for Graduate School Thesis Project, "Scratch the Surface"
Foxy is a licensed cosmetologist, who cannot find work in any salon: "These people don't want it done the right way anymore. They want it quick…"
She paces as she tells me about the building inspector who placates them with words, yet does nothing. She tells me about not being able to get food stamps because she refuses to declare herself as homeless - she has a roof, after all, even if it's attached to a house that's sinking on one side. She continues to pace, waving her arms in irritation, seeming to be relieved to get it all off her chest to someone who isn't a neighbor, who isn't the owner, who isn't a building inspector.
(She sleeps in her bed alone.) "I live alone because I don't want a man to take advantage of me. I had a mastectomy (she tells me again, clinching her breasts). That's also why I don't have a man. I don't want them to feel sorry for me."
Foxy does what she can to get work, and she reminds me that she keeps her house clean. It is clean. And she has a roof over her head, and a tiled floor beneath her feet, even though it's slanted. It's her floor, and it's her roof, and though she wishes they were in better condition, she is thankful for having them both, and she keeps her house clean to show it.