For two years, I supported myself working restaurants, often times working two jobs at the same time. I had no car, so relied on a combination of a bicycle (multiple bicycles, actually, because one broke down and another was stolen) and public transportation to get around. When, one week, the buses stopped running because of a strike, I had to bicycle two hours to and from work and one day was so weak I almost fainted on the job.
Getting a job at the local gas station was a step up. Yeah, sure, I had to work graveyard two days of the week, which made going to college at the same time impossible, but it was steady 40 hour week work with steady pay. I was finally able to start saving up money for a car.
The way I got out of that cycle was by spending my free time on the then-Internet and learning enough about computers to get a job at a dot-com. I got my break when I met Sean Lynch who was having lunch with my friend Hope Esperanza one day; Sean helped me get my first middle class job and out of the cycle of poverty.
Not everyone is as lucky as I was. Here is a story of one woman who has to work two jobs just to make ends meet.
http://Edit: Updated link to Huffpost version of article which better compensates the authorwww. huffingtonpost. com/ linda- tirado/ why- poor- peoples- bad- decisions- make- perfect- sense_ b_ 4326233. html
The above photo was taken by my friend Amy Ihde
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