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[rowan1]

I noticed Tolerance was not on their list of values

[toni52]

I just really don't understand what's so great about what sounds like a miserable, hellish existence.

Because it's a miserable, hellish existence in the best country in the world--and all "real Americans" know and understand the value of hard work and sacrifice.  It's the American way.  Are you questioning the narrative?

[t_r_b]

Three jobs?  Uniquely American, idn't it?

I can see how she could have three jobs.  I can see how she might have her own place.  I don't see how she can have a devoted mother to her son.  I see how she could be a devoted mother, but I'm not sure how she could have a devoted mother.  Do you suppose she got one from eBay?  Craigslist?

Conju, that is just so heteronormative of you. To anyone less shackled by the blinders of the homophobic status quo, it's obvious that this young woman fell in love and subsequently shacked up with an amazingly supportive new life partner, who just happens to be female, and who has since adopted their child.

Think about it: how else could she manage three jobs, going to school full-time, and parenting a small kid?

[jonesey]

Three jobs?  Uniquely American, idn't it?

I can see how she could have three jobs.  I can see how she might have her own place.  I don't see how she can have a devoted mother to her son.  I see how she could be a devoted mother, but I'm not sure how she could have a devoted mother.  Do you suppose she got one from eBay?  Craigslist?

Conju, that is just so heteronormative of you. To anyone less shackled by the blinders of the homophobic status quo, it's obvious that this young woman fell in love and subsequently shacked up with an amazingly supportive new life partner, who just happens to be female, and who has since adopted their child.

Think about it: how else could she manage three jobs, going to school full-time, and parenting a small kid?

Welfare fraud. 

[polly_mer]

Three jobs?  Uniquely American, idn't it?

I can see how she could have three jobs.  I can see how she might have her own place.  I don't see how she can have a devoted mother to her son.  I see how she could be a devoted mother, but I'm not sure how she could have a devoted mother.  Do you suppose she got one from eBay?  Craigslist?

Conju, that is just so heteronormative of you. To anyone less shackled by the blinders of the homophobic status quo, it's obvious that this young woman fell in love and subsequently shacked up with an amazingly supportive new life partner, who just happens to be female, and who has since adopted their child.

Think about it: how else could she manage three jobs, going to school full-time, and parenting a small kid?

Welfare fraud. 

C'mon, you mean you people don't have several of this student in your classes?

Full-time student can mean "Enrolled for 12 credits", but "shows up possibly every third meeting" or "is one of those online students who doesn't even log in until the fourth week of the semester"

Three jobs is actually not that hard since if you work Sunday afternoon here, Monday and Tuesday nights there, and Friday and Saturday nights somewhere else, then you can have three jobs, but not be gone from the house all that much.  If those jobs are doing things that most of us wouldn't put on our resumes and for which people don't usually use their legal names, then you can definitely get by.  If you are very good looking, hard working and very lucky, you can make $200-$400 a night in tips as waitstaff in fancy restaurants.  Even in middle of nowhereville steakhouses, some people were pulling in $150 in tips on a weekend night.

Judging from what I've seen of some driven career people, apparently it is possible to be a devoted parent in some sense of the word despite only seeing those kids for a couple hours every other weekend.  Apparently, devoted doesn't mean what it used to.

[merce]

VALUES.com

maybe they're Eastern Orthodox. Suffering is a value.

And I worked 3 jobs at times in college where I usually took 18 credit hours. I never missed class. I was such a goody two-shoes. Somehow since then I've acquired the need for sleep. I might even be making up for those years by sleeping two nights' worth each day. It stinks!

I have taught where the majority of my kids were single mothers and worked. They kicked patooty! It was difficult not to be inspired by them.
And I like the idea that she got herself a mother for her son by falling in LooOOooove with a woman, hence the "have" rather than the "be." (That verb interchange is not really textual evidence but I like that story anyway)

I guess my culture also values suffering or persevering and dreaming while suffering. Who in the US doesn't read Ann Frank in gradeschool?
(NB- I have no idea how to qualify my culture, I feel like it i.e., the interconnected web of meanings, is my own shared lots by my brother, some by mother, and less and less as I move away from people I have shared time with).

Three jobs?  Uniquely American, idn't it?

I can see how she could have three jobs.  I can see how she might have her own place.  I don't see how she can have a devoted mother to her son.  I see how she could be a devoted mother, but I'm not sure how she could have a devoted mother.  Do you suppose she got one from eBay?  Craigslist?

Aah, Internet; is there nothing you can't do?

I just really don't understand what's so great about what sounds like a miserable, hellish existence.

[conjugate]

Three jobs?  Uniquely American, idn't it?

I can see how she could have three jobs.  I can see how she might have her own place.  I don't see how she can have a devoted mother to her son.  I see how she could be a devoted mother, but I'm not sure how she could have a devoted mother.  Do you suppose she got one from eBay?  Craigslist?

Conju, that is just so heteronormative of you. To anyone less shackled by the blinders of the homophobic status quo, it's obvious that this young woman fell in love and subsequently shacked up with an amazingly supportive new life partner, who just happens to be female, and who has since adopted their child.

Think about it: how else could she manage three jobs, going to school full-time, and parenting a small kid?

Of course, your own hostility to polyamory shows up in your refusal to consider the possibility that she has several co-wives, who take turns being a devoted mother.  Of course, it also requires using "have" in the Biblical sense.  Perhaps she's a polygamist Mormon?

"Three Jobs By Day—Lesbian Orgies By Night."  Sounds like a good title for an old-school racy paperback.  Pass it on.

[polly_mer]

Three jobs?  Uniquely American, idn't it?

I can see how she could have three jobs.  I can see how she might have her own place.  I don't see how she can have a devoted mother to her son.  I see how she could be a devoted mother, but I'm not sure how she could have a devoted mother.  Do you suppose she got one from eBay?  Craigslist?

Conju, that is just so heteronormative of you. To anyone less shackled by the blinders of the homophobic status quo, it's obvious that this young woman fell in love and subsequently shacked up with an amazingly supportive new life partner, who just happens to be female, and who has since adopted their child.

Think about it: how else could she manage three jobs, going to school full-time, and parenting a small kid?

Of course, your own hostility to polyamory shows up in your refusal to consider the possibility that she has several co-wives, who take turns being a devoted mother.  Of course, it also requires using "have" in the Biblical sense.  Perhaps she's a polygamist Mormon?

Ah, one of those renegade LDSers?  Stranger things have happened, considering what I observed in my time in LDS land (only outsiders call them Mormons).