Jobs

Jobs; and I'm not talking about Steve Jobs, although i thank him and his crew for this laptop, upon which I peck away, day after day, because I can afford to, even though I am on Social Security. I'll remind us that I paid into social security and other federal, as well as state programs, for purposes of defending this nation, assuring our Constitutional freedoms and privileges, preserving the rights of all citizens who have, by their citizenship and toil, earned and secured the rights to receive support from that governance that was assured by our Constitution. As for the money itself . . . that is, the wages, the salaries and so forth that were earned and paid out from the time of my age, at 14, 1965, through the 73rd year of my life, this year of our Lord 2025. The money started trickling in, in 1965, from Burger Chef. Then it was A&P, with tips, then a summer as an office boy at the Louisiana State Capitol, and semester or two, part-time, at a shoe store in downtown Baton Rouge. In the LSU years, I serviced vending machine stocks at the LSU Union. Summer after freshman year was spent selling dictionaries door to door in southern Ohio, for Southwestern Publishing Company of Nashville. Then I was working for a semester or two or three, operating a cash register at a drug store. At long last (for that phase !! of life) I graduated from LSU. They let me get away with a BS in General Studies, even though most of what I had studied was philosophy, English literature and political science. As a newly-formed baccalaureate, I moved to Florida, St. Pete, where I worked a life/disabilities insurance debit in a black neighborhood. After a while I switched to selling classifed advertising, on the phone, for the St. Pete Times. With some traffic violations, a revoked driver's license due to points, I was ticketed for driving on a revoked license, did three days in Pasco County Jail. That was only the second time I got punched in my life, because I wouldn't lend a guy a buck to get in a poker game. The guard let me out early.  Went to my grandfather's funeral in Louisiana and then drove to Asheville. Got a job - turned out to be several years - for Groves Printing Company, sales. Decided to shift into carpentry because my landlord was renovating some commercial buildings in downtown Asheville. Somewhere in there, managed to make a a 33rpm record album, "Something for Everyone," in Nashville. Suffered a failed marriage. Left Asheville for Texas, never made it to Austin but instead got saved in Waco, gave my life to Jesus, eventually drove out west. On a mountaintop in Wyoming, watching sun go down, decided to go back to North Carolina. I'm glad I did. A Norman and Nancy Blake concert at Asheville Junction turned out to be the meeting point where Pat and I started our 45 years together. Before leaving Asheville, I was able, by the grace of God, to muster up some dear music friends to do a second LP, "Revelation 5:9"

Moved to Boone NC, joined a New Testament Christian fellowship. As for work, and paying taxes etc, which this is supposed to be about . . . I spent two years tying rebar for the Linn Cove Viaduct, which had been the Blue Ridge Parkway missing link since New Deal years. In '83, with the great S-shaped bridge around Grandfather Mountain completed, I drifted into carpentry while our three young'uns were growing up. We also made a move to the Carolina coast tor two years, where I did construction work. Upon our return to the Blue Ridge region, I was still doing carpentry for a coupla years. Then I thought maybe I'd break into teaching for a few years, took nine education courses at Appalachian State University., obtained certification in four subjects. But that didn't pan out, I guess I was considered to be too old, with all the new Education grads coming out of Appalachian State U. So I did five years at as a maintenance man at an apartment complex near our home. While working there, I discovered a very old edition of the Times of London, Special Coronation Edition commemorating the coronation of King George VI of England (King Charles' grandfather). Long story short (haha!), perusing that ancient tabloid newspaper inspired the writing of my third novel, Smoke, which was all about the year 1937. After printing two full, typrewritten copies at home, I mailed them to Random House and Harper Collins. But guess what happened. Nothing! which is why I say Thank God for Jeff Bezos, and Amazon KDP for their publishing availability and excellence. And that's why, at age 73, I spend my time promoting my old LPs from back in the day, on Spotify and YouTube, and God only knows where else, along with my four novels, Glass half-Full, Glass Chimera, Smoke, and King of Soul, while pecking away our retirement resources with this blog, and the other 1300 or so blogs I've published. Now do you think I should have the benefit of getting regular checks from Social Security? even now, as Pat is still doing part-time as an ICU Nurse. Do you think we are worth being supported by you and by all the other citizens of this great nation. . . receiving Social Security checks every month? If you do think we are worth the expense, go tell Elon and his wrecking crew go find some real work, like maybe controlling carbon emissions or conserving our natural resources and our national parks and our American way of life, and maybe trying to keep some peace among our allies who are being attacked by Vlad the Mad! If you think we're worth the expense, we would appreciate your support. Thank you! God bless America, land that we Love!