The Way We Work: Contemporary Writings from the American Workplace
The Theme of this Anthology is the idiosyncratic, imaginative, and creative ways Americans now view their jobs. Representing nearly forty different professions from all classes, these writers tell their personal stories through various genres-poetry, short stories, essays, and nonfiction narratives.\ Alongside such acclaimed writers as Tom Wolfe, Rick Bass, Barbara Garson, Ha Jin, Charles Bowden, Erica Funkhouser, Allan Gurganus, Catherine Anderson, Philip Levine, Edward Conlon (Marcus...
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The Way We Work reveals that a seismic change has occurred in the workplace since the appearance in 1974 of Studs Terkel's Working. Terkel's subjects, despite their alienation, had a sense of themselves as workers and felt that in the workplace they were part of a community.The people Terkel interviewed were highly class conscious in a way that today seems radical and even anachronistic. By contrast, while some of the narrators in The Way We Work feel passionate about their work, others are barely conscious that they are "workers." In transit from one job to another, some workers find it hard to take either their co-workers or their job situation too much to heart. One pronoun rarely used by the narrators of the works in this anthology is "we."Each of the 43 pieces in The Way We Work represents a voice that is idiosyncratic, ironic, or humorous. Alongside such acclaimed writers as Tom Wolfe, Rick Bass, Barbara Garson, Ha Jin, Charles Bowden, Erica Funkhouser, Allan Gurganus, Catherine Anderson, Philip Levine, Edward Conlon, and Mona Simpson, appear the narratives of little-known writers. No other collection of writings about contemporary work in this country showcases the personal accounts of employees from a creative, literary perspective. These writings address such current issues as the effects of globalization, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and the weakening of unions, as well as a general sense of worker disengagement in the workplace. Speaking in multiple genres, the men and women whose voices are collected here run the whole gamut of the workplace. From an executive at an office products company to a migrant fruit picker to a stripper to a doctor to a cleaner of garbage trucks, The Way We Work captures, with passion and honesty, the experiences of a myriad of workers.
Chicken 81 Sarah L. Courteau Courteau, Sarah L. 1Orientation Daniel Orozco Orozco, Daniel 7That Joy That Packs the Body Andrew Miller Miller, Andrew 12Hatchet Man Leo Parascondola Parascondola, Leo 15Coins Mona Simpson Simpson, Mona 19Morrison's, 1968 Rick Campbell Campbell, Rick 28The Midnight Tour Marcus Laffey Laffey, Marcus 30Dirty Talk Amanda Scheiderer Scheiderer, Amanda 39Womanhood Catherine Anderson Anderson, Catherine 55Concrete Men Dan Pope Pope, Dan 57We Who Have Escaped Leigh Hancock Hancock, Leigh 70Torch Song Charles Bowden Bowden, Charles 71When I Was Eleven Ed McManis McManis, Ed 92McDonald's - We Do It All for You Barbara Garson Garson, Barbara 94The River Bottom Ranch Martial Gonzalez Gonzalez, Martial 109One Woman Watching Linda Kantner Kantner, Linda 120Jobbed Philip Levine Levine, Philip 127Things You Need to Know about Your Boss Elizabeth Kerlikowske Kerlikowske, Elizabeth 131The Trouble with Guidebooks J. C. Ross Ross, J. C. 133Debt Will Watson Watson, Will 153The Suicidal Freezer Unit Tom Wolfe Wolfe, Tom 155Photograph: Migrant Worker, Parlier, California, 1967 Larry Levis Levis, Larry 168After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town Ha Jin Ha, Jin 169Job Erika Meitner Meitner, Erika 196Livelihood Lou Fisher Fisher, Lou 199The Fireman Rick Bass Bass, Rick 209White Boots: Ghost of the San Manuel Mine William Pitt Root Root, William Pitt 223The Dog Nathan Ailing Long Long, Nathan Ailing 226After Garbage Men Jay Snodgrass Snodgrass, Jay 239The Women Who Clean Fish Erica Funkhouser Funkhouser, Erica 241Appointed Route Ben Satterfield Satterfield, Ben 243The Basement Paula ChampaChampa, Paula 250Labor #1 Clay Blancett Blancett, Clay 256Senior's Last Hour (ALCOA Aluminum, North Plant, Alcoa, TN) Richard Joines Joines, Richard 258At Work Mary Malinda Polk Polk, Mary Malinda 259If Language Was a House of Being Darren Morris Morris, Darren 263He's at the Office Allan Gurganus Gurganus, Allan 265By Appointment Lisa K. Buchanan Buchanan, Lisa K. 278"Spinner, Cotton Mill, 1908-1909" Jorn Ake Ake, Jorn 283Jane Ambur Economou Economou, Ambur 285Quitting the Paint Factory Mark Slouka Slouka, Mark 290W ... Shirlee Sky Hoffman Hoffman, Shirlee Sky 302
\ From the Publisher\ It's a book that readers will love to pick up again and again, particularly if they have to smuggle the book onto the factory line, behind the counter, or into their cubicle to read it.\ --ForeWord Magazine\ I'd like to express the sense of excitement that The Way We Work generates in me as a teacher at a working-class university, where students and instructors alike would greatly benefit from the use of this book in introductory writing courses. The Way We Work goes far beyond the limits of the multicultural readers that stress human commonalties in a more sentimental, celebratory, and merely experiential way. The emphasis on work takes us to a core conception of what it means to be human and reminds us of the pressures exerted on our humanity by our present-day social and economic arrangements.\ --Barbara Foley, Rutgers-Newark\ The Way We Work surprised and delighted me at every turn, because of the sheer strangeness it unpacks from the dailiness and (often) stupidity of work, and even more because of the the writing's freshness. People who teach about work will want to put this book on the syllabus, right alongside Studs Terkel.\ --Richard Ohmann\ \ \
