This place serves people who've had major mental health issues or substance abuse, been houseless or incarcerated etc. The marginalized. Many are not very educated.
When the group was asked what kind of work they want, one person shrugged and said "Janitorial". The teacher winced and amended her question, "I mean what did you want to be when you grew up? What's your DREAM job?"
There was a heavy silence.
One person thought about it for a long, long moment and said, "...Grape picking?"
"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
"........Better pay?"
"But what role in your job? What do you see yourself doing?"
"...My own apartment?"
This is the population the fascist techbros see not even as prey, just vermin. Pathetic suckers. Bowls of worms. Stupid. Disposable. Misery cultivated to scare other workers into line.
Some of us are already so ground down we don't know how to dream anymore. It all seems so far out of reach. Some FEEL stupid, due to how they've been treated, with little awareness of the insight, wisdom, and potential they actually possess.
The faces in that room were determined but tired. So very tired.
I walk in to a facility like this with my smartypants vocabulary and the staff look bewildered that I'm even there and say, "Oh you'll have NO problem" but it's not fucking true, I've never been able to support myself like a functional grownup. My grades were always bad, I'm constantly late and forgetful, I couldn't finish college, I keep getting fired. I've been couch surfing for years. Most of my adult life I've been living on around $500/month. But I sure sound smart. On paper, I'm supposed to be a genius. I stand with one foot inches from an elite world, and the other foot inches from the gutter. I want to use that, and help bridge the gaps of understanding.
I'm a peer support specialist. Marginalized folks are the population I'll be serving. Some will be "gifted" burnouts like me, and more will be people who don't know a lot of words over two or three syllables. I've got to be effective at connecting with people who've had very little education, and/or have developmental disabilities or a lot of damage from trauma and substances and so on, without alienating them or getting condescending.
I at least have some awareness of how bad things really get, but my own life has been frankly pretty sheltered. I even look soft-- it shows on the skin, when somebody has been on the streets a long time. I'm not going to be as useful in this role, in some ways, as say that hardened guy over there with all the tattoos or my coworker who overcame a multi-decade history of meth addiction.
I'm headed to the psychological front lines. I'm going to be hearing some of the most heartbreaking, awful stories and seeing a lot of suffering. I'm looking for people who've seen the cracks in the system, been burned by the festering evil driving it, and want to push for a real change. Some of them I might be able to help reach a way to move forward and fight. Some, we'll lose to the pits of drugs and despair. Some will die. It's a soul-destroying meat grinder out there. Where's my niche? Where can I be most useful? How well can I handle the stress? Big question marks.
