New Job

Night shift... and factory night shift..

my first week there.. I realized it is best to be separated to avoid rumors, cliques, and awkward conversations. I was warned in advanced that the factory is male dominated, the work is harder, the hours are longer, and machines are unforgiving. I realized it's been better to just keep with in myself... I am not as muscular as most of my coworkers, but I can move quickly for long periods of time which allows me to keep pace. As I work I watch the color of the sky through the opaque glass roughly two stories above me. I like the periwinkle color of the early dawn, and deep, solid, dark navy of the sky in the dead of night.

The factory is very loud. There are screams and wails of the air being removed from the packages, and escaping machines, the loud clangs of the grider, the chug of mechanical arms and elbows, and clutter bangs all around. My co workers comminuicate mostly using hand signals. Two nights ago my machine broke down completely, my trainer waved at me to follow her.

We went down these flimsy metal stars, and slammed closed this large metal sealed door, and into the basement beneath the machines... There was a long hallway and heaps of powdered sterofoam beaneath these large steal cynlinders. These long bulbs of light were held by chains from the cynder block ceiling and swayed animating the shadows.. She walked over to the cynlinder beneath the machine I was working with... it was the most cluttered with heaps of artifical snow. Warning signs were stickered all over images of severed fingers, caution sharp blades inside, danger, caution, hot... "do not touch these, but check to see if your grinder is full," my trainer said, "You can tell just by observation,".. I looked around, and I had this weird sensation that I've been here before...not here, but some where like here..

factories have always attracted me. I like machines, I like industry, I like how people transform into inefficient machines, I like the colors of smoke, I like the textures of raw materials... I like the feeling knowing that there are places to work at... at home. Industry is the only part of me that is nationalist... I like knowing where things are coming from, how things are made, and who is making them... I like working, and I like the impact of enirvoments made on people, I like the inspiration... I have dual interests as much as I like industry, I love nature.... it's just there is this complication between fragile ecosystems, technology, and the human factor