The Story of Megan

Dear President Obama,

My name is Jackie Lane. I am a 26 year old married cosmetologist in Toms River, New Jersey. This is my third email in a series of emails I plan on writing you every day until you are no longer in office. My personal story will come later because there are others who I feel need to be spoken for before myself. Every person I know has story behind their personal struggle and what the drastic income inequality in this country has meant to them. This story is the story of Megan. My closest friend Megan is one of the most well read brilliant minds I know. When we graduated our academically competitive Catholic High School she was in the top 11% with an A grade point average. While I stayed home at community college she went off to Philadelphia University with a clear plan in mind. She completed the program for her Bachelors of Science in Interior Design in the appropriate 4 years. She was wait listed for her Masters Program for a semester because only 3 colleges in the nation had a program for the degree she wished to obtain. In the meantime, instead of working with her degree she attended our local community college as a full time student even though she had a 4 year degree because she could not afford to loose her parents health insurance. Any interruption in school would have made her ineligible. Under the current plan she would have been covered until she was 26 without having to be a full time student. She then attended The Savannah College of Art and Design to complete her Masters of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation. While she was in that program she was one of a handful chosen to study abroad in France. Since graduation she has had 3 jobs. The first was in retail at the mall over Christmas time for $7.25, minimum wage, because she has started to receive letters that she would soon have to begin paying her one hundred thousand dollars in student loans back. The other two were as an assistant at a private Interior Design firm that paid her so little it cost more to travel to work than she was getting paid. And currently she makes $12.50 an hour at a part time temporary job in the field of preservation that will run out next week. Aren't there ways we could be utilizing her vast knowledge and education in the field of Historic Preservation to revitalize our nation? Her Health insurance has run out because she is 26 years old and her job does not offer it. She applies for every position in her field but the state of the nation means that no one is investing in rebuilding and renovation. If the economy was thriving she would have a necessary place. She is just one story that leads me to support the jobs act. We need to rebuild our nation and we have people out there who are eager to do it. 

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