Making Ends Meat and Potatoes

I can now proudly say that I am now a published freelance writer.

In recent years I've been a published columnist, editorialist, CD reviewer, and journalist, but I have now officially entered the world of freelance media, and so far it tastes pretty good.

Since I moved back to Albuquerque things have been progressing nicely. It's been a little less than a month since my liberation from the gallows of Nashville, and in that time I've been able to secure a studio apartment, meet up with old friends, drink my weight in beer and wine, dine at some fine local eateries, recover my desire to cook, watch a cage fighting match with a bunch of middle-aged real estate agents, and get some writing assignments at a local alternative weekly.

Just last week I had a recipe for my specialty chili published (the secret is a combination of ancho chiles, lamb sausage, dark beer and coffee) and I have four more pieces slated for publication within the next two weeks. So far most of the assignments I've received are food writing, which is fine by me. Along with two other recipes that will be published around Thanksgiving, I was able to critique a new sushi bar in Nob Hill where I tried jellyfish for the first time (really tasty, by the way) and just today I reviewed the movie Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. I was appalled to say the least. Any conscientious consumer, anybody who has ever set foot in a Wal-Mart, should see this film.

I already knew from recreational reading that Wal-Mart (along with most multi-national corporations) uses sweatshops and purchases 1.5% percent of China's gross domestic product, but what I didn't know is that Wal-Mart routinely blacklists employees who even mention the word union and will implement a raise-freeze on all employee salaries so other Wal-Mart associates will put pressure on the rabble-rousing ringleaders to abandon their plans to unionize. Wal-Mart also pays their full-time employees below poverty wages and managers are instructed by corporate headquarters to encourage employees to get on government assistance. They cheat people out of pay by reminding employees of their expendability, and so most are goaded into working off the clock so as not to rack up overtime hours.

And when the employees get their paychecks they end up spending what money doesn't go to utilities and rent at Wal-Mart, because Wal-Mart offers the lowest prices around. This circular trend of keeping people impoverished is really sickening, and sounds like satellite slavery to me ("satellite" because the workers don't live on the "plantation"). Wal-Mart also receives government subsidies to open up SuperCenters in areas where schools, fire departments, and police departments are understaffed and underfunded. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. I'm not sure I can ever shop at Wal-Mart again and still call myself a human being.

The main bread-winner though is not my freelance work but some research I've been doing on Chinese businesses for a small publisher in Nashville. Hey, at least one good thing came out of that move, and I've since made back some of the money I squandered on rental cars driving to and fleeing from Tennessee.

Everything is falling into place. I'm still waiting to hear about the results of the 3-Day Novel Contest (winners will be announced in December) and graduate schools (keeping my fingers crossed until March and April). Until then it's time to ski, make some money, fatten myself up a little (depression and worry lead to weight loss) and get as many writing credits as possible. I'll add all of my freelance material to Writerly Rights soon after publication, so keep your eyes posted and your mouths ready.

And to those of you Albuquerqueans and Santa Feans who I haven't yet contacted, give me a shout. We'll do java.

P.S. I had a very strange desire to head butt some elk. Anyone who wants to start a club dedicated to the unnecessary noggin knocking of ruminant animals, please contact me. Those elk have had the run of the place long enough.