Ayun Halliday Event

Apr ’05
12
12:00 am

Ayun Halliday reads from Job Hopper
 
Saturday, April 16th, 4PM
 
FREE
 
If it’s true that the average worker will hold an average of seven jobs over the course of a lifetime, Ayun Halliday is anything but average. In her brief thirty-something years, Halliday has managed to rack up an impressive array of short lived stints in the paid job market, including life guard, library attendant, costume designer, actress, waitress, artist’s model, professional temp, rental stylist, substitute teacher, party counselor, massage therapist, costumed mascot, and mime, to name a few. In this uproarious collection of essays Job Hopper, Halliday displays a work ethic all employers can admire: wearing a leg brace to work after calling in “sick,” quitting the same day she starts by claiming her step-brother had been in a bike accident, and faking “vocal nodes” to avoid telemarketing calls. Along the way, she befriends colleagues and bosses who ignore her falling asleep, stealing food and clothing, and feigning skills she does not possess, and gains the respect of her customers for sheer honesty, which includes detailing her feminine hygiene problems and setting male clients straight on her brand of massage: “I’m sorry, I cannot facilitate a sexual release for you!”
 
Ayun Halliday was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1988, she joined The Neo-Futurists, a Chicago theatre company notable for presenting 30 original plays in the course of 60 minutes and ordering pizza for the audience whenever the show sold out. There she meet her future husband and ended up moving to New York City. She is the author of the books the Big Rumpus and No Touch Monkey! along with the zine East Village Inky.
 
Ayun Halliday will be reading and signing her new book at the event.