Donate

Street scene

The job had looked like a pathway to a better life. Then it was gone.

Sponsorship

Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow Apr 15, 2009

Apr 15, 2009

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>Street scene</h1>
                <h2><p>The job had looked like a pathway to a better life. Then it was gone.</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/ashli-blow/">Ashli Blow</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Apr 15, 2009</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>The job had looked like a pathway to a better life. Then it was gone.</p><p>The young woman approaching the downtown bus stop looked close to tears.   One foot was bandaged.  She used crutches to hobble far enough up the steep street to see the bus schedule.  Then, she hobbled down and sat awkwardly on the bench.  She pulled out a cell phone and started to talk.  Now, she was clearly close to tears.</p><p>'êMy co-workers urged me to ask for a raise, because I'd been there over a year,'ê she said.  'êHe let me go.'ê  The tears looked even closer.  'êHe'll replace me with somebody who makes $8.50 an hour.'ê  Some one had offered her a different job, which paid less than she had been making, but because she had hurt her ankle, she couldn't take it even if she wanted to.  The old job had looked like a pathway to a better life.  'êI left school because I thought I had a future there,'ê she said.</p>
          </article>

The job had looked like a pathway to a better life. Then it was gone.

The young woman approaching the downtown bus stop looked close to tears. One foot was bandaged. She used crutches to hobble far enough up the steep street to see the bus schedule. Then, she hobbled down and sat awkwardly on the bench. She pulled out a cell phone and started to talk. Now, she was clearly close to tears.

'êMy co-workers urged me to ask for a raise, because I'd been there over a year,'ê she said. 'êHe let me go.'ê The tears looked even closer. 'êHe'll replace me with somebody who makes $8.50 an hour.'ê Some one had offered her a different job, which paid less than she had been making, but because she had hurt her ankle, she couldn't take it even if she wanted to. The old job had looked like a pathway to a better life. 'êI left school because I thought I had a future there,'ê she said.

By Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow is a Seattle-based freelance writer who talks with people — in places from urban watersheds to remote wildernesses — about the environment around them. She’s been working in journal