Member-only story
Rare Autograph & Interview
One-time opportunity to meet a real-life unemployed man
(As published in Defenestration Magazine, November 2022)
When I first moved to NYC in 2010, I arrived without a job. I was, of course, the trailing spouse as my wife had arrived in Manhattan with a lucrative banking job downtown.
Every day, I would wake up late, shower and eat breakfast, and then walk two blocks up the street to my favorite coffee shop in all of New York, a yellow-and-brown-facaded Italian cafe that no longer exists called SiCafe. It was mostly frequented by affluent Upper East Side folks and college students (Hunter College was located just a block away).
With my laptop in hand, I’d order my standard cappuccino and take my spot near the picture window in front. Then, I would begin searching for jobs online.
One particular day, I found myself becoming very frustrated over my fruitless job search, and so I penned the following:
What if being unemployed held some special power? I thought, as I imagined people lined up in the streets to pay me for an autograph or interview. I could be celebrated, revered for my status in the public’s consciousness.
At the Upper East Side café, I took a sip of my piping hot, overpriced cappuccino, and began…
