Early in February on campus there was a blind date with a book event. I can resist a free book about as well as precious Tobago can resist a Fancy Feast entree. Rufi Thorpe's Margo's Got Money Troubles was an ideal blind book date for me, combining a truly engaging plot with a look at issues too many choose to ignore.
Margo was a very vulnerable first generation student trying to work her way through community college with nothing in the way of support from her separated parents. She was preyed on by a very married much older professor who kept her his dirty little secret. When he got her pregnant and she refused to have an abortion he shut her out.
Now Bodhi is born and he and Margo are back at the apartment she calls home and in a world of trouble that goes way beyond the challenges of new parenting. She loses her job for lack of a reliable babysitter. Day care is out of the question for a night shift waitress.
"How was she supposed to make a living? She was willing to work hard, she was willing to never sleep, to wear an ugly uniform, to be mildly degraded day in and day out. She was willing to do whatever was required. But she needed to believe it was possible."
Two of her roommates move out, raising her share of the rent. Unemployment won't come anywhere near to covering her living expenses. Her mother, married to a controlling fundamentalist minister, won't help her.
In her darkest hour she learns about OnlyFans, a site dedicated to all shades and forms of pornography. Through trial and error she learns how to maintain an adequate cash flow while caring for her beloved son.
Then the shit starts to hit the fan. The married with children professor who had previously wanted nothing to do with Bodhi, even going to the extent of requiring a non disclosure agreement, suddenly is determined to have full physical and legal custody. And he can afford the best legal talent money can buy. Additionally Margo finds herself being investigated by Department of Human Services because of allegations of being an unfit parent.
Margo desperately wants to keep Bodhi. But the odds are really stacked against her. It's hard not to root for her. She's far from perfect. But aren't we all?
In addition to a truly engaging plot and relatable characters, Margo's Got Money Troubles touches on a trinity of social justice issues that should concern us.
First there's the precarious lives all too many single parents and their children live. We can thank Mr. William Jefferson Clinton for that. In the 90s when he was trying to out conservative the Republicans and be TOUGH on everything he transformed welfare from a life saving entitlement into a time limited hand out, tossing countless families to the wolves to be ruthlessly exploited by less than ethical companies with poor pay and minimal (if any) benefits.
Secondly, there's a child "welfare" system focused on removing children rather than providing material support that could keep families together and too often misreading poverty as neglect. There is often an unbridgrable gap between the privileged bourgeois social workers and their oppressed clients. And there are lots of rigid rules with little or no relationship to real child welfare.
Thirdly there is the way we treat sex workers in America as somehow beyond contempt, as not fully human. Capitalism 100: the rule of supply and demand. But we prosecute workers and let their clients off scot free. What sex workers deserve is adequate pay, and benefits, safe working conditions, protection from abusive and dangerous clients, good health care, and human respect from the rest of us.
On a purrrsonal note, now that I have enough stamina to work full time I've embarked on my official job hunt. I know it will take awhile. Unlike most of my classmates, I can't move to Illinois or New Jersey or any of the states that aren't Maine. I'm married. And the three higher educational institutions in Bangor are inaccessible because of the limited bus hours. But I've written a first draft of my resume. Career Center will help me fine tune it. Meanwhile I'm working on fine tuning how I'll get everything done when I have a job. I have exercise covered. Thanks to the exercise bike Adam gave me I can get in a half hour aerobic exercise first thing in the morning. I haven't missed a day in 25 weeks (175 days). So I guess that's set. Now I'm working on streamlining my morning and evening routines. Yesterday I was able to create a menu for a whole week. I was so proud!
Jules Hathaway
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