A Little LJ News

I’ve been posting a lot about Mollie lately so today I’ll get into some LJ news. LJ calls me once a week, usually on Sunday evenings as he gets off work. We talk as he walks to the subway. So when he call me at lunchtime on a Tuesday a couple of weeks ago I knew it had to be something very bad (like when he call to tell me Collin had broken his leg) or something very good. Thankfully this time it was good.

 

The boys have been living in NYC for over twelve years now. Although acting was the dream for both of them, that dream was soon abandoned for a steady paycheck to allow them to live there. He began working where most new arrivals do, in a coffee shop. To supplement his income, he also worked part time at The High Line, a raised park in the city. He handed out survey cards and made ten dollars an hour. Eventually he worked his way up the ladder to a ranger and eventually the director of all the rangers there. 

 

He really enjoyed his time at the High Line but when the ‘Little Island’ project opened he wanted to get in on the ground floor. Little Island combined a raised park (LJ’s expertise) with theater, his first love. He began literally days before Covid shut everything down, so he spent the next eighteen months working from home, writing manuals, park protocol, and various things of that nature. Eventually he began hiring those who would be rangers. 

Once the park opened, I could tell he wasn’t extremely happy there. Although they had hired him because he knew how to run a raised park, they wouldn’t take his advice on many things. Eventually he was fired for insisting that his rangers be given regular breaks as was mandated in the parks policies as well as the law. 

 

This was the time his husband, Collin fell and broke his leg – while they had no insurance and as LJ had taken a pay cut to go to Little Island things got tight money-wise. LJ was soon hired on at the Whitney Museum as director of guest services. He liked the people there, he liked the fact that he was working indoor in the heat of summer and the cold of winter, but I could tell he wasn't really happy. Partly because he’d had to take another pay cut.

 

Back to the phone call. After quickly assuring me nothing was wrong he said, “I have a new job!”

Not knowing he was really looking I was very surprised, but I was thrilled with the rest of his news. He’s going back to The High Line! He still has many friends there as soon as this position was posted LJ began getting text after text telling him to apply at once. He did and he got it! It’s a higher position that he had when he left, and it’s actually the same position the guy that fired him from Little Island held over there.

 

He sounded so happy and as a mother that sound was music to my ears. I asked him if the money was better and he laughed. His increase in salary is just under fifty thousand a year. This bump in salary is way more than Mollie makes each year teaching. Between that and the fact that he and Collin pay no rent, (long story, you can read it here) I think he’s doing pretty well now. After doing the math I can tell you it's better than the ten dollars an hour he was making when he first went to the High Line.

 

When I commented that now that he was a big muckity-muck he wouldn’t have to be out this winter shoveling the snow, he told me I was wrong on that.

He said, “I’ve had five bosses when I worked as a ranger, two sat on their asses when it snowed and three were out there shoveling with us. I’ll definitely be shoveling this winter and I won’t mind a bit.” 

 

I like this boy.