‘My grandmother lived in America for forty years before her death, yet she never stopped referring to herself as a refugee.’
My grandmother lived in America for forty years before her death, yet she never stopped referring to herself as a refugee. She was a naturalized US citizen, a busy professional with native-born grandchildren and she remained a displaced person. As a child, I listened to her stories, and my imaginati…
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘Anniversaries can have an importance—a power over us—that we do not control.’
‘Here one minute, gone the next.’
‘Invisible borders are not the same as open borders.’
Taran N. Khan on Hamburg’s Steindamm.
‘We’re so much more than those things. Citizen or undocumented. Border Patrol or immigrant.’
Letters between Javier Zamora and Francisco Cantú.
