Hi friends,
This week on Reckon True Stories, Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon are doing a deep dive on a classic essay that’s especially relevant post-Labor Day. Toni Morrison’s “The Work You Do, the Person You Are” was published in The New Yorker in 2017, and it is a short but powerful story on an early lesson Morrison learned about work and self-identity.
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Get the full show notes and reading list over at Reckon.
Morrison writes in her essay:
“Then one day, alone in the kitchen with my father, I let drop a few whines about the job. I gave him details, examples of what troubled me, yet although he listened intently, I saw no sympathy in his eyes. No ‘Oh, you poor little thing.’ Perhaps he understood that what I wanted was a solution to the job, not an escape from it. In any case, he put down his cup of coffee and said, ‘Listen. You don’t live there. You live here. With your people. Go to work. Get your money. And come on home.'”
Thanks for listening!
As always, we’re thankful for your kind comments and reviews of this first season of Reckon True Stories. Our season finale is coming next week, and we’re excited to share it with you.
-Dawnie, Deesha, and Mark