What are your reading?
Right now I am deep into Dishwasher. It's a beautiful, working class bible. A 'fuck you' to the system. A reminder that we should reassess what is important in life.

This book was gifted to me by the author himself (Pete Jordan) when I was visiting with him in Amsterdam. Our history goes back to the mid 1990s when he was still a dish dog and I was scrapping by - by running printing machines. We were both starving zinesters. Pete would drop in to sleep on my floor, spend his days in the library and his nights washing dishes in Brooklyn. He was a bit of blessing in my life. Back then, no matter how many hours I worked, I could not keep up with my bills. My dreams outside my day job seemed so lofty. As a dish dog Pete had perfected the art of living on a dollar a day. Or less. To him it was a challenge. His thriftiness was awh inspiring. He made survival an art form. A messy one, but an art form none the less. He helped me see that poverty could be more than just an obstacle or an embarrassment.

Lately, while trying to keep up with some tough medical bills (my kidneys), I have been keeping a really tight budget. Like, $5 a day. Or less. It's not easy to do that in New York City. And once again, Pete dropped in (through his book) to remind me that I can do anything. His message to me is that money does not make me richer - living well does. Thanks Pete.

I am also reading The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. It's a hard read for me - with more footnotes than content. But full of interesting information. For example, during these times the estimate the 24% - 50% of children were abandoned. And the church decided visiting prostitutes was a sin not because it was illegal to have sex, pay for sex, or sell sex - but because they were afraid men would engage in incest due to high number of abandoned children who would be forced to turn to prostitution for survival. Incest was the crime. How fucked up is that? And then, as an orphan I naturally had to think about the fact that I turned to sex work for survival. Over the years it was certainly possible that my birth father or any one of my 50+ cousins could have seen me in in adult magazines or visited my website. Not even knowing who I really am... Oook!!! Creeps me out.

But also reminds me that there are more people like me. Long since gone and surviving today. Makes me think about how many Christians have an ethical problem with sex-for-sale and do not even realize the ethical issue stems from child abandonment issues - not issues of sexual expression. That family values that should really be addressed are those of - do you care for your children? Will they be self-sufficient without you? And not just your children, but the children in your community and in the world? How do you allocate your resources? Does your bank account reflect your values?

You may say so, but I'd really like to see those bank statements for myself.

And you? What are you reading?