Unemployment

On unemployment, you get a paper check. Attached is a form you send back for your next check. Miss the return window and there’s no next check.

I missed one and felt properly fucked.

You can’t call unemployment in the middle of a recession. I’d try, when the office opened, and I’d sit on hold until they dropped the line.

I gave up.

I’ve never felt shame like being on unemployment. Every day my heart broke as employment applications went unanswered and open positions closed.

That panic is with me, still. I was born from it. All my decisions have roots in it. So, my heart breaks to see people in it now.

I’m not gonna be a dick and enumerate the ways it was good for me. That isn’t helpful. I will say how grateful I am for people like Jeffery Way, Geoffrey Grosenbach, and Dan Benjamin who showed me a new path by sharing what they knew. They didn’t know me but their sharing gave me direction.

I couldn’t have made it thru without them and I feel a huge responsibility to share what I know in response.

I hope you will too, creators. People need you right now.

👨‍🏫 Chan