“7 Days @ Minimum Wage” Begins Monday
It’s about to happen. On Monday, October 23, the national video blog I was invited to work on for ACORN and AFL-CIO goes live on the Net. And as my life has been going for the past few months, since last Monday I’m in deeper still.
I started out doing media work for the project. Then late last week I was asked to help find and interview the workers (I was lucky to find Jessica and Erin). The subject of one of those interviews, Jessica, told a tale of life on minimum wage so emotionally stark and, frankly, devastating, that her interview has become the centerpiece of the project, and will be shown in its 13-minute entirety on Thursday evening, October 26.
It was the first time in my life I ever used a video camera, much less interviewed somebody with one. I have every belief that God had a hand in the result. Jessica and her four children make it through life on fumes, not money. Her perseverance, her courage, and her tears, all portrayed in the video, will bring you to weep for a country that allows anyone to live like this.
Jessica is not alone in her plight. Beginning Monday at sevendaysatminimumwage.org, these are the people you’ll meet:
Monday 10/23
Susan Windham and Paul Greg Valdez (construction laborers in Denver)
Tuesday 10/24
Erin (a supermarket worker in Northern Indiana)
Wednesday 10/25
Jeffrey Edwards (a fast-food worker in Denver)
Thursday 10/26
Jessica (a clerical worker in Chicago)
Friday 10/27
Chris Peters (a day-laborer in Denver)
Saturday 10/28
Amanda Stewart (a fast-food worker in Cleveland)
Sunday 10/29
Mallory McCarty (a retail clerk in Cleveland)
The interviews are being hosted by ACORN-supporter Roseanne Barr (and from what I hear she did a spectacular job), and we’re further blessed to be able to host a chat with Nickel and Dimed-author Barbara Ehrenreich, scheduled for Sunday, October 29, from 11 a.m. to Noon EST.
This is truly the most just effort I have ever had the good fortune to be involved in. In three short weeks, I am changed, truly. I invite you all to come and watch the seven days of “7 Days…” and find out why.
Jessica and Erin, thank you for saying yes.
* * *
For more information…
Visit the 7 Days @ Minimum Wage blogsite, or read the regularly updated 7 Days Daily Dose news page.
You can also view the project on YouTube.
Browse the AFL-CIO “7 Days…” press release here.
Browse the ACORN press release here.
Press inquiries can be directed to me in Chicago or Sarah Massey in Washington D.C.
Or simply visit your nearest Wal-Mart, diner, or day-laborer staging area…and ask someone who works there about their life.
Just be prepared for their answer.
Other posts you might like from Chicago Carless:
Today, unbeknownst to Yours Truly, a quote from Chicago Carless calling for the resignation of scandal-dogged Chicago Police Department superintendent Phil Cline was featured in the Opinion section of the Chicago Tribune. That's neat, because before Noon today, Phil Cline did just that.
'They should take those signs down and find a way to take care of people, not punish people. These are people who are cold, these are people who are poor, these are people who are suffering already. Why slap them in the face?'
Imagine my surprise when two days after posting a shout out to Chicagoist for what had become a positive relationship again, on Monday Chicagoist scribe Chuck Sudo penned a personal attack on me and my blog over the Intelligentsia post I wrote for Gapers Block.
