Working Nine to Five Just to Stay Alive

Perhaps that is the most true lyric in Beyonce's new album. It applies to capitalistic life, to the notions which dominate our lifestyles and the ways in which we go about our days.

If we do not collectively waste away ourselves for the betting of our economy, then we are overlooked. Other than in a dating situation, we all are like fish in the sea. And there are plenty of us. Except, we are like a school of fish. It not rare for a fish to fall behind and hide in an anemone, away from the school, yet that fish will not survive to their potential on their own, or at least they assume so. If one does not follow the capitalist way in a capitalist state, they are expected to fall behind, and that they will in contrast of the possibilities. If you think about it, working nine to five is not the worst case scenario in someone's life. A worst case scenario would be that of working nine pm to five am, at a gentleman's club, as a woman.

It is one thing to walk in high heels for long hours, the feeling of which I will never know but that I always will know about, and it is another to have to wear them as you are performing an activity over a long period of time. That is not all strippers wear, though. Although they wear the least amount of clothing, they wear a burden on their face which is heavier than most burdens carried. This may not be the case, as this piece is heavily based on general assumptions but one finds it difficult to think otherwise and the grounds on which I base these assumptions are realistic enough to be believable.

I will not delve into this case any deeper than I already have because I am aware that people have to do various things to survive, and that is where my argument turns towards, the things some people do in order to continue flowing through a capitalist economy. Had there been no strippers, there would be less lawyers having to separate women from desperate men or vice versa seeing as heterosexuality is no longer the only accepted form of sexual desire, and alcohol sales which work to reduce the attendee's nerves would plummet.

That is not to say that I condone the availability of strippers, nor that I condone what all non-monogamous people crave - it is to say that working nine to five is detrimental to one in all cases. Working for hours longer than nine to five generally ensures that once the worker is finished, they are finished for the day. Nine to five jobs, on the other hand, have the tendency to be time consuming after they are allegedly over for the day. Take teaching, for example. I am only a teacher in training and now I never get headspace.

Teaching is rewarding though. I suppose then I shall conclude with if the nine to five job is honestly worth it, and worthy of the hours spent before and after those hours, not taking into account the pay, then I am happy to have to stay alive in that manner.

Eat the Cake, Anna Mae

For over a month, now, I have been replaying Beyonce's new album on my way to and fro university in order to boost my level of enthusiasm which tends to be lacking in the morning time, seeing as at that time my bed is the most comfortable. But something disturbing has recently been brought to my attention, particularly coming from my favorite song in the album, Drunk in Love:

"I am Ike Turner,

baby know I don't play.

Now eat the cake, Anna Mae,

said eat the cake, Anna Mae."

A girl from my contemporary fiction class had brought those lines up in a discussion about Beyonce's succumbing to a relationship after declaring independence that was brought up by me, and I did not look into this until last night, which slightly frightened me, and slightly made me feel better. Had Beyonce and Jay Z both planned to include this little rap in Drunk in Love as a form of acceptance of male dominance, then I do not feel too bad about this because in that case Beyonce would be publicly accepting of Jay Z's dominance, withdrawing from her said ability to 'run the world' as a woman. If, however, the latter was the case, which is that Jay Z and Beyonce both accept the alleged satire in the abusing of women, then I am heavily disturbed because I now will find it difficult to peel myself away from listening to that song in particular when it is so very catchy and appropriate.

Initially, where "eat the cake, Anna Mae" came from was Ike and Tina Turner's abusive relationship, wherein, from my interpretation of this event, Ike and Tina were in a restaurant where Ike wanted to celebrate her success, so he ordered a cake, and after having given her autograph to two young boys, she was forced to eat some cake by Ike. She refused this, several times, so Ike thought it appropriate to smudge a handful of cake all over her face, screaming "eat the cake, Anna Mae!" which is Tina's real name. Her best friend who was seated with them had gotten up in defence, yelling at Ike, so Ike had acted out and hit her across the face, making the situation much worse.

This little scene is a glimpse into the relationship between Ike and Tina. If this display happened in public, then what sorts of displays happen behind closed doors, so to speak? What happens when Tina does not have her friend to defend her, when all of that aggression built up inside of Ike is released freely? It is abhorrent to think of things that would answer that. It is also abhorrent that such a reference can be made in a song about a couple being so drunk in love that they find themselves being intimate in even the kitchen, intoxicated in intimacy that they had not known how they had ended up in there. The entire song then becomes inappropriate, how can Jay Z accept to make a cruel reference of domestic abuse, and worse yet, how could Beyonce accept to put that in her song? Or did Jay Z smudge cake on her face forcing her to? Sorry, I had to. I know, contradictory and whatnot.

I just think that there could have been more appropriate things that could have been rapped by Mister Carter, without releasing implications of violent dominance over women. The guy had his clothes on in the video clip, too, whereas Beyonce was strutting around in her bikini. The least he could do was say something meaningful in the positive way about women. Not that Jay Z says much, anyway, most of his raps are made up of meaningless literal grunts, profanities and derogatory terms to races and women, so I suppose then nothing else appropriate would have befit his part in Beyonce's song. 

Perhaps one day, Beyonce will recover from her drunken state and see things for what they are, that horrible things like domestic abuse should not be publicly joked about, nor should the joke be condoned, especially on a platform so universal and widespread. How about you eat some cake, Jay Z?