I’ve been reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s eye-opening book “Nickel and Dimed,” where she took a series of minimum-wage jobs so she could report on the lives of people who work in those jobs. I’m not very far along, but already I’m fascinated by a segment of society that many people don’t even think about. For example, one of the waitresses Ehrenreich works with lives in a van parked at night behind the restaurant, and she showers in the motel room of another waitress.
At the same time, as I was eating my oatmeal this morning, I was watching Regis and Joy Philbin talk about how their lives have been turned upside down by their house being photographed for Architectural Digest. Also, their electronic pool cleaning machine is on the blink.
We live in a land of contrasts.