A Fresno Punk Shares a Story About How Money Almost Ruined Her Life

I got a chance to read the autobiography of Madeline Pendleton's book "I Survived Capitalism and All I got was this Lousy T-Shirt". Humorous in many moments the book outlines parts of this woman's life that were both anxiety inducing and unapoligetically relatable. Money certainly sucks, but you can make it un-suck if you make good choices with it. And making good choices with money is not easy.

Though that Madeline gives you advice on how to budget, buy a house and/or manage a company humnanely I was more interested about the stories of her upbringing in Fresno, CA. I'm not much of a native in Fresno, but have lived there and associated with the city for a number of years that helped identify a part of who I am. And reading some of the statistics, the culture that she was involved in and the hustle she endured I can almost feel it overlaying some of the experiences I had living there in my adolescence. The theme of being "a fighter" throughout the whole book, I feel, does a bit of deservice. I read the book thinking "this dude went to 5 different wars".

There was a time in my life where I met Madeline. If I could recall I felt a bit intimidated being around her because her aura was beaming bright from such a short person lol. I've acquainted with her in some periods, but never kept in contact with her at all. However, looking back meeting her I remembered her being pretty damn cool and just down to earth. In a point where I was finding myself in the scene trying to affiliate with people I could hang and make music with her approach with me was calm and collected. Being Filipino around a white dominated space at the time had its anxieties and I couldn't necessarily relate to some of the things they were dealing with. But if I remember she never really made me feel anxious other than the fact that she just seemed intimidatingly awesome lol.

For awhile her book has been floating around my social media circles and I ended up buying the book when I was in New York for a friends bday party. Apparently the copy I purchased is a signed copy. Hey why not? Bought the copy and I dove in.

Instantly you are sucked in on a specific scenario that would become the mood direction of the whole book. Humorous as I had mentioned earlier Madeline shares real experiences while attaching data that could be a reason of her shortcomings as an adolescent to grown adult. Loss after loss her will to fight kept her hopeful even at times of huge lows that she'd endure. In the end she was able to conquer all the troublings of money and continues to help her loved ones with it to this day. To be honest it wasn't an easy book to swallow considering the realities she shares. Considering some of the experiences I had with certain relationships and money I'm at a point in my life I'm able to live comfortably and handle debt with ease. I'm a full timer that goes in and collects a paycheck.

To Madeline,
This book was good. Your writing style is awesome and paints many pictures when sharing stories about your past life. I can hear it and see it in my mind and when a book does this to me I'm excited and sad to finish the book. This was a great read and I'm glad someone who I briefly knew from a city that helped me become who I am today had found great success in what they love. Not to mention helping the ones around you that need it.

sincerely,
Arthur

P.S.
How do I work for you lol