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Growing Up As A Girl Child in America: Part 12
Creating my own job and opportunities, aka “The Intern”
After my grandfather died when I was 13 years old, I needed to work more than just babysitting for a few dollars. I got a job after school delivering legal papers in downtown Redlands, making about $10/hour. I only worked a couple of hours, three days a week, but it was still enough to buy food and go to the swap meet.
I lived through my “missing year” — the time I lived with my Dad in Hollywood, family friends in Redlands, and summer in Milwaukee with my cousins. While I was in Milwaukee, I took the bus from Whitefish Bay to my uncle’s office and worked as a records clerk.
By the time I was ready to graduate from high school, I wanted more experience.
I took the bus to the San Bernardino County Museum, along with my printed resume in a folder. I asked to speak to the Director. His assistant, a tall, attractive Chinese-American woman, said he wasn’t available, but made an appointment for the following week for me to see Dr. Smith.
Dr. Gerald Smith, the museum founder and director, was a distinguished man in his early 60s. He often wore a Western bolo tie and had built the museum up from a small, rural building in Bloomington in the western end of the county to a new, large, modern structure in Redlands, my hometown located in eastern San Bernardino County.
The museum was structured similarly to natural history museums in big cities. There were actual scientists on staff, and it housed one of the world’s largest bird egg collections.
I was very nervous when I arrived for my interview with Dr. Smith
He politely said that as I hadn’t yet graduated from high school, he wasn’t sure there were any jobs for me at the museum.
“I can be an intern,” I said.
“We don’t have funds to pay interns,” he said.
“You could hire me as part of the CETA program,” I suggested.
Dr. Smith hadn’t heard of this program, but I explained it was like a work-study program. The museum would only need to pay for 10% of my wages and the CETA program would pay for the…
