Jack Monroe #42

[Icing _on_ the_cake]

Totally agree having read her blog from 2012/3 this morning! She had a different tone of voice and covered a lot of wider social issues in it. Food was honestly a lot more of an aside in the blog posts and maybe counted for 30% of the content. It was more of an example of how to cope while living in poverty. I can see why people became her fan in the earlier days because she largely comes across as likeable in it (aside from the JO mention haha). Absolutely nothing like how she writes now. Having read it, I really don't doubt she struggled late 2011/2012 - although she mentioned having trial jobs and three weeks of shifts in March 2012 so not the eight months of no jobs/300 applications she later claimed (having left the Fire Service in late 2011 it seems).

But I do struggle to understand why she self-flagellated to the point where she didn't ask her parents for help.

It actually made me go back into the cycle of feeling pity for her. I think fame has fucked her up.

If anyone is interested in taking a look: https://web.archive.org/web/20121013232912/http://agirlcalledjack.com/

I think we can't really know what went on with her parents and her family. And just because they are middle class/respectable doesn't mean things were good. My mum, who I suspect is a narc, makes me very wary of accepting help from my parents because it comes with strings. I will do everything I can to avoid ever being in the circumstances where I have to stay in my parents house again. If poverty was more attractive to Jack than staying with her parents, I suspect its because there is more going on there than we can know.

Regarding short term poverty. I had a few years where I was struggling to make my career. I'd used my savings on a masters degree to get me into a specific industry and the next four years was going from one short term, poorly paid job to another. Each job was in another part of the country and my finances slowly dwindled. I ended up with depression and anxiety as I felt myself a failure, I berated myself for not being good enough to get decent jobs, and I had no support network to fall back on because of the moving (and above family problems).

Eventually I found another career route and I got out of that industry and I'm now in a better situation. However, I get rather terrified of being in that situation again - so I can understand the fear and trauma that even a short time on benefits can induce. However, I wouldn't call myself 'working class' due to four years of (and in one case less than) minimum wage work. I also wouldn't count myself as poor because I can only afford to live in shared houses. I also wouldn't think it my place to advise people who live their entire lives in that situation because I had (comparatively) 5 minutes of struggle. In that respect, Jack can come off as a middle-class saviour.

 

[Breakdance Badass]

It really was @heretoreaditall2019 , it would make a great novel/tv drama/expose. People think we’ve come so far but most people are very quick to revert to ‘harmless’ banter when they think they’re with likeminded people.

As a stupid aside, but interestingly kind of linked because the article was about harrassment, Thandie Newton had a great interview out yesterday where she talked about Tom Cruise and a spot on his nose. She was very candid and it was very funny.

Just been on IG and Bella Mackie recommending reading the Thandie interview

 

[LittleMissMuffet]

Oh, just realised, the fabled Puttanesca Funebra (or penne with passata) was the one she cooked and then abandoned and then had a meltdown.

She's such a (insert favourite Scottish swearword)



Also what the duck does it mean? bleep's (Italian) funeral (spanish) pasta? It makes no sense.

At some point you just need to realise that as much as you may love doing something, you need to admit to yourself that it isn’t your calling. I felt on edge the whole time watching that. If you’ve had presenting training and a real passion for food - how can it be that bad? The table looked too high for her to stir the boob pot, she’d forgotten half the ingredients and so we were left to just stare at a blank space while the poor women who was on the phone was trying to salvage something but would then get talked over when “oh silly me I’m so nutty” jack returned in shot.
I know how hard it is to have a dream, try to pursue it and then realise you’re not actually good at what you want to be. It’s upsetting and draining. But I dunno, maybe spend less time being a twitter warrior and prep for your shows/financially plan better/get rest

 

[J4n0Z]

Interesting. I think those comments (which mention the Kickstarter fiasco among other things) reveal the real reason why she stood down.

No doubt. Can you imagine the stuff which would have come out in the press?

I am working class and lived in Southend for 28 years. This sounds nothing like a working class Essex accent.

She's got that universal middle class private school accent which is prevalent across the UK. You hear it a lot in Edinburgh.

 

[SoulRebel]

In case anyone forgets what a bleeping liar she is: https://threader.app/thread/1244753809773035527

'If it weren't for that boy, i'd probably still be in the fire service. Halfway to my 25 year service medal, paying into my pension, ironing my epaulettes.'

 

[ShowMeYourFeline]

I’m sure that if Jack had experienced any nastiness or lack of support from her parents, we’d never have heard the end of it!

 

[chocolate choux]

Also what the duck does it mean? bleep's (Italian) funeral (spanish) pasta? It makes no sense.

I’m trying to work this out

Funebra doesn’t seem to be either language, but Esperanto. Funebre, however, is Italian for ‘funereal’ so ‘funereal bleep’?

However, Italian (and Romance languages in general) usually has the rule of the noun preceding the adjective so it would be ‘puttanesca funebre’

Also many Italian pasta dishes seem to generally be named: pasta type + alla (‘in the style of’?) + whatever, so something like penne alla puttanesca funebre might have sounded okay and made sense?

Bear in mind that I’m attempting this translation using basic Spanish, residual Italian GCSE memories and Google So possibly still wrong. We can’t all be mavericks

If you’re reading, Jack, I’m up for a bit of freelancing

 

[help i need some help!]

I am working class and lived in Southend for 28 years. This sounds nothing like a working class Essex accent.

That ain't no Estuary twang...

 

[ShowMeYourFeline]

In case anyone forgets what a bleeping liar she is: https://threader.app/thread/1244753809773035527

'If it weren't for that boy, i'd probably still be in the fire service. Halfway to my 25 year service medal, paying into my pension, ironing my epaulettes.'

Lmao, she thinks because her mum was a foster carer, she was a “co-parent to foster children for 15 years”. What when you yourself was a child?

 

[LavaFlake]

I’m trying to work this out

Funebra doesn’t seem to be either language, but Esperanto. Funebre, however, is Italian for ‘funereal’ so ‘funereal bleep’?

The vibe I'd be trying to achieve at a sugar Daddy's unfortunate, yet timely, funeral

 

[J4n0Z]

I think we can't really know what went on with her parents and her family. And just because they are middle class/respectable doesn't mean things were good.

Of course. There's a lot goes on in outwardly "nice" families which is hidden beneath the surface. I'm middle class myself and and it definitely wasn't all that and a bag of chips.

Friends have had similar experiences. She's definitely not working class though, that's for sure.

 

[elepal]

In case anyone forgets what a bleeping liar she is: https://threader.app/thread/1244753809773035527

'If it weren't for that boy, i'd probably still be in the fire service. Halfway to my 25 year service medal, paying into my pension, ironing my epaulettes.'

What an utterly cunty thing to say. Just completely unnecessary. Possibly just badly worded, but it REALLY comes off badly.

(Do call handlers wear epaulettes?)

 

[ShowMeYourFeline]

I am working class and lived in Southend for 28 years. This sounds nothing like a working class Essex accent.

She literally sounds like the girls I went to private school with!

The Essex accent is so well known now that it ought to be really easy to imitate. The fact she hasn’t even tried shows how removed she is from her neighbours.

 

[GrunkaLunka]

(Do call handlers wear epaulettes?)

I think they do.
But what in God's name is she doing to her epaulettes that they need ironing?! Bet she travelled to and from work displaying them in the hope that people would assume she was a firefighter.

 

[Eurgh]

Well firstly she was a call handler, secondly ‘fifteen odd years co-parenting a revolving door of foster children’. You were not co-parenting from the age of 7. You were a child.

 

[PoorPatrol]

Oh, just realised, the fabled Puttanesca Funebra (or penne with passata) was the one she cooked and then abandoned and then had a meltdown.

She's such a (insert favourite Scottish swearword)



Also what the duck does it mean? bleep's (Italian) funeral (spanish) pasta? It makes no sense.

I am genuinely hooting at bleep’s funeral I’ve been hard at it today, and this thread has been such a tonic on my (mega frequent) breaks. You’re all comedy geniuses!!

 

[MrsOgre]

Well firstly she was a call handler, secondly ‘fifteen odd years co-parenting a revolving door of foster children’. You were not co-parenting from the age of 7. You were a child.

She likes to make herself seem much older than what she is.

 

[chocolate choux]

The vibe I'd be trying to achieve at a sugar Daddy's unfortunate, yet timely, funeral

Devastated enough to stop people asking awkward questions, yet still sexy enough to attract one of his equally minted mates Cannot disrespect your hustle

 

[Motherwellgirl]

Her mum did say in the Sunday people article that she wanted to help but Jack wanted to stand on her own two feet.

Certainly didn’t get the impression that her parents didn’t want to help

Her mum was being criticised at the time as I recall

 

[acca00]

I am working class and lived in Southend for 28 years. This sounds nothing like a working class Essex accent.

She is actually VERY well-spoken - "over the last year". She then disguises it. She is very, very middle class. That is why she gravitated towards Allegra and Louisa, both very middle-class, well-spoken women.