A Starting Lyric, A Story, No.3
- Scott Archer Jones
- Mar 29
- 1 min read
“I am a ticket taker, many tickets have I torn” – Song By The Low Anthem
Mary Ann, I am the ticket taker
This is what I do. The gate opens, but probably not for you, Mary Ann. You’re not the one lucky today. You don’t have a degree from a hyphenated private college. Neither did you intern for a Congressman, or spend that semester in Bologne. Your father has never purchased a Senator, and you’ve never ever been invited to the Governor’s Mansion.
Most of the hopefuls we see come with six page resumes and a professional video explaining what they will do for the world. You’ve come with a list of summer jobs. And as a bonus, a clutch of store names where you stocked shelves in the evening during the school year, before doing your homework on your narrow little bed.
We’re looking for someone who already has her fashion line planned and ready to go. We’re looking for someone with the right nasal voice of scorn. We’re looking for someone who poses with tigers and mails Christmas Cards from the second family home above the sunny shore. Not someone who shovels snow to get out of the building, so that neighbors can stumble off to the grocery store.
This is what we do. Take the tickets from those who don’t need them.
Well the words DO relate the dream smashing or prompting aspect of a negative review of a person, by the ticket-taker, for the group she's applied, for entrance to or to serve. What Mary Ann chooses to do is her story.
Being Furthur On life's journey, I know there are all kinkds of circles, even if I have not found my "mind's eye," "Disney," "Madison Avenue," "Hollywood," and/or Rock 'n' Roll dream rendition to participate in; but then again, I may be a bit autistic and not as functional as most of the host.
Having spent a life ticket taking and serving various circles, I can tell you, it has the possibility of making you just as "jaded" as the…
Together with the photo, I can only think of the paper I wrote in 1992 titled Rational Suicide. Got an A+. And now, a word from my sponsor, Life.