In case anyone was wondering, no. Life isn’t fair. Not that I think it should be. But let me tell you something. If ever there was a time that I was feeling slighted and cheated for my education, experience, and ability to create and draft a story, it would be right now.

I’m a storyteller purely because I enjoy telling and retelling stories. It’s not something that I figured out I could do. I was born to tell stories. From the amazing and frequently fanatical, the stories are either figments of my imagination or something I was told one time by that one friend or family member, and I took and told it again, making it mine. Now, is it lying if I add or subtract to the story? That all depends. Are the context facts and the retelling of the facts? Or is it only for the telling? Sometimes it’s both.

I never said I was a journalist. If I did, then the facts would have to be verifiable. Most of my stories are anecdotal at best. But they end somewhat ambiguously unless we are focused on the facts.

The truth is today, you cannot, and I cannot stress this enough, make enough money to live in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, unless you have more than a bachelor’s degree, know someone, or are highly connected to the community, or have skills that can be monetized. If you are a creative person in a creative field, ambiguous jobs are available if you have the connections.

If you exist outside of the bubble of local people, if you are not part of their ‘world,’ which, in this case, means being born and raised in the great state of Missouri, you will not be accepted as a part of this community. It doesn’t matter how long you live here, if you are not known, you will not be able to compete with those with less experience, either life or practical work experience.

Am I saying this because I have a limited view, or am I biased against Cape Girardeau? Or is it because I’ve lived here for twenty-five years and have yet to find employment in this community with a company that wants to utilize the skills and talents of a highly committed and driven leader who can turn a story into a marketing platform?

Every business leader I talk to wants their story told – but they refuse to pay for it. What? Please help me understand; you want a story, yes? And yet you seriously believe you have what it takes to take your data and create a workable, relatable story you are so close to you can’t even see what the story is? But you can do it better than me? Would you give me a chance if I was a local resident and not a transplant from the West Coast? Would that make a difference? Tell me I’m wrong because right now, from where I sit those with money and power in this community refuse to pay a decent wage to anyone that is doing the hard work, the selling, the physical labor.

To make a decent living, I found employment outside of this community, choosing to remain here and purchase goods and services from the community, refusing to support me. So I spent thousands of dollars in this southeast Missouri city, and now that I’m underemployed, and, according to many who refused to employ me, am overeducated with my bachelor’s degree, have too much work experience at the ripe old age of 53, and because of my age, am incapable of starting in a higher level position because they are too afraid that I will leave for a better job.

What better job? Where is this ‘better’ job that you speak of? What is this crap?

I keep saying that making a living wage isn’t about buying a house; it’s simply about being able to afford healthcare, a home or apartment, and food and gas. I can tell you that if you are making less than $20 an hour in Cape Girardeau, you are not living comfortably or working two or three jobs to have enough money to get to and from work.

I wish this was a joke, but I am too tired and too frustrated to not talk about it anymore. I am a storyteller, true enough. And guess what? I will take that frustration out on those who want to hear it and those who don’t, who think I’m whining about how unfair it is. Those who will complain and bitch about what I’m saying aren’t living on a fixed income. They are retired, worked hard and saved their money. Good for you! That’s when a living wage worked because our leaders knew corporate greed wouldn’t serve them. Until it did! Now the, corporations are making 300% above my hourly wage in profits that go to their CEO’s and CFO’s, for-profits and non-profits alike. Added to the cost of living not increasing in thirty years, I’m complaining about all the wrong things, right?

Retired folks will say we have access to minimum wage, which is enough to live off, right? Let me clue you in on something, those who lived on minimum wage comfortably had more than enough for food, gasoline, and healthcare, leaving a little left over to save. Do you want to know what it takes to do the same thing for someone living in southeast Missouri in 2024? $20.20 per hour to cover food, housing, gas, and healthcare. That doesn’t leave anything else to save. It would be best to make more than $25 an hour if we were equal to those of you who retired from a minimum wage job. That’s if you are single! If you are married and have kids? Those numbers are way higher!

But I’m the crazy one. I’m the entitled jerk who wants someone to give me something for free, right? Because that fits your narrative. Because then you don’t look smug.

You know what? I’m fed up with all of it.

Maybe I should take my happy rear end out of southeast Missouri, let someone else take my place, and struggle to make it here.