HARDBARNED! One Man's Quest for Meaningful Work in the American South

HARDBARNED! One Man's Quest for Meaningful Work in the American South

Overeducated and underemployed? In love with learning but stumped on how to translate it into a paycheck? Desperately striving to make your seemingly useless liberal arts education work for you in any sort of satisfying or meaningful way? Trying to simultaneously engage your interests, skillset and values and still pay the bills while pleading for another student loan deferment? I feel your pain and have stories to share, but if you're looking for inspirational uplift, self-help or a life coach, please look elsewhere. HARDBARNED! One Man's Quest for Meaningful Work in the American South is a darkly comic, brutally honest and introspective memoir about working for a living--without being able to shake the feeling that there has got to be more to it than that. "A largely resonant, darkly comic remembrance that embodies the struggle between pursuing reliable employment and devoting oneself to one's passions...[Driver's] fraught, often-bumpy journey will strike a chord with many readers--especially college graduates who have labored under the impression that their degrees would, for want of a better phrase, pay off." -- Kirkus Reviews "Fascinating and funny...hilarious...interesting...powerful." -- Publishers Weekly "A strong indication of an emerging talent is the ability to make work like barn-hauling interesting. Driver's wit and grit are evident in this memoir, and it will be a pleasure to see what he'll produce next." -- BookLife Prize (2017 Quarter Finalist) "[Driver's] insights about the nature of work - the seduction of money and security vs. the tedium of marginal employment - are hard-won and will be illuminating for those who have wanted to 'take this job and shove it.'" -- BlueInk Review "Heartfelt...funny... HARDBARNED! is poignant and self-deprecating...[Driver's] innate talents at observation and introspection are important elements of the narrative...a positive and hilariously upbeat narrator...conversational and warm; his ear for dialogue provides much of the humor in the narrative arc...A discussion on the applicability of liberal arts degrees and the lack of job opportunities for graduates proves heartfelt...[with] relevant research and examples...a thoughtful and highly entertaining memoir. It pokes fun at the liberal arts and attitudes in the American South alongside its poignant observations about the harsh realities of finding soul-sustaining work." -- Foreword Clarion Reviews Christopher J. Driver, unable to land a writing job after completing two undergraduate degrees, for three years worked a series of crappy jobs in construction, landscaping, retail, warehouses, hotels and restaurants between tours in a van with his DIY punk band. He then decided to go back to school, but a master's degree in English didn't open any doors either. Again failing completely in his attempts to find full-time employment as a professional writer, after a brief stint in computer sales, he drove a truck for the next three years--delivering and repossessing portable storage barns throughout several states in the rural, southern USA. Constantly pleading with employers across a plethora of industries for a mere entry-level opportunity to prove himself as a writer, he plunged into the daily unknown--a multi-state, rural trucking adventure built on unpredictable encounters with a revolving cast of indelible characters, including drunken rednecks, scumbag salesmen, menacing highway patrol officers and at least seven lovely individuals--amid a perpetual tsunami of malfunctioning equipment, fire, mud, blood, shit, dogs, danger and existential ennui--the likes of which he had never imagined. Inspired and anchored by this three-year, post-graduate tour-de-barns, and featuring powerful illustrations by his lovely wife, the multi-talented artist Tarri Driver, HARDBARNED! reflects on a quarter-century of one man's desperate search for meaningful work in the American South. With an irresistibly self-deprecating narrative, HARDBARNED! offers a revealing look into the insane (and often entertaining) lengths that one person will go to earn an honest living while making use of his education. Today, Christopher J. Driver writes a variety of creative content for a digital advertising agency. Prior to that, he wrote for the marketing department of a software developer, after spending five years as a technical writer at a healthcare nonprofit. He has published freelance, academic and popular culture essays and enjoys blogging about movies, music, TV, books, video games, comics, cooking, camping and travel, at hardbarned.com. Above all, Chris considers his writing skills versatile. HARDBARNED! is his first book.