Idea: Life of the Working Poor

I'm home for the holidays out of necessity. I'm one of the thousands of students who participated in the mass exodus back to their hometowns.

Empty streets means empty stores. It's a reminder that without students this town probably wouldn't, to this capacity, exist. The shops, or perhaps their hours, are the cardiograph for the pulse of Athens. The shops close for winter - flat line.

I'm home for the holidays because when Athens is deadlining suburbia is pulsating with commerce as consumers dump their wallets in the respective tills. I have to make money. It's not an option. If I don't, then I'll have to figure out another way to pay tuition.

I've talked with several people about how I'll be spending my break to find encouraged me to see it as an anthropological experiment. I usually just gave a conceding nod. However, the more I thought the more I realized that I'll be living the life of the working poor.

I'll be working 70+ hours per week to feed a cycle of high-end bills (tuition) that will be broken when I graduate and hopefully find a job to pay only run-of-the-mill bills (rent, insurance, etc.).

They are working these minimum wage jobs to support a family, pay debts, and scratch out a life. They will be working this way for the rest of their lives. I'll have to endure only a month.

I'm trying to move into this workforce with an open mind and watchful eye to document the experience.