Ofterdingen and Kropotkin

Boil 2.04

[Michael] guessed the culprit was one of the new middle-class [soup kitchen] clients. "The fastest-growing group we have." Most had lost their apartments, scorched by the real-estate boom. "They're difficult to help, because they have no street smarts, and they're pissed off and demanding."

One man used to arrive at the soup kitchen in his Jaguar, his last valuable possession and the one he refused to part with. He claimed to have worked for the FBI and during the height of the terrorist frenzy talked himself into a job as a security analyst for CNN. "He lasted there three weeks." Fancying himself a restaurant critic, he would occasionally send back his plate with a note informing Michael of his displeasure. "He ended up selling books from the sidewalk on Broadway."

Michael Greenberg, Commentary - Freelance, TLS, January 25 2008, p.16

Labels: TLS

posted by Geist @ 1:35 pm