Another lovely Sunday morning in Kerrytown and the Aut is packed for brunch. Ever so mindful of the hot coffee so as not to burn my hand as I did several weeks ago - I can do the whole coffee bar gig but I've always been wary of venturing into the waitressing gig - that job is tough. I tried it once, for two weeks - totally kicked my ass. I was in my early 20s so I could ungracefully quit with little notice and still saunter over into my next low-paying gig. Though before my departure I learned more intimately just how much work waitressing actually entails. Let me take this moment to remind you to respect the wait staff wherever you go, and tip well; they are working much harder than you may ever realize.
I successfully pour half the pot of coffee into the carafe without a dastardly splash, hoping the wait staff don't get irritated that I've nearly emptied one of the coffee pots, and then escape over to the bookstore of common language. Here it is quiet and tranquil. I think about a book I first read here, a memoir called "Waiting: True Confessions of a Waitress" by Debra Ginsberg. She writes about her years of waiting tables, and how many skills actually go into doing the job well - remembering orders for entire tables without writing it down, the intuitive timing of bringing out the orders, and the physical strength for carrying and balancing all that stuff on a tray (and the list goes on). Like a gymnast/acrobat/ballerina of sorts, and having the whole acting persona down, it is a unique performance each and every shift.
I've heard some informal talk in the past years about a workers' movement here in the A2 metro, of the clerks and wait staff and folks working in the restaurant kitchens. I think it would be pretty rad if there were a workers' union to form in this town. The movement could coalesce with the affordable housing advocates, and maybe start to gain some real traction. It's interesting to me how Ann Arbor compares to other progressive cities when it comes to climate resiliency and adaptation planning; they have only in recent years begun to include the notion of affordable housing as part of that resiliency. I suppose my point being that this city is not as progressive as many would like to believe, and I hope that there are some other comparable towns that will give it a run for its money, as they say. We have a fiercely changing climate facing us down, and the earth won't wait for politics to catch up. Community resiliency has just been elevated to the uppermost top of the collective agenda, especially if we are contending with a glaring lack of leadership at the national scale.
I know many folks prefer the 'return to the land' approach, and to strengthen resiliency in that capacity, but I prefer to stay in the city - and so do many others. The sentiment and theory being that we all have a right to the city. To exist, sufficiently (not barely) in the city proper, if that is where we want to be. Otherwise, we all need cars to get around, and you know where that has gotten us thus far.
I successfully pour half the pot of coffee into the carafe without a dastardly splash, hoping the wait staff don't get irritated that I've nearly emptied one of the coffee pots, and then escape over to the bookstore of common language. Here it is quiet and tranquil. I think about a book I first read here, a memoir called "Waiting: True Confessions of a Waitress" by Debra Ginsberg. She writes about her years of waiting tables, and how many skills actually go into doing the job well - remembering orders for entire tables without writing it down, the intuitive timing of bringing out the orders, and the physical strength for carrying and balancing all that stuff on a tray (and the list goes on). Like a gymnast/acrobat/ballerina of sorts, and having the whole acting persona down, it is a unique performance each and every shift.
I've heard some informal talk in the past years about a workers' movement here in the A2 metro, of the clerks and wait staff and folks working in the restaurant kitchens. I think it would be pretty rad if there were a workers' union to form in this town. The movement could coalesce with the affordable housing advocates, and maybe start to gain some real traction. It's interesting to me how Ann Arbor compares to other progressive cities when it comes to climate resiliency and adaptation planning; they have only in recent years begun to include the notion of affordable housing as part of that resiliency. I suppose my point being that this city is not as progressive as many would like to believe, and I hope that there are some other comparable towns that will give it a run for its money, as they say. We have a fiercely changing climate facing us down, and the earth won't wait for politics to catch up. Community resiliency has just been elevated to the uppermost top of the collective agenda, especially if we are contending with a glaring lack of leadership at the national scale.
I know many folks prefer the 'return to the land' approach, and to strengthen resiliency in that capacity, but I prefer to stay in the city - and so do many others. The sentiment and theory being that we all have a right to the city. To exist, sufficiently (not barely) in the city proper, if that is where we want to be. Otherwise, we all need cars to get around, and you know where that has gotten us thus far.
