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Most of my Eggs in One Basket

I have to admit something to you, dedicated Chargo readers. Depending on how the rest of this week goes, we may be approaching the end of the line. As you know, I did manage to get a job last week, but I only work that job three nights a week. That's not quite enough to keep up with the cost of living in Chicago, and I'm having a difficult time finding another place to live. There's a chance I could stay with a friend for a while, but in the interest of trying to stay longer, I'm mostly working on finding another job this week. At first, I pictured a large search of all the downtown areas for whatever coffee shop or retail job I might be able to get hours at. My search has become far more focused now.

I'm trying to get a job with an organization that does voter outreach. Courting this organization is going to take a lot of time and energy, and it's likely I won't have any left to look for a different job. I've decided it's worth the risk anyway. I want to be a journalist, but I want to be a journalist because I want to help people. An activism job doing voter outreach would be something I would be just as happy with, and is the kind of thing that could potentially turn into something bigger when I graduate college. Knowing that, I've chosen to put all of my job eggs in that basket, which may mean I don't have the resources to stay in Chicago past Pride.

Last week I put out an online application. Today I started my crusade to get this job by going downtown and walking into their office. I figured a job in voter outreach would be the kind of job looking for someone willing to just show up, so that's what I did. I wouldn't call the endeavor fruitless, but it also was clearly the beginning of a long play. Something I didn't realize beforehand was that this organization is inside a building that houses many organizations, and you can't get to any of them without getting past the security desk.

For a moment, I considered turning back. The security desk wasn't even specifically affiliated with the organization I had gone in search of, so I wasn't sure if my information would actually get anywhere. Still, I was there, I was dressed up, and a literal team of security guards wasn't going to stop me, so I walked up to the desk, told them what I was there about, and handed over my ID. For a team of security guards, they were actually pretty friendly. It was made clear to me that I probably wouldn't be allowed in, but one of the women called up for me anyway. She told them why I was there and gave them my name. They refused to take me, but said they were interested and would call me. I plan on calling them.

Wish me luck, and enjoy the suspense this week! We'll all know by the end of it whether or not I can stay in Chicago.

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