As had the family on the other side of the room. Father, mother, and four little ones all munching away on subs or chips or cookies or whatever else the Subway peddles these days. One little girl was playing away with some sort of toy promotion for the Land of The Lost movie, which I've heard is terrible. I figured the little girl would never see it though, as the family didn't look like the type that spent much time at the theatre. From the enthusiasm of the little ones and the fact that I've seen them there every Friday night for a couple months now, I'm pretty comfortable in saying that Friday night at Subway was the big family outing for the week.
The same way a trip to McDonald's was a big outing for the little drugmonkey's family.
The short sleeved plaid workshirt the father wore looked awfully familiar.
I was looking through a mirror into my childhood, because you see, before the agents of capital started luring the hablaers of español northward to provide cheap labor, they were luring the hillbillies out of the holler to do the same.
.....To the jobs that lay waiting in those cities' factories
They learned readin', rightin', roads to the north
To the luxury and comfort a coal line can't afford
They thought readin', rightin', route 23
Would take them to the good life that they had never seen
They didn't know that old highway
Could lead them to a world of misery
.....To the jobs that lay waiting in those cities' factories
They learned readin', rightin', roads to the north
To the luxury and comfort a coal line can't afford
They thought readin', rightin', route 23
Would take them to the good life that they had never seen
They didn't know that old highway
Could lead them to a world of misery
Dwight Yoakum wasn't singing about today's immigrants, although the story sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it? I know exactly where route 23 is. It leads up from the hollers of Kentucky to the spirit crushing jobs of the North. I've driven on it many a time. Up from the land of poverty to the promise of work it goes.
Up from the land of poverty to the promise of work. Sound familiar? Does it? Because honest to God it seems like sometimes I am the only person on earth who can make a connection between yesterday's Tom Joads and today's Felipe Hernandezes. The only one who sees that Sabado Grande looks an awful lot like the Hee Haw we used to watch on Saturday nights. I used to work in the ghetto, and although I couldn't understand a word they were saying, a lot of my customers in the ghetto reminded me an awful lot of the hillbillies back home.
But it feels like I am the only person who can see it. Because the grandchildren of Tom Joad can't get past the fact that the people who took their place on the economic ladder came north hablaing español. So the grandchildren of Tom Joad are duped into thinking they have far more in common with the white people on Wall Street than they do with the people who currently do the work their grandparents did. The work that laid the foundation for the grandchildren of Tom Joad to be elevated into the upper middle class. Where they were taken advantage of by the Barons of Wall Street they thought they had so much in common with. Checked your 401k balance lately?
It's kinda like the way Tom Joad was taken advantage of by the Barons of Agriculture.
I watched as the little girl in Subway happily showed off her dinosaur cup to her brothers, and I could almost hear the voice of soul rotting affluence on the other side of the mall angrily sending back his meat of the moment. I could imagine the meat of the moment wasn't cooked the way the New York Times said it should be cooked, and the grandchildren of Tom Joad are all about showing their status, which is defined by whatever the New York Times says it should be. You know it happened.
And I know I'll look forward to heading back to Subway this Friday.
I think that little girl's gonna turn out all right.
6 comments:
Where are those great books like Grapes of Wrath, the Jungle, Babbit..the Upton Siclairs, the Theodore Dreisers. the John Steinbecks? My second thank you..you keep me in touch with what's real and true.
The powers that be have a vested interest in pointing out the differences between various groups, lest those groups realize their similarities and decide to toss out the status quo.
So the grandchildren of Tom Joad are duped into thinking they have far more in common with the white people on Wall Street than they do with the people who currently do the work their grandparents did.
Kind of like a hundred years ago when the bosses played the same "divide & conquer" game with the immigrants from Europe. Whoever was coming over most recently were the ones who got the jobs, while every immigrant group already here was screwed over and then told it was the fault of them damn Swedes/Bohunks/Hungarians/Slavs/Chinese/etc. And, blind to history as always, we fall for the same scam even now. And we still insist that plasma TVs give America a higher standard of living than Germany, even though a plasma TV doesn't do you any good when the hospital bills come due and the HMO refuses to pay.
You are a good egg, Monkey. Even though you don't always want us to notice it.
This daughter of a plaid workshirt-clad white father salutes you. (And I grew up just blocks from Route 23, by the way.) I think you're right - I think that girl's going to be alright. My sister and I have more perspective that a lot of our generation, those of us in our 20s, anyway.
I went to Subway for lunch yesterday. A good place to contemplate the eternal hidden struggle between the working & middle classes in America. Thanks for bringing this up.
As much as the powers that be hate it, it is and forever shall be that those people who toil over "medial" labor shall forever determine the trajectory of this nation. Happy forth drug monkey. And to every US citizen (and non citizen) who spends their days doing work in this country that need to be done happy fourth to you too. This nation is not a nation but a collection of people trying to do what is best for the nation. God (or whatever deity you believe in) bless the USA!
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