Fear and Self-Loathing

“Losing my job was a wake up call. But being disregarded as a person lit a fire in my gut. I started my car and peeled out, middle finger extended and the burden of five unhappy years left behind.”

From Matthew Newton‘s “Fear and Self-Loathing in America’s Rust Belt,” a moving personal essay about family, fear, optimism, and being fired. (Part 1. Part 2.)

The essay is part of Newton’s new series at True/Slant, Mental Notes, which looks at “job loss, mental health, and the undying pursuit of art.”

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Isaac Fitzgerald has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, and was once given a sword by a king, thereby accomplishing three out of five of his childhood goals. Formerly of The Rumpus and McSweeney’s and most recently the founding editor of BuzzFeed Books, Isaac is now the co-host of BuzzFeed News’ Twitter Morning Show, #AMtoDM. He also appears frequently on The Today Show to talk books, and is co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (with Recipes) (winner of an IACP award), and the author of a YA novel and picture book forthcoming from Bloomsbury. He uses Twitter.

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The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper.

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