stupid and irrelevant after the fact and in text form, but at the time it was pretty damn funny. Even
and reserves his weekends for socializing. The guy was once the most money conscious out of all of us in high school now offered to pay for all of our desserts. Out of all of us, Dope was the first one to get a job in his own field. He has paid his dues in medical school and went on to work for a hospital in the area. Currently he is still making a lot of money. We always made fun of Dope in high school. Even though he had probably been the most successful financially out of all of us, we still managed to make him the butt of the joke. As Dope pulled up in his new car, Benedict commented, “Oh, so your old car wasn’t good enough for you?” We laughed. Dope looked away and tried to let it roll down his back. We looked at his mp3 and Tate commented, “So I suppose an iPhone just isn’t your
at his standing, Dope managed to be the odd one out. The next morning I called Benedict out on his antics. I had not seen or heard from these people in months, so it was about time I caught up with them one by one. While we were waiting for Zoe to get off her shift from Togo’s we sat down at my favorite teahouse in the San Gabriel Valley. We had gotten into an in-depth conversation about his life as he approached graduation while job searching on the side. I asked him to take what he said and put it into text format for me. Not knowing what to do with it at first, I figured I’d read it later but I knew it was something to be heard.
September
0
50
100
200 miles
Occupy Wall Street officially began on September 17, 2011 when a thousand protestors did just that, occupied Wall Street, New York. First advertised in an AdBusters Magazine issue on July 13, the movement quickly gathered attention and just as much participation. Over 1,000 protestors gathered and pitched their tent and stayed.
For the months to follow, protestors
camped in public parks, in front of public buildings and any sort of public space. Major cities felt impact when the movement spread like wildfire. First in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and, then eventually, it reached Napa Valley.
San Bernardino
I traveled to San Bernadino to meet up with Benedict after touching base with the rest of the group. I took him out to a tea house near where his girlfiend Zoe worked. There we spent the afternoon talking about about his experiences as an unemployed student. Just like many of us students, he had loans to pay, needed food to eat, and gas to get out of the parents’ house. The following is his story.
0
50
100
200 Miles
15 or 18 by Benedict
Experiencing Extended Adolescence
After four and a half years, I’m graduating this year from Cal State San Bernadino. I’ll have an English major, plus a partial minor in philosophy that I abandoned somewhere along the way. The plan has been to teach, starting at the high school level and then maybe working up to college. I think the prospects of getting a job in my field are pretty decent—or at least they will be eventually. At the moment I have absolutely zero chance of getting any work in my field. So for the time being I’m staying with my parents. I can’t really complain about that—I have a great family that supports me both morally and financially, and I’m working proactively toward my dream job. College right now is my route to contentment. But living with my parents has gotten me into this weird frame of mind where there are a lot of comparisons to my teenage years. I find myself reflecting on high school a lot, and it seems like for the kids graduating today, 18 is the new 15. If I could give them some advice, it would be to be careful with their money. They have almost no financial responsibilities, but unless their parents continue to cover everything for them, they’re about to walk into a lot more expenses. I’m trying to make my own money where I can, but it’s tough. In the past few years, my only full-time job has been a three-month span. Other than that, it’s been odd part-time or temporary
jobs, like helping friends and family with shortterm construction gigs. I applied at BevMo, the wholesale store for alcoholics, a while back and was invited to interview. When I got there I found out my competition was two bubbly blonde coeds. I am not an outgoing guy, but I worked my ass off at
K. Dick, lots of superhero comics. I’ve even started selling stuff online—partly for the money, partly just for something to do that doesn’t cost anything. I feel like things are getting better though. I’m 22 and about to graduate with a degree that will give me a shot at
I guess it just occurred to me that I’m in a financial crunch. that interview to seem like I was. After they told me I got the job, they informed me that it was only a seasonal position. So now I’m back at square one, and still zero work experience in my field of study. I guess it just occurred to me that I’m in a financial crunch. I’m not living outside of my means or anything, but my means are very meager. I basically never eat out or go out for entertainment. I’ve turned inward for my hobbies and recreation, even from my usual introverted state. Whatever I do, I try to do cheaply. When I watch movies, they’re rented. I’ve been reading a lot—the magical realism of Jorge Luis Borges, the existential sci-fi of Phillip
10
my dream job. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to move out of my parents’ house within the next two years. I’m just kind of killing time until then. Actually, one thing I really enjoy doing is cooking for people. Like my other hobbies, I’ve learned to do it cheap. When AJ met up with me last time to talk about his thesis project, we ended up having a pretty good cookout at Arcadia Park.
How to Feed Five People on $10 I had always known Benedict as someone to be very smart with money. I issued him a challenge to feed the group of us on a single ten-dollar bill. Without shrugging he thought it was quite the generous offer and did his demonstration.
A few things to remember:
• Starches are always cheap. • Potatoes, corn, and bell peppers are nice if they are available. • Always go with whatever protein is on sale. • It’s hard to make grilled food taste bad—it’s all about how long you cook it.
• A loaf of bread from the 99-cent store
Here were the ingredients for this particular dinner:
• Cheap steak from a local Mexican meat market
• Four ears of corn
• Total of ten-dollars
Okay, so I was a bit skeptical about this dinner. When Benedict brought over the meat and roll and parchment paper I knew I was in for a ride. I didn’t question the meat, I just ate. Surprisingly enough it was delicious. After a few hours of waiting I was so hungry I didn’t care if it had gone moo, baa, oink, or woof.
Benedict always rolls everywhere with his portable charcoal grill in his trunk, as well as a charcoal, lighter fluid, and cooking utensils. Completely serious—he’s been driving around with this setup in his car for at least two years. All he needs to do is find a carniceria somewhere and he has a ridiculously cheap cookout going in minutes.
A few more tips:
• Usually public parks aren’t sticklers about the rules if you don’t reserve an area, provided it’s not a busy day. • A roll of parchment paper can act as an infinite amount of place settings.
October 2011
The Project October As the Occupy Wall Street Movement progressed, I grew increasingly confused. No clear leader or spokesperson emerged to iterate a philosophy or rank goals. I asked around but no one could ever really tell me what the participants hoped to achieve. With time, the mosaic of individuals and groups resolved into a single image. I learned that forty-percent of America’s wealth belonged to the top 1 percent, thus deeming me the bottom 99 percent. Life didn’t look all bad. Socializing with the locals of Napa Valley, I never saw things as
October 5 (day 19) – Joined by union members, students, and the unemployed, the demonstrations swelled to the largest yet with an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 demonstrators marching from lower Manhattan’s Foley Square to Zuccotti Park. The march is mostly peaceful until after nightfall when scuffles erupt and some of the younger demonstrators are arrested after they storm barricades blocking them from Wall Street. About 200 people tried to push through barri-
On October 7, the 99 Percent Declaration
cades and police responded with pepper
was written calling for all monetary
spray and penned them in with orange
donations to politicians to be stopped.
netting. Smaller protests continue in
Originating from the workers union in
cities and on college campuses across
New York, this group was one of the
the country.
many off-shoots not associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement which added to the vagueness by news media.
0
50
100
200 miles
horribly dismal. Sure, I may rank in the 40 or 50th percentile. Thinking of the 99 percent as an entire sedimentary layer of America’s socialgeological makeup seemed a bit too much of a stretch. I decided to indulge myself with my thesis this year and have it revolve around a subject I enjoy, time with friends. Thinking back to that frugal, yet fun-filled, night out in LA, I wanted to research and present a survey over how to live on a budget… a very, very tight budget. I had to learn from the best, I had to learn from the 99 percent.
San Joaquin
0
50
100
200 Miles
My friend Tricia had been blogging about her unemployment status since graduating from college. If anyone knew what it was like to be part of the 99 percent, I thought it would be worth a shot to ask her to help me define what Occupy Wall-street was from her point of view. When I first started correspondence with her in October, she had been nearly 4 months out of college in search for a job. She was someone to watch over the course of the year. She resides in the San Joaquin Valley. It is one of the most affordable places to live in California with a cost of living 13.7 percent under the national average.
Occupy Hand Signals How does one determine consensus non-verbally? Hand signals. These hand signals were used by occupy protestors as a way of communication and for making quick decisions as a group.
Want to Talk
Clarify
Agree
Don’t Agree
Direct Response
Point of Order
Oppose
Block
The Search by Tricia
Looking for a Job in a Damaged Economy
Graduation. I felt a bit numb going through the process of my graduation ceremony, being doted on by my family, and enjoying the events when I knew I didn’t have a job and the economy was crap. The day after graduation, I loaded up the last of my belongings into my Civic, donned the dress that was pretty much my last article of clothing left in my dorm room, and went job hunting with my friend Chelsea. I was hopeful: having done my internship in the area, having some contacts and people to give me references, I figured it’d be a bit easier to find a job, and I’d hopefully be able to find a job and not have to move home. As the months went by and the rejection letters and interminable silences stacked up, I became pretty depressed. My loan bills were looming on the horizon, my car was having more and more problems, I could barely afford the gas to visit my boyfriend, and I was still unemployed. Living at home was rough as well. I had lived away from home for at least the summer if not more for about seven years, and being told what to do and guilt from being provided for was maddening. For a while I was immensely depressed, feeling pretty unemployable and skeptical of my abilities. Worst of all were the jobs I had to turn down, because of
the poverty level I’d be living at. Eventually, I got a job at JCPenney in November, six months after I graduated, as a seasonal customer service associate. I appreciated that I had a job, finally, and was amazed because I could actually put gas in my car and buy things sometimes, but my school loans hadn’t come in and my car hadn’t gone to the pits quite yet. In December, I decided to buy another car through Enterprise. It was hard for me to decide to load even more debt on my plate, but my Civic was getting to the point of no return and I knew if I didn’t have transportation, I wouldn’t be moving out any time soon. So I took the plunge, and took on another $14,000 worth of debt. It was a good decision, because I’m no longer worried about my car (except putting gas in it), but now that adds to the payments I already have. With my job at JCPenney, I’ve been making just enough to put away for insurance and pay my car payment and one student loan, and my parents have been paying the rest, which makes me feel horrible, to say the least. I’m 22 years old—shouldn’t I be getting independent, actually having a job that pays me like I went to college for four years and got a bachelor’s degree? Is this too much to ask? When I first heard about Occupy Wall Street, I felt a little bit embarrassed for, but at the same
16
When I first heard about Occupy Wall Street, I felt a little bit embarrassed
Student Loans They are no joke. Loan collection begins 6 months after not being registered as a full time student. You cannot claim bankrupcy and deferment is determined on a case by case basis.
time proud of, the people who took a stand. I was frustrated with the world I was being shoved into. I’d always been taught it’s imperative to get a good education so you can get a good job. Here I am, with a good education, and actually more work experience than most 22-year-olds, and still no one gives me the time of day. I was frustrated with working for minimum wage when I have $25,000 of college debt to pay off. That should be less worrisome since I got the education that should get the job, right? However, I felt like the movement was going about it the wrong way, which stopped me from actually going out and standing across the street from the theater on El Dorado Street in my hometown, holding signs and protesting the unfairness of it all. Stockton, California, my hometown, made it to the list of top depressed cities in the nation, has one of the highest employment rates, and the cheapest housing/renting prices. There are houses in my area that sell for the price of an expensive car. Is it a spoiled point of view for me to not feel that I should have to practically do a dance and wave my hands over my head before an employer will notice me? Is it unthinkable for me to even want a response back from employers letting me know they don’t want me? Is it fair for even temp agencies that I call every day or say
that they’ll call me to never have one job for me to go to? I’m just happy I’ve been getting through it. As I mentioned before, I got pretty depressed for a while. The best things that kept me going through it though were NaNoWriMo, WordPress, and Instagram. Not to mention a good helping of time to read books for once. National Novel Writing Month helped me to establish that I actually am a good writer, no matter how much my self-loathing mindset was telling me otherwise. I actually feel that I could push through and write a novel, despite time commitments to work, family, significant other, blogging, the internet, et cetera. WordPress has been amazing as well. It’s not so much a ranting blog as it is an introspection on reaching personal success, but it started as documenting my quest to find a job. Which up until a couple of weeks ago, was rather depressing in and of itself. However, I found an amazing community of bloggers that reads each other’s blogs, comments, and starts discussion. I’ve enjoyed reading and discussing with other bloggers just as much as I have enjoyed writing my own and seeing the page views climb. There are bloggers I’ve come to feel like I know a little better, and read them on a regular basis. I took a hiatus between October and February, and it
was a mistake. I can’t stop blogging, especially while I’m still working at JCPenney. I need the mental outlet more than I ever have. And Instagram. I’m a pretty avid photographer, but through the throes of depression I hadn’t picked up my camera(s) in quite a while. I had no inspiration and felt like there was a rainy cloud over my head all the time. I just didn’t have the heart for it, which made me sad because I’d had a whole summer of researching cameras and film, developing my own film in my bathtub, reading about others’ escapades, and wanting to photograph historic downtown Stockton in black and white film. Then I got an iPhone in November, which later on, led me to Instagram. It gave me a new take on photography that made me want to pick up my camera again, and gain a new inspiration. Taking frequent visits to Napa Valley helps as well, but I feel that Instagram brought me back. I was able to take the concrete knowledge I had and apply it to the simplicity of an Instagram photo. I am now a believer in iPhoneography, if only because it brought me back to one of the things I love most. I’ve finally landed myself a part-time job doing something related to my major. I’m the journal coordinator at Meadowood Napa Valley. Although I’ll be commuting for a while until I can land another part time or a more full time
job, I’m glad I’ve got my foot in the door, even if it has taken a year to get there. However, I know I’m blessed looking back, that I got my first job before my new car and student loans came in, that I’ve got this part-time job that will put me where I want to be. At risk of being cliché, I’ll say that the fog is lifting and the sun is shining through. Everyone kept telling me it would happen. I didn’t believe it at the time, but it will.
I’ve finally landed myself a part-time job doing something related to my major
November 2011
The Birthday November
Prostitution Is legal in the state of Nevada in regulated brothels. They are not cheap.
November 5 rolled around, the best day of the year: My birthday. I thought should practice a few things learned from my friends. We had already spent all of our money making the trip to sin city, so next came the real test… celebrating a birthday party in the most expensive city in Nevada. Davis, Dublin, a friend of Dublin’s and I arrived in one car, the others would meet us the next morning. The sign outside said “Filipino Breakfast!” Being Filipino myself, this waved a big, red flag. Walking into the lobby, we descended into the twilight zone, a black room, some surfaces shone clean and glossy, others not so much. Two cast plaster figures stood at the doorway holding art nouveau lamps, and on the side hunched/stood a tree surrounded by outdoor furniture. Behind us a woman entered wearing latex heeled boots, heavily applied makeup of at least 3 conflicting shades of eye shadow. She approached the front desk. “This place is weird,” she said. We all agreed. She continued, “I was told to meet a client here.” We knew we had truly reached the heart of Vegas, but not because of the flashing lights, or the difficulty of unfolding ourselves from the car after a 10 hour drive. We knew we had arrived in Vegas because for that night, some-
Meanwhile... Oakland protestors were teargassed on November 3rd after refusing to leave after creating a bonfire in downtown. Protestors chanted ‘Who’s streets? Our street.’ as men, women, the elderly and children fled from the scene. Many remained after covering their faces in salvaged cloth.
where near where we slept, Candy would have a client meeting. Eventually we got into our rooms. I had managed to find a deal for a hotel on the strip for 40 dollars a person for a weekend, but only then did I realize it was too good to be true. The room boasted the sumptuous luxury tiled floor from wall to wall. We soon noticed the lock on the door connecting us to the adjoining room was broken. Only mildly concerned, we moved the entertainment system over the broken door lock, thereby discovering the remnants of broken glass underneath it. Davis called us to the restroom when we noticed that the bathroom door at one point must have been kicked in judging by the way the door showed dents and buckling.
Our beds were sleepable but nothing to write home about. As I slid between the sheets my back laid straight onto what felt like particleboard under packaging foam.
November
0
The Occupy UC Davis protest is preparing for a march on
Dublin and I woke up first. Davis lay sprawled over the bed and his friend remained unconscious. We thought we might like taking a stroll to locate or rule out the spa if our hotel offered such a measure of class and refinement. Davis was eager to get out to the craps table to turn a few bucks around. This being my first time in Vegas at the age of 21, actually having the choice to gamble was a new one for me. Heck, screw moral values, it was my birthday. I had to learn from the best, so I observed Davis. He had no steady job and I knew he made cash off his skills at pool. He even managed to pay for his pool table from his winnings. If you can’t find a way to make money, why not pull a trick or two?
50
100
200 miles
the school’s campus at 12 p.m. PST. The rally in the quad comes after worldwide attention focused on the Northern California campus after a University of California at Davis police officer pepper-sprayed a line of passive students sitting on the ground. Students and a faculty group called for UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign.
Yolo County
Since my junior year, I had been making occasional trips to the UC Davis campus in Yolo County to visit a few friends who had transferred. By way of friends, I met Davis, a linguistics major at the university. Since then, we had gotten along and began hanging out regularly. We both share Southern California as a place of origin and carpool down for long weekends and vacations. On our rides we share stories. I asked him if he could share a few stories on what it’s like to be a student without a job. Here is how he copes with being unemployed.
Turning Things Around by Davis
Keeping the Higher Hand
What does it take to survive as a part of the 99 percent? Well, I think there is more than one way to skin a cat. For me, I’m just a broke-ass college student looking to play a little pool. It started as a hobby—a way to kill off an hour in between classes. However, after not very long at all I found a variety of venues where I could play to win, and shoot to survive. If there’s one thing you’ve got to know about pool it’s the fact that every person who plays thinks they know what they’re doing better than the next guy. You’ll never get any action from someone who knows better than to give it to you. You’ve got to match up too. Sound confusing? Let’s break it down. You’ve always got to know who you’re playing against. Ask yourself a few questions: “How good is this guy?” “What is his preferred game?” “Does he choke under pressure?” “Does he resort to shark tactics?” And most importantly, “Is he good for the money?” It all comes down to the money. Usually better players play in tournaments, even small ones. Tournaments are like crapshoots. You’ve got to be able to do well in a short race, high variance environment. What this means is although you can make a lot of money in tournament play, you can also lose quick and get zero return. Some tournaments are better than others though. I’ve been playing in a ranked eight-ball tourna-
ment for a few years now. Before I figured it out, it used to annoy the hell out of me, but I know the secret to consistent wins. It’s a ranked tournament so I want to keep my rank artificially low so I have the easiest time winning. Simple. I go every other week or sometimes once a month. As long as I don’t show up every week and win, I can have an easier time in the middle of the pack and take down a win. I can turn a $10 entry into $80 every other week. I can use that money to gamble, or
Equipment, travel, entry, food, and allowances for losses don’t always leave a lot of room to turn a profit. pay for a meal, or cover losses, gas and table time. Like all other things, there are costs associated with playing the game of pool. Equipment, travel, entry, food, and allowances for losses don’t always leave a lot of room to turn a profit. I should make myself clear: I’m no road player. Back when the
22
game was a lot bigger and more profitable—back in the seventies, let’s say—there were players that would hit the road and go to every pool hall and major tournament across the nation. The way the game has changed, both the people that play and its overall popularity, there is no doubt that this is not really a feasible task. Hell, getting enough money each day to cover gas, food and hotel would be overwhelming. No, the way the pros do it now is direct, efficient, tournament-totournament—only major ones with a lot of money added to the pot. They gamble there too. I’m no pro, but this way of the world actually helps me. I don’t have to worry as much about going bank-
In all seriousness, though, bar players can be a real handful and I don’t always recommend playing with them. I remember one time I was playing a guy for a beer at the bar—it’s a great way to drink for free. He was waiting to play a game on my table and I was just finishing up a match with some old drunk, shooting around for free really. This college kid comes up to me raring to play and throws the quarters in the table and begins to rack the balls. I ask him how he likes to play and he says “A gentleman’s game.” “A gentleman’s game for a beer?” I reply. “Sure.” Now in my mind I know that anyone who
want your opponent to be holding more than twenty dollars of your money at a time, because then it gets harder and harder for him to part with. Always gamble near ATM machines. One time I was at the campus pool hall shooting around with a buddy of mine. He was playing a five dollar game with another friend of ours who likes to gamble but really doesn’t know how to shoot, leaving me to spectate. Out of the corner of my eye I see this Indian guy playing some eight ball and his friend is leaving. I head on over to him and ask if he’d like to play a game for a couple bucks and he seems interested. I don’t think he realized I had all my equipment
rupt playing a road pro. I know who the pros are, and I can spot them from a mile away. They aren’t going to show up in my neighborhood anytime soon either. Therefore, I can know that anyone who is aware enough to know anything about the existence of pros is going to know that there are so few out there that they don’t expect high level play, and they probably wouldn’t recognize it anyways. Now, I would need to be careful not to fall into my own trap here, but what I’m ultimately gambling on is that my judgment about the abilities of any player are better than my opponents skills of judging players. It is this aspect of the game that is lost on so many and, conveniently enough, the reason people keep coming back to play again. I’ve seen some players, but I see a lot more bangers, especially at the bar. Bar pool is complicated. Alcohol and ratty conditions change the game in many ways. However, as a good friend of mine once said “The center of the pocket never changes.”
thinks playing in a bar is a gentleman’s game sure isn’t a gentleman and sure as hell doesn’t know anything about pool. After I beat him, I ask for a Blue Moon. He gets up and goes to the bar. Keep in mind this place is a little packed at the time, and he disappears in a mass of people. After a second I walk over and ask him, “Where’s my beer?” He points to the bar and says “Over there.” As soon as I look towards the bar he bolts for the door, knocking three people aside on his way there, and jumping the waist high fence in the patio to his freedom. I was gobsmacked. I’ve never had anyone up and run out over a five dollar beer, but hey, that’s what you get when you play at a bar. The best way to gamble is to post up. This means putting the money up on top of the light or in one of the corner pockets or under the ball tray so that it’s very clear that the money is there for the winner to claim at the end of the match. This is especially important for bar play. You never
(pool cue, case, glove, etc.) with me, so I grabbed a stick off the wall and we played a couple games for five dollars. I won a few and he won one or two, so we up the stakes to twenty a game. I win two more, so he says he wants to play for fifty. I couldn’t believe my luck. At this point, though, he was out of cash, so I pointed him to the ATM just outside the arcade and while he was away I switched over to my nice cue stick to step it up to serious play. He didn’t seem to notice my change in weapon, and we began playing for twenty a game. During this whole time my two friends are still playing five a game in a the corner, blissfully unaware of the action going on right in front of them. An hour or so goes by and we have gone back and forth for a game or two, but I end up being six games ahead for the night and it’s closing
time. That’s over $300 off of one guy! As it turns out, he was holding out on me and thought his shit game could lure me in so that he could take out his best game at the higher stakes. He guessed wrong though, as my self-handicapping with a cue off of the wall, and my switching to superior equipment and changing my playing level at the point of the stakes change won me the match. He was pissed off that he had gotten himself so far into the hole, but he still had dignity in his defeat. I chipped in ten dollars to cover the table to so as not to add insult to injury, and he was on his way. My friends couldn’t believe I scored like that three tables away from
hall—not to even mention the alcohol—and this makes them great targets. Having a mental edge is easily the winning formula, but this also involves knowing what to do when playing a better player. Matching up with a superior player is very difficult. Usually they don’t get to that level on luck alone, but if they are completely unstoppable it is better to stay away. Sometimes, however, you can match up. Let’s pretend we’re playing a race to seven games for twenty. A great way to even out the odds if you’re playing a better player is to ask for a number of games head start, or ‘on the wire.’ You always ask for more than you need so you can bargain your way to the optimal level. Believe it
ing up can take a few rounds of wins or losses, and requires the best from each player. Truly matching up is the inverse of getting hustled. Hustling is the notorious term associated with pool, poker, and sharks in general. The key feature of a hustle is making sure your opponent never knows how good you actually are at playing. It is trickery, and it is sometimes dangerous. A great player once told me, “Always be an honest thief,” and I think these are good words to live by. It’s always dangerous to straight up lie to someone. Instead, blind them with honesty (and omission). Sometimes acting like a cocky bastard makes people think you suck, sometimes it scares
Matching up with a superior player is very difficult. Usually they don’t get to that level on luck alone them, and I think it’s the most action that particular room has seen for quite some time! Being in the right place at the right time is critical. It is important to be opportunistic and know yourself and what you’re capable of. Mental focus is critical for coming through a match on top. It’s hard to think clearly when you’re low on food though. Some say you play better when you’re hungry, or horny, or drunk. I say you play better when you’re comfortable, but not too comfortable. Being overstuffed is a great way to fall asleep and you don’t want that happening during a match. But it’s no problem, because with a pool player’s budget you won’t be willing to part with more than a few dollars for a wrap. Wraps are a food of choice because flour tortillas are not oily, and having oily hands is one of the most annoying things to have to deal with when shooting. When possible, eat with a fork or spoon, but most obviously cook at home. Most people self-destruct by gorging on the greasy mind-numbing foods sold at the pool
or not this isn’t about tricking your opponent—it’s about giving both sides an equal chance! This is gambling at its highest and most prestigious level, when both sides not equally matched, but the weight added to the weaker side balances it out perfectly. Tragically it’s often hard to know what the right amount of weight is and match-
Nowhere near an ATM? Take advantage of cash-back options at local super markets. Purchase a stick of gum for a few cents to avoid the 2 or 3 dollar atm fees.
them shitless. It’s all about knowing what to do in each situation. Creating a perfect situation to use your best ‘act’ is at the core of hustling, and I try not to shit too close to where I eat. However, it’s all about the situation, and as an opportunist, when I am traveling no holds are barred.
Davis Teaches Me How to Hustle I don’t consider myself a gambler or one that deals with wagers. In my gambling career I’ve lost 50 dollars to a slot machine, 15 dollars over a reality show result, and 25 to a pregnant woman. Her baby is 4 months old now and I still haven’t coughed up the cash. Perhaps this will aid me in the future.
Step 1
Step 4
Scope the competition. Know how to pick
Raise the stakes incrementally. Keep
your battles.
things friendly.
Step 2
Step 5
Ease ‘em in. Don’t show them all the
Strike while the iron is hot. Show them
cards you hold.
what you’ve got when they peak.
Step 3 Let you opponent build some confidence. Talk big game but show very little. This takes some time but not very long.
After hearing all of this I still chickened out of gambling for the most part in Las Vegas. At least I got to enjoy my magic shows and a crappy t-shirt.
REG 4.21 Dollars Within the 9 months of this project, the average price of fuel was 4.21 dollars per gallon. With an 18 gallon tank for a 4Runner, it cost approximately 75.78 dollars to fill up.
For every trip to Los Angeles from Napa County, it takes 1 and 3/4’s a tank of gasoline. Midway through the project it became more cost officient to fly via domestic airline for around 80 dollars a ticket. Eventually, flying no longer became financially feasible.
December 2011
The Financial Diet December
A month had passed since celebrating my birthday in Las Vegas with some close friends so I decided the time had arrived to make another thesis-worthy trip to Southern California. I planned to meet up with Tate over dinner at a local joint. He ordered a burger
Home for the Holidays On December 6, Occupy Protestors squated homes that have bene forclosed that forced families into the streets.
while I ordered a salad to his evident surprise. He asked why I was eating a salad‌ on vacation. I told him I intended to lose weight and spend less money in the process. Victory was mine. I had met the enemy and they were money and food. I needed to enlist them to my benefit. I succeeded with this financial diet, saving money and saving pounds too, to my surprise. Sure I may have lost a lot of water weight but I preserved a lot more in my bank account that I initially thought I would. Eating all vegetarian, my bill came out to about a third of the grand total. I asked Tate if he wanted to be a part of my project but he felt a bit skeptical. When I spoke to people about the project I had a few mixed responses. I gave Dublin a call while I was vacationing to see what he was up to. We had been roommates before he had graduated and I asked him for an update on how things were going.
0
50
100
200 miles
New Years Resolution On New Year’s Eve, protestors made it a New Year’s resolution to actually meet their goals.
Alameda County
At the beginning of this project, my friend Dublin was located in Alameda County. He had resided there for a few years before moving with his parents to Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. Alameda County is located east of the Bay Area. The cost of living for Dublin was 42.5 percent higher than the U.S. average before moving to Tracy. Since moving farther away from his work, he talks about his new commute strategy.
This is Not What I Had in Mind by Dublin
Working Outside of the Field
I majored in English with an emphasis on creative writing in college, and was fully aware then and now that this, baring incredible amounts of both hard work and luck, would not lead me to immediate financial success. I chose this major because, quite simply, I love to read, write, and edit stories, and this major was the closest offered that covered these subjects. I feel that I received an adequate
find that working in a school environment, and on a school schedule, opens up adequate time and opportunity for me to preform what my education called for; immersing myself in the writing, reading, and editing of stories. In short, I may not be using my chosen major directly in the workplace, but my workplace and schedule allow me to use my chosen major in other areas of my life.
I promptly entered myself into the national workforce and found employment in a field that is only slightly close to what I studied for: elementary education. amount of education on these subjects, and graduated with an apprehensive view of the future. I promptly entered myself into the national workforce and found employment in a field that is only slightly close to what is studied for: elementary education. While this may not be a very glamorous job, I am continually finding it to be a rewarding experience, and not nearly as much of a waste of time as I had initially thought. While this is not the most direct use of my schooling, I
Obviously, working in the educational system, I am not blessed with an obscenely large paycheck on a bi-weekly basis, actually earning a few dollars above the California minimum wage. I am not sure what the media’s current definition of the 99 percent is, but I feel that this semi-meager income places me firmly outside the realm the fabled one percent. I am employed, have a place to live, own a vehicle and am able to enjoy a rather comfortable way of life. This being so, if I had to hazard a
30
How Dublin Lives Rent (living at home with parents):
Entertainment/odd expenses: $50 or
Gas/Transportation
$250/month
less/month (I work long hours and
Gas: $45-50 for full tank
Train: $68.50/month for train ticket.
haven’t found a movie worth watch-
Number of fills/month: 1-1.5
Savings: $A fairly nice amount.
ing for a while now.)
Number of fills/month without train: 3-5
No driving stress: Priceless.
Food (contributing to house food): $100/month
guess, I would most likely place myself in the 40th to 45th percentile, which is to say I feel about par for the financial course. Both my parents and I work at the same elementary school compound, and this being the case, find it easier to carpool to and from work every day. I am living with my parents in Tracy, California, and work in Dublin, California, which makes a morning commute of somewhere between one and one-and-a-half hours, due to heavy traffic. Due to this elongated commute, we have found it largely easier and immensely less stressful to use the local commuter train service in our area. The train, who’s Tracy station is located less than five minutes from our house, travels from Tracy to Dublin in less than an hour, and places me about ten minutes away from work. To be able to drive from the Dublin train station to work, I drive my personal car all the way to work on Monday, leave my car at the Tracy station on Monday night and take the train back to the Tracy station. On Tuesday through Friday, I leave my car in the Dublin parking lot overnight and drive the short distance to and from work, and then take the full trip back to Tracy after work on Friday. Given that a single full commute to and from work will take nearly a quarter of a tank of gas and the continuously rising gas prices, cutting
down on gas station visits is a must for me. Driving a full commute all week, I would be filling up at the station two or three times a week. Taking the train cuts down on my driving time, making it so I only have to drive a full commute once a week. A single train ticket will last me the entire month, giving a savings of at least thirty dollars a month. The Bay Area is known to have some of the worst commute traffic in the state, and this adds to the already high level of stress induced by driving. Taking the train cut this stress almost completely, making the daily commute a nearly enjoyable experience.
January 2012
Eye for an Eye. Beer for a Story. January We had an extra week of break with the way the calendar unfolded, and Tate decided he owed me an introduction to one of his friends. He had mentioned that this friend lived off 10 dollars a week. I sometimes tip that much to my server at a restaurant. I had to interview this guy. We both hopped into Tate’s car and drove east two and a half hours from Los Angeles into the Inland Empire. Tate turned to me and informed me with the following. “So, I spoke to him and he said he agreed if we did the following: picked him up from his house, and you have to buy him a beer.” (This being a project about young adults and college students coping with a poor economy, alcohol was to be expected.) I looked into my wallet, “Okay, I can do that.”
Beyond Boundaries On January 10, barriers were removed at Zuccotti Park in New York City allowing protestors to re-occupy the area.
Inked Protestors in the Bay Area dressed as squids. Journalist Matt Taibbi refers to Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
Making Money Off Spare Time by Jesse
Professional Plagiarism
Despite being a pre-med student, I’ve always had an inclination for writing, reading and critical thinking on literature. I was always the student that looked forward to the essay portion of any exam, whether it be a general education course or biology. Writing was not a problem for me. It wasn’t until a quarter late into my junior year that I found myself with an incredible amount of time. While my friends were up pulling the all nighters I should have been pulling myself, I was getting a full 10 hours of sleep and taking long walks. A friend had approached me in desperate need for help. Being Asian himself, he sought the As his parents expected out of him and needed his load to be lightened. After asking me to write his paper, I agreed and began to work. I read three books, briefed him on the material for in-class discussions, handed him a final draft, and he got the A he was looking for. And then he gave me a wad of cash. That’s when I realized that maybe helping friends could also help me… well, help me. I perfected a system and a way to stay undercover as a professional academic ghost-writer. Knowing I could get kicked out, I set up a few ground rules:
1
Never, never attempt ghost writing for an English professor. Their entire lives are based in literary analysis.
2
Refrain from doing homework for core major courses. I’m in the business of lightening the academic load of peers, not earning their degree for them.
3
Do not procrastinate.
With those rules I set forth to create a small business for myself. Earning a few thousand a year, I was able to fund a few guilty pleasures: a new computer, eating out with friends, and a few game consoles here or there. My clientele is built on a reference system from other writers. I pay my dues-usually a 10 percent cut for referrals--and I look to have people under me as well. With the economy the way it is, there will always be a college student looking for a shortcut. Also, I pay taxes. There are just things in life you can’t cheat. I never saw my writing as wrongdoing. In fact it wasn’t until my interview for this project that I saw some humor in it. I’m simply a service for students to get by.
33
How to Earn Money Doing Other People’s Homework Jesse is located in Southern California’s Inland Empire. He lives in his parent’s home. For free. He spends his time gaming and writing essays for local students on campus such as La Sierra University, University of California Irvine, University of Redlands, and others.
Step 1
Step 4
Meet with the client. Analyze the class
For in-class discussions, prepare the client
syllabus and do online research on the
with as much information as possible.
professor.
Step 2
Step 5
Set up a calendar and plan accordingly. Keep
Write the first draft and have the student
in contact with client as much as possible.
send the first draft to the professor to get the professor acquainted with the “student’s work” before it is submitted.
Step 3
Step 6
Do the homework. There is no shortcut.
Submit the final draft. Collect payment.
Read and know the books, know the class. Think of it as independent study, except in exchange of class credit you get paid in cash--for me, a great incentive.
Jesse’s said, “I run a small operation, so payment isn’t a terribly difficult issue, I’ve never had anyone run out on me. If no money was available I’d usually take a barter.”
Also... With a weekly budget of $20, he lives on only one item of food: Spicy Chicken Sandwiches from Carls Jr., a dollar apiece. He told me that his local restaurant does not charge extra for add-ons or alterations. Yes, Jesse lives on 20
1 Dollar
no matter what...
Spicy Chicken Sandwiches a week when his parents refuse to feed him. For an assignment for a typical quarter-long course, Jesse earns upwards of $2,000.
Although Jesse’s clients have been recieving A’s on their transcripts, a recent grading of a sample paper I had taken to be graded by the appropriate professor recieved a C-. Claiming work that is not your own goes against policies in all institutions of higher education. Hiring out people to do your homework will tarnish your academic record and reputation permanently.
600 Communities Since September 17, 2011, over 600 communities across the United States of America had a form of the Occupy Movement, not including off-shoots.
February 2012
The Project February By this time of the year my client list had shrunk to only a few jobs a month, not nearly enough to sustain going out every weekend. With this thesis due not too far away, I had to make a quick decision: No more driving. I could no longer feed my SUV the fuel it needed to get me where I needed to go. My lifestyle had stranded me. I just needed a few more stories to complete my journey. I’ve started to live beyond food. For a few weeks up to this point I traded design consultation for food. With classes getting busier, I had to cut back on work hours. With my budget cut nearly
Starting February, Occupy Wall Street protests were active in 79 cities across the United States. Oakland’s protests began to escalate in activity targeting large corporate institutions such as Wells Fargo, McDonald’s and Bank of America to name a few. Seven were arrested.
Occupy Wall Street declared a “Shut Down Corporations” day on February 29th. The UC Davis branch of Bank of America shuts down due to Occupy Wall Street activity on campus.
0
50
100
200 miles
50 percent from beginning of the year, I began taking to heart what my friends had taught me. I made a phone call to Benedict who just so happened to be sitting next to Zoe. Coincidentally they had been talking about my project. I asked if she would be willing to share her point of view. For the most part, Zoe has a wonderfully bubbly personality that I look forward to seeing everytime I go down home. She is a type1 diabetic and resides in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles.
Nice Guys Finish First by Zoe
Getting What You Want with a Smile
Despite being a pre-med stud I’ve been in col-
don’t feel like waking up in the morning. And
lege for five years now, studying occupational
it’s especially hard since I legally cannot have a
therapy, but at the moment I’m not actually
driver’s license. Yeah, there’s actually a branch
taking any classes. Just working. This is my second
of the DMV that signs off on your health status.
job at Togo’s. The first time I worked there
If you’re diabetic, you have to take a test av-
was from 2008 to 2009. Yeah, now I’m back.
eraging your blood sugar over a three-month
Right now I’m having trouble doing school
period. The acceptable range is between six
There’s no way I could afford my own health insurance and work at the same time, mostly because I need
and eight. I’m at nine. It sucks, and I have to
to get my diabetes under control. That’s right,
wait three months to try to change my status.
I have Type I diabetes—the insulin-dependent
There’s no way I could afford my own health
kind, not the lifestyle-dependent kind. Sorry,
insurance, or to pay for any of the insulin, pills,
but I’m offended by people who have Type II
needles, and other equipment I need just to
diabetes and are really overweight, and are telling
keep my diabetes under control. Fortunately,
Average medical costs for diabetics run
me about how hard it is while they ask me for
because of lovely President Obama, I have
350-900 dollars a month. Almost 11,000
extra bacon and avocado on their sandwiches.
coverage on my parents’ insurance until I’m
dollars a year.
It’s hard to function as both a student and
25. But that’s only a couple of years away, and
employee and keep up with everything if you
I don’t know what I’m going to do then.
39
Hopefully by that time I’ll have finished school
they’ll start to notice you and remem-
and will be working in a medical setting, which
ber you and hook you up a little bit.
will probably mean I’ll have good health cover-
Another thing that works—and this is going to
age. But if not…I don’t know. I know there are
sound really bad—is crying hysterically and being
programs out there to help people who can’t
emotional. I was really sad one day at Subway and
afford their diabetes medications. I’ve talked to
couldn’t stop crying while I was ordering my sand-
older diabetics and have had to give them some
wich. There was a man who was helping me and
of my insulin because they didn’t have any. The
he was very affected by my crying. I was eyeing
best you can do is get on Medicare, go to a free
some cookies, and he asked me if I wanted them.
clinic. They aren’t actually free, but they’re
I was like, “No, I can’t afford it,” but he noticed
pretty cheap, and they offer you…well maybe
that I wanted them and said. “Take them for free!”
not the best of service, but at least it’s service.
Now just so you know, I would never do
So getting a job in the medical field is my
that on purpose as a ploy! I would feel so
top priority. I depend on medicine that costs a
guilty. But if you’re genuine and nice, and give
hundred dollars a vial. Which is a little scary.
stuff to people, you really get stuff back.
What I have had a lot of luck on is get-
I try to be nice to my own customers and help
ting free food at restaurants and stuff. I think
them out when they seem like they’re in need.
it helps to be in the food service industry my-
There were a couple of young Hispanic kids today.
self. When I wear my Togo’s uniform in to
They looked like they were brother and sister, but
some other restaurant, for example. It’s like there’s sympathy among other workers.
their clothes were all ragged and tattered. They
It also helps to be a frequent customer.
only had fifty cents and were trying to figure out
If you find a place and keep going there,
what they could buy with that. So I told them that
Uniforms are a great way to draw empathy from the food service crowd.
what they were looking at was cheaper than it re-
est and easiest foods to get are the ones that are
ally was and made up the difference after they left.
the worst for you! When I was first diagnosed
People genuinely don’t expect people
with diabetes, there was a McDonald’s right
to be nice any more. It’s sad really.
there in the lobby of the endocrinology ward!
I’m trying to do what I can for my parents,
I guess it’s not a surprise, it’s just business.
since they’re letting me live with them. I’m
People just put their own wants ahead of what
not poor, but I’m sure as hell not rich. I’m just
is actually good for themselves and for others.
blessed with a family that’s doing a little better
That’s why fat people make me angry. Sorry, it’s
than just getting by. I’m nowhere close to be-
a diabetic thing! It’s a sign of self-discipline with
That’s why fat people make me angry. ing one hundred percent self-sufficient, but I’m
healthy eating habits—and that’s a problem that I
trying to transition into that. Minimum wage
also have. Often people loathe the traits in others
jobs don’t do crap for you if you’re getting nickel
that they have themselves. There’s an epidemic
and dimed everywhere else. You just have to
of diabetes in this country, and it’s not Type I, it’s
know how to work…not the system, but the
Type II, which is more behavioral. It’s sad. People
people in the system. People can help you out if
are trying to make a buck or save a buck and kill-
you just know how to push the right buttons.
ing themselves in the process. We’re that stupid.
Anyway, I pay some bills, and buy groceries for the house because my parents don’t eat that well. It makes me so angry that the cheap-
I swear Zoe is usually not this offensive. Usually.
How to Have an Incredibly Cheap Date Knowing that Benedict and Zoe were a couple, I wondered how they spent their time together. If you aren’t at your parents’ house, it is inevitable that you are going out and spending money. Here is what Zoe told me.
Tip 1
Tip 4
Typical couples would go out and see a
After that, we usually take a walk
movie. Benedict usually downloads movies
around the neighborhood and just talk.
that we can watch on our computers, or if we can’t do that we get a dollar rental.
Tip 2 If we want snacks for the movie, we go to
Nothing is more valuable
Tip 5
than simply spending time
Repeat 1-4.
with someone you love.
the 99 cent store for candy. Everything for 99 cents. Coincidence? So that’s a dollar at most for the movie,
I think not!
Tip 3 Usually for dinner, Benedict goes through his wallet to see what coupons he has. If I’m not feeling that, I make dinner at home. We both cook, and we’re both really cheap.
two bucks at most for candy, four for dinner ingredients. About seven dollars for a date. You’ve got to find the cheapest way. We’re going to see each other again, and if we’re broke, we have to make it work one way or another!
March 2012
The Project March Spring break changed my pace and possibilities. I needed to get back home after a rough quarter with classes. Overloading was not easy and I didn’t know how much further I could go while maintaining my studies, budget and thesis project. With gas prices on the rise and fewer freelance opportunities, I abandoned my car for a majority of the quarter. It turns out those little quarter-mile long trips add up. I needed to get back home somehow and my procrastination forced airfare out of my budget. I called my buddy Davis near Sacramento to see if he’d be able to let me hitch a ride. Luck smiled on me and he did. Spring Break arrived and I learned to live the expression “dirt poor.” I met up with Tate over
March 17, the six month anniversary of the movement. Protestors gathered at Zuccotti Park yet again. Protestors march in looking forward to May Day. Witnesses said veterans were treated brutally by police. Protestors were seen being slammed against glass panes hard enough to leave large cracks.
break to get an update on him. He had graduated in June of 2011. Still no job, and living with his mom and sister. I thought it was time I caught up with him again after a couple of months. When I approached Tate with the idea of including him in my project he responded, “I’m not cheap nor am I good with money.” Yet he always knew the ways of getting around affordably while still managing a great time. Finally he had it with me bugging him about this project. He said, “Sure.” Now I didn’t mean for this to happen but it did. I asked him to further elaborate.
Networking Pays by Tate
Why to Invest in Connections
Four years in college. It should have been a little more since I changed my major after the first two years, but mostly because I decided to pick up a minor in English. I had this self-imposed Asian standard of success going on in terms of finishing on time (though oddly enough it did not necessarily apply to my grades) which meant I decided to forgo finishing a quarter or two late in favor of taking 24 units my last quarter. For the record, I wouldn’t recommend that for anyone. It cost more than the former option and ended up burning me out for a while after graduation. I ended up with a B.A. in communication, emphasis in theory, and a minor in English. I chose one of the few humanities majors where you don’t necessarily have to go to grad school immediately to have a chance at a job (as far as I know). I eventually want to be a professor, but I feel I should have work experience in my field of study before I try to teach it. Communication is also a weird field because it is interdisciplinary, and I feel that many comm-related jobs are filling in the gaps and that each gap is different. Right now I live at home, with my mom and sister, both of whom are nurses. Evidently this sort of thing is typical, and the main reason we’re start-
ing to be referred to as “The Boomerang Generation.” I don’t know if other post-college kids doing the same thing have stumbled upon the same problems I’ve encountered as a result. But instead of a “hurry up and move out” parent I have a “let me do everything for you” parent. If I were a lazy and selfish person my situation would be pretty sweet. I’m not. I’d say I’m actually regressing in some ways as a result. In college I experienced living in an apartment—working and going to school and doing chores and taking care of myself in general. Now, According to the Bureau of Labor
if I don’t clean my room fast enough my mom does it for me, even when I tell her not to. That sort of holds true for all such things. I’m pretty messy and I don’t clean my room until I can’t see the floor, and I don’t do laundry until my basket is overflowing, etc. My mom addresses such issues before they get to that state. My point is, she tends to do chores before I realize they need to be done, and so I’m slowly starting to feel like I’ve forgotten how to take care of myself since I really don’t at the moment. Yes, I realize I should just do chores earlier.
44
Statistics, the demand for public relations experts will grow faster than average
It’s hard to really describe my weekly budget. My mom leaves a twenty-dollar bill or two on the living room table usually. I try not to use them if I don’t have to. Actually, I don’t spend money if I don’t have to. I think as far as unemployed finan-
do in exactly what order. I learned a fair bit from it but it did not prepare me for more regularlydemanding duties. I also did a local internship at an organization that hadn’t taken interns before so they did not
I think as far as unemployed financial leeches go, I’m a relatively innocuous example. cial leeches go, I’m a relatively innocuous example. I have to be, to avoid feeling too much guilt. I only really spend money when I go out with friends, and I hardly ever spearhead such efforts myself because of my cheapness. My only paying job so far has been as a dispatcher at my university’s security department. I worked there for three years. It was an odd job. Ninety percent of the time I either did filing or kept record of activities and observations made by the guards, and neither activity being very demanding. But every once in a while (usually during dead week or finals week) an emergency would occur and I would have to know exactly what to
quite know what to do with me. I suspect my duties were, as a whole, lighter than what most other internships would require. I had to do some data entry, some photography, some interviews, and write a couple of magazine articles. It was a short internship but the first experience I had doing things related to my field. It also made me realize that I probably couldn’t pull off being a journalist for very long. Honestly, the biggest single chunk of money I’ve made since graduation came from my graduation party.
How to Network Your Way Into A Big Grad Payoff: Through Church Connections Tate doesn’t seem to make this much of a big deal. But it is to me. With graduation around the corner it seems like too much sense not to pull something like this off.
I’ve found networking with churches to be very easy. Young adults are a
Also, the unique, insular beliefs of Seventh-day Adventism make it less likely
relatively rare commodity at most churches. Furthermore, since most churches
for members to be casual or uninvolved in the church family. And the concept
act under the idea of a “church family,” if you visit the average church more
of the church family seems to be strengthened by the collectivist culture of the
than once they are likely to try to integrate you into the fold. Then again,
predominant ethnicity in the churches I attended.
though I’ve been to several churches regularly, they’ve all been of a similar predominant ethnicity, so maybe it has more to do with the ethnic culture than
I also happened to graduate at the same time that many other members were
the religious culture. But most churches I’ve been to have greeters at the door,
graduating, from middle school and high school as well as college. Finally, the
publicly recognize visitors during the service and/or at potluck, and usually one
particular church the party was at is rather large. All of these factors meant that
of the pastors or deacons will try to strike up a conversation with you. All that’s
I had a joint party with many other graduates, all of whom had families and
required of you is to look like a visitor, and the church with generally do the rest
family friends along with the church family at large, most of whom could and
for you as far as networking goes.
did attend and on average made good money.
Why the SDA church?
$3,000 in one evening. The end result was that any person who attended the party, even if for only one
I’d like to make it clear that this was not some callous, premediated scheme,
graduate, would generally feel the need to not only give a gift to the person they
and I only realized afterward that my choices of when and where to have my
personally know, but due to the whole church family concept would give gifts
graduation party were optimal as far as getting graduation money is concerned.
to all of the graduates even if they did not know some of them very well. Hence
Keeping in mind that I don’t have an abundance of rich relatives, I probably
3 thousand dollars in one evening. I’d like to mention again that this was not
received $3,000 or so for graduation, which from all accounts is a lot. The reason
part of some grand plan of mine. I imagine that if I had not graduated from an
I got so much has a lot to do with the fact that I held my graduation party at a
Adventist university, many of the members would not have been interested in
Seventh-day Adventist church.
giving me gifts. And of course, Adventist education is expensive, so this isn’t really a practical means of accomplishing anything. Just something that happened
There are several factors involved. First, it’s my understanding that Seventh-day Adventists have the highest ratio of working professionals out of any Christian denomination. That means that the average SDA member has more moneymaking potential than the average member of any other denomination.
to happen.
April 2012
The Project April It was the 8th month of this project. The concept of the Occupy Wall Street Movement was still hazy but I felt like I was getting the gist of it. As I began dipping into my savings to pay for groceries, it was alarming how fast things were changing as graduation approached. Life was only going to get more difficult. Juggling a thesis project, while overloading on class units to graduate, plus job hunting, was proving all too much. Senioritis or not, my plate always felt full while this project was kept unfinished. I had started out confused over the noise started back in September. I thought I was fine. I had already been working as a freelancer for a couple of years. Never did I really think I would ever consider marching as part of the movement (whatever this movement was). Then as my jobs stopped coming and academics forced me to push away the paycheck I was angry over how difficult life was getting. All of a sudden I had found myself at Safeway crossing my fingers that my card would be accepted to purchase a much-
Starting February, Occupy Wallstreet protests were active in 79 cities across the United States. Oakland’s protests began to escalate in activity targeting large corporate institutions such as Wells Fargo, McDonalds and Bank of America to name a few. Seven were arrested.
needed pack of gum. The more I tried to juggle things around the more difficult things got. The hardest part of growing up was letting go. Then here I was in April, wondering what could possibly happen to me. I decided it was time for another break. My college buddy Kern moved to Long Beach, not too far from my hometown of Downey. We met up for three-dollar sushi. I knew he had gone through some hard times finding a job after graduating from fire academy in California. The state had gone through some serious budget cuts and the first jobs to go were state government related. State employees were forced to take furlows and it seemed like things were shutting down despite the media assuring us that the economy was getting better. As we waited for Kern’s ahi tuna to be seared, I managed to twist his arm into telling his take on the 99 percent and how he fit into it.
My Life Sucks by Kern
A Victim of the California Job Market
I spent four years at PUC. I switched my major a few times and then landed on emergency medical services, where I nearly completed the degree, but did not complete the National Registry in time. I then took an additional semester at a local community college taking classes to get priority registration for the fire academy, where I went through eighteen grueling weeks of intense physical training. So currently I am one unit away from an associate’s in emergency medical services. A degree is important in getting hired as a firefighter, yes, but having a shitload of certifications is also a huge plus. Graduating from the Fire Academy gave me roughly eighteen, which is a great start, but I’d love to at least double that in the next few years, as well as complete the National Registry so I can say I’m a college graduate. My work experience is rather limited. I’ve had a few jobs, but nothing serious until now. I worked summers in high school for my dad at his dental practice, cleaning instruments and doing other odd jobs around the office. It was pretty nice because I could do mindless chores and watch YouTube. My last year at PUC I was selected to be a desk worker for Grainger. Again, mindless chores, read a book, work six hours in the middle of the night, it was all gravy because all the kids were nice. After graduating from the Fire Academy and finding out that there were zero jobs out there for a noobie who wanted to fight fires with no experience under their belt, I found a job by chance working for an office supplies retail store by the name of Office Depot. Boy, did I lose faith in humanity. People are such assholes. And we had to sit there
day after day taking it from some prick who can’t read the advertisement sign and wants a deal because he read it wrong. People will bully retail employees because they know they can get away with it because corporate will throw its own employees under the bus for a good rating from their (asshole) customers. People have no decency anymore. But now I work for an optics company in Irvine. People tend to ask me what the hell that is. Basically we make the lasers that cut microchips that go in your phones and computers. I take the (very expensive) equipment out of a class 100 clean room and make sure it’s packaged correctly to be shipped all over the world. It’s not a bad job and it’s paying well. My boss treats me like her son, which is fortunate. Also fortunately, I did not accumulate any debt. My parents were generous enough to put me through college on their own dime. That means my entire weekly budget currently consists of food and gas, roughly eighty dollars. The current goal is to pay off the credit card debt before I make any big changes. Currently I live with my aunt and uncle down in Long Beach, California. They were kind enough to put me in their spare bedroom while I search for my own place, and work in Irvine. Fuck you AJ for making me type out my shitty life for your stupid thesis project.
48
In August 2011, the state of California cut 27 million dollars from the fire department. An entire class of firefighters graduated without a job in sight.
Okay, so I deserved that.
May 2012
Tired February After I flew back to Sacramento Airport, the drive back to Napa County seemed long an exhausting. Nine months into the project and it was just about time to wrap things up. The job searching was okay. I was getting interviews but I wasn’t getting any real offers. I quickly realized life after college was going to be rougher than I thought. But after talking to the people involved in this project, at least I know that I’m not alone. Before leaving the airport, my friend Sita offered to pick me off and drop me off at my car at Davis. On the car ride over
On May 1st, Occupy Wall Street protestors called for a Day Without the 99 Percent. Despite the hype, the event was poorly attended in a majority of OWC locations and crowds were quickly dispersed after police involvement.
there we had gotten into talking about a lot of things. One of them being this project. She is a newlywed transplanted from Napa County. She moved to Sacramento in hopes of finding a job in her field but ended up finding barely anything. I expressed my confusion about the Occupy Wall Street and she pulled over to a restaurant. For the next hour she told me her story.
The Goals By this time in March, the goals of Occupy Wall Street solidified as the message became more popular. For the first time, without enough reputation, the following goals of Occupy Wall Street became the priority of the reform the movement called for.
Income
More and Better Jobs
Better income distribution
More job availability in the U.S. economy, especially
across the country to diffuse
job availability for those who majored in fields with
the 1 percent.
no job prospects to begin with.
Reduction of Corporate Influence in Politics
Forgiveness of Student Loans
Eliminate corporate lobbying on Capitol Hill.
Forgiving loans with incredibly high interest rates, especially for those who majored in something with no job prospects to begin with.
Sacramento County
The cost of living in Sacramento is 13.6 percent above the U.S. average. The unemployment rate in the city of Sacremento is 4 percent above the U.S. average. Here lives my friend, Sita.
0
50
100
200 miles
Occupying Sacramento by Sita
What is the One Demand?
Right when we were graduating, it was pretty clear that a lot of us were not going to find work that immediately because of the way things were going. But none of us realized how bad it was until we graduated. I graduated and got married two weeks later, moving to Sacramento. That meant leaving a job that wasn’t in my field, but still was a good job at fifteen dollars an hour. I managed a jewelry store in Calistoga—pretty decent. But I needed to find
I was looking forward to graduate school, then getting a job in the field that I wanted. It’s idealistic, but it’s what I wanted. The problem is after you get saddled with loans from your bachelor’s degree—unless your family has quite a bit of money or you make a quite a bit of money right away—if you’re smart you don’t want take out any more loans against you. So do you go to graduate school to spend another sixty thousand dollars you don’t have, or do you wait? After a
I started searching around again for something in my field and found nothing, nothing at all. Nothing that paid. something in my field, which was social studies. I came out of college feeling pretty accomplished, which I was. I came out pretty good grade wise and I felt I proved my worth, which I did. But it’s the kind of degree where you’ve got to keep going. If you go into grad school there is nothing stopping you.
while people start to feel like graduate school is a scam. So now I’m finding myself taking a year off. My husband had been working for two years at a small restaurant in Sacramento and suggested to the owner to start doing some marketing. So we basically brainstormed how we could sell the idea to the owner. I went in there with a little bit of
53
design experience and a little bit of PR experience and basically did a really informal internship where we could redesign his menu. I just shared the teeny bit of knowledge I had, and basically he hired me as a freelance person and I had actually made myself a job. And that kept me going until the restaurant experienced financial cutbacks and had to let me go. So I started searching around again for something in my field and found nothing, nothing at all. Nothing that paid. My options weren’t very diverse. A social studies degree either put me in museums or non-profit work, but I didn’t know about that second option yet. So I started an internship at a museum because I had to do something with my time. I was basically sitting at home which is really depressing. A lot of people are sitting at home losing self confidence everyday, because they graduate and suddenly find themselves looking down the barrel of a hundred thousand dollars that they can’t possibly pay off. So I started interning at the California Museum, which is a pretty small non-profit museum in Sacramento. They hired me for
a very, very part time job at the gift shop. The museum has had tons of cutbacks—in the last few months they basically have had to let go of six out of twelve employees. This job is kind of in my field of study…I’m in admissions selling candy bars and sodas and Sacramento B.S. Living the dream. Haha. There is no chance of moving up at this job. Zero. The way I’m treated is pretty awful. The administration there has been there forever. The way they treat us in the store makes it clear that we’re pretty stupid in their eyes. There are three or four people with no degrees and we are all treated the same. If there was another job available, I would quit—but there’s nothing. So you’re forced to stay there in order to make measly amounts of money. It takes a toll on my confidence to be told that I’m stupid when I took the job under the impression that it would be related to my area of expertise and that I would be able to move forward. Not long after they hired me I got involved with the Occupy Movement, because I was very upset that you pay a lot of money for college and you
graduate then you don’t get anything in return. I went down there to the protest camp near the Capitol. I didn’t know what anything was about. I just knew I owed a lot of money to the government and I have basically no job and I have no prospects and I knew I worked for a very stupid person. And I went down there and it wasn’t just students. It was a lot of people who were screwed. Fiscally irresponsible people were nowhere to be seen. Many had taken out loans because it was the only thing they could do to achieve the things they needed to accomplish. They took loans for their house. They took loans for their school. Basically if you are part of the 99 percent, it’s because you’ve been forced into borrowing money in order to get ahead. But the test of it is that even once you’ve borrowed that money, it’s still impossible to get ahead. The loan system has failed. So we are basically going backwards in time—where America was the land of opportunity, it is not anymore. It is a land where you pay a lot of money, you owe a lot of money, and you can’t make a lot of money. You basically cannot get a step up anymore.
The March in Sacramento Sita and others marched to Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other corporate banks to close their accounts to open an account at a local credit union.
The main head quarters of Occupy Sacramento was a lot of tents at Cesar Chavez Park, a few blocks away from the Capitol. The reason they did it there is because if you do go anywhere near the Capitol, you will actually get arrested immediately unless you have a permit to protest there—which is ridiculous. We sat there quite a bit of the day. There was a rule there: if you didn’t leave at eleven o’clock, you would get arrested. The homeless never got arrested, but we did. I didn’t get arrested, but some of my friends did. Just peacefully protesting, sitting and chanting. I was told that Sacramento was spending seventy thousand dollars a week just to have police watch the Occupy protestors all day. No instances of violence ever broke out, so it was kind of ironic. The first day we gathered there was a huge crowd of people and we actually marched to the Capitol, then down the Capitol Mall, which had all the big major banks lined up in one neat little row. So we went to each and every one. The banks closed their doors and shut their windows—they didn’t want to
hear anything about it. Everyone who had been foreclosed upon had a bone to pick with Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The objective for me was just to be there myself and to show people it’s not a violent protest, but a protest against being treated a certain a way. And I feel like schools and loan companies and the government have started to not be interested in what people actually need. I wanted to stand there and say that I understand how the system works and I understand how it is working now. I am not pleased with the agenda that is going on. I just wanted to be present there to show my support for people who are in even more debt than I am, honestly. I’m still at the museum being treated pretty badly. Employees are treated as parts in a system—you are so expendable as a worker these days. If you act any way unfavorably they will fire you, because there are hundreds of people willing to be treated incredibly badly for twelve hours of work a week. If you can believe it. I just discovered that the non-profit sector as a viable option for me with a bachelor’s
Employees are treated as parts in a system—you are so expendable as a worker degree. I’m in the final stages of applying at a homeless services non-profit that could hire me for thirty to forty thousand dollars a year with full benefits. I’m waiting to hear back. There is a lot of hope…there are things that are going to get better but right now a lot of students are feeling disconcerted about their future. It can go either way.
How to Make It in the 99 Percent Sita gives an overview of what it’s like to be the 99 percent in 2012 in America.
Step 1 Stay out of debt—don’t open a
Step 3 Don’t be lavish—keep things simple.
credit card
Step 2
Step 4 Keep your spirits up by enjoying things that are free.
Live within your means. Build up savings, shop cheaply.
Step 5 Invest in relationships. Invest in yourself emotionally, work on your spirituality, and explore new facts of faith.
Afterward 2012
The Uncertainty
At the end of this year, I don’t know how to feel about the Occupy Movement—or even about my prospects for the future. I look at these friends who have graduated or who are taking some time off of school or who have hit detours in their journey to prosperity, and there’s a strange mixture of fear and hope. I’m optimistic about my chances of finding meaningful work in my field. I’ve worked hard at my studies and I’ve gotten some great experience as a freelancer. But the decline in my jobs during this project has made me question what I’m looking forward to. And every one of my friends started off with that same confidence for the future.
After the failure of May Day, the Occupy Movement seems to have fizzled to a few but strong self-sustaining protest communities. It is only a matter of waiting to see if it was all worth it. For many, it meant a new sense of purpose.
58
I guess that’s the defining characteristic of being a member of the 99 percent: the uncertainty. It’s no longer a given that a college degree will lead to a life of prosperity, or even that that degree is within our reach if we just work hard. But after eight months of travels and dozens of interviews with new and interesting people—not to mention great encounters with old friends—I’m starting to develop an understanding of what we are all going through together. If there’s any value in what I’ve learned undertaking this thesis project, it’s that in a segment of the population as big as the 99 percent, no one is ever alone.
High Fives This project would not be possible without the help and encouragement from my friends, family, faith and ‘fessors. This publication was made with 2 iMacs, 1 Macbook Pro, Adobe CS5 Suite and a lot of late-night Denny’s runs.
Anecdotes by
In order of appearance
0
50
100
Copy Editing by with
200 Miles
and
Advised by
and
and
References CNN.com
HuffingtonPost.com
OccupyWallst.org
Time Magazine
Census.gov
NewsWeek Magazine