Issue 2 | The Sun Magazine

February 1974

Readers Write

Work

Figuring out what you really want, barely making ends meet, looking busy

By Our Readers
The Sun Interview

Dropping Out/Dropping In

Work on yourself first, before you work on something else. That’s kind of the basic idea. The Zen people say wash your bowl. The Sufis say clean your mirror. It’s all the same thing. Work on yourself first, then those other questions answer themselves.

By Mike Mathers
Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories

Sy’s Space

More jobs in the last year than I can remember, and so little sense, through it all, of any purposeful endeavor, of meaningful labor, of real work.

By Sy Safransky
Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories

Untitled

For three days last year I planted small trees

For three days last year I planted small trees and shrubs along Interstate 85 for $3 an hour. Mindlessness, talentless and eternal boredom became the key words filtering through my consciousness, as all sense of self expression and sensitivity took a back seat to survival.

By Stephen Martin
Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories

Untitled

Yesterday, I mailed off my application

“Yesterday, I mailed off my application for the federal service entrance exam. After four years of seeking an alternative to the system, the possibility of a nine thousand dollar a year job working for the Environmental Protection Agency is almost appealing.”

By Joy Hewitt
Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories

Street Vending

The Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen have once again put off taking a stand on the controversial street vending issue, at least until next month.

By Joy Hewitt
Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories

A Hillbilly’s Work Ethic

Let me always turn my back on security. For it is the fearful uncertainty of my life that gives me strength.

By Kip Baker
Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories

Untitled

The lady at the local grocery

The lady at the local grocery says she works seven days a week. “I love it,” she says. “Nothing to do at home but watch TV.”

By Judith
Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories

Untitled

To obtain unemployment insurance in Chapel Hill

To obtain unemployment insurance in Chapel Hill go to the Employment Security Commission office in the basement of the Franklin Street Post Office.

By Joy Hewitt
Poetry

Untitled

Time as enemy

By Sy Safransky
Poetry

Untitled

And I shall set aside the want ads

By Sy Safransky
Poetry

Untitled

I remember carved phrases in the air

By Jeff Katz