JenSmithSick

Why I wrote SICK.
     After years of debauchery, addiction, bad choices, and confusion I found recovery and began a life consistent with someone who would be considered a productive member of society.  This was painfully weird for me at first and still is a bit awkward.  In pursuit of a legal means to support my son, I went back to school and attained a few degrees.  The most intense being a Masters Degree in Financial Economics.  Soon it was time to get a job.  The idea of working was also painfully weird for me but by that time in my recovery I had seen it done by others.  One of my first interviews was with Sovereign Bank.  They showed me the cube in which I would be working.  It was a solitary dark space with high confining walls around it.  I cried all the way home.
     I did find work in a reputable investment company in a cube that was a little less dark with walls a little less high.  It was, however, positioned down a back cold alleyway filled with stale air.  Despite this I commence to assimilate into the corporate environment working my tale off learning as much as I could as fast as I could, accomplishing a lot.  My boss was a tall well connected man.  Before long his deep rooted low opinion of woman was unmistakable.  A smart man, his detrimental belittling and minimizing of my abilities were subtle, never saying or doing anything that could be outwardly pined as sexist.  This wore on my spirit and had residual effects on how my all men colleagues treated me.  Finally this culminated into my boss deciding to demote me from a salary to hourly employee without reason.  He said it came down from corporate but the other two men who were my equals were not affected and remained salary.  I thought to myself, no matter how much money I make for this company, and I had made a lot, I’m never going to get anywhere under this man.  So I began to write.