Work and live and die

Izzy is a maid. If added together, the number of changed pillowcases in her life would round somewhere in the 10,000’s.

Izzy doesn’t exactly like her job but she does like that she has a job.

Izzy is originally from Mexico, in her later years she moved to Sonora. Izzy was lucky enough to befriend a quite wealthy housewife and in 1993 was given a job cleaning the house of a Mexican Noble. Izzy, being familiar with folding clothes and doing laundry, settled in quite quickly.

While she has her health (and a job) still, Izzy seems to feel unfinished.

Izzy folds laundry, though she does not like to, she has gotten quite good at it.

Tomas T. works for the government. You know that government gig that everyone wants? Tom T. has it. “Work for the government,” everyone says, “you’ll get taken care of.”  And taken care of, he is.

With a nice 401k, medical, dental, and time off that schoolteachers would be jealous of, Tomas T. has really made a life for himself.

Tomas T. empties tollbooth change on Highway 90, between Willow an 42^nd.

His shift starts at 9:15 pm and will usually end at 6 am the following morning. The night shift suits Tomas T. just fine, “work load is nominal, and gives me time to think”. When Thomas was 19 he deiced that he would make a living as a drummer for a rock band. While he practiced everyday, the trauma of auditions got the best of him. But even still Thomas can’t order Chinese food with out jamming away, chop sticks in hand.

He says that if you listen just right there’s even music in the clanking of tollbooth change. The loneliness of Thomas T.’s job became comfortable decades ago. Although he is not married, Thomas does quite well by himself.

Thomas T. collects quarters on Highway 90, while some nights the music plays softer than others, he has gotten quite good at it.

Vanessa Long is a model. At 28 she was rated number 1 of the top 5 “nicest bottoms” buy People Magazine. Vanessa is on billboards that wrap round buildings larger than Olympic pools. She can’t walk down the street without being asked for an autograph or a picture snapped with “the greatest behind in the world.”

 Vanessa Long decided at 13 that she would be a model. She would practice posing using shoplifted disposable cameras supplied by her grade school boyfriend. If you’d add up the number of camera flashes that Vanessa’s eyes have seen, I’d image you could see the glow from Jupiter. Her life resembles one that you would see on TV, but she wonders if she has ever been in love. Vanessa posses for cameras, though some pictures develop brighter than others, she has gotten quite good at it.

Brett Rosenberg is a bartender. He works at a nightclub in Chicago. Open till 4am and just feet away from the El Train Brett has grown at ease dealing with drunk people. The money is good for now but still it all seems meaningless. At 8 years old, after seeing Bruce Willis jump off a burning building with nothing but a fire-hose tied to his waste, Brett decided that he wanted to be an action star. Later his grandma would introduce him to William Shakespeare, and in college he would land a part as Sebastian in Twelfth Night. Wednesday night is dollar drink night, Brett works as a DJ. This gives him the chance to meet a vast brand of unusual people. If you walk down Belmont and Sheffield on any given night, you wont find a single soul who doesn’t know who Brett is. At the Bar he is a hero, but what he doesn’t let on is that nights off are spent empty in his one bedroom apartment. Brett lives unaccompanied and often fears the thought of his own mind. He wants to be an actor, but for now he tends bar. This life is not his, but he lives it just the same. Brett pours drink on Belmont and Sheffield, though he does not like to, he has gotten quite good at it.