45. JOB #2...and 'The City'
THE VALHALLA OF ART SUPPLIES Down the street from the Academy was Flax's, an extraordinary two-level supermarket for art supplies. Flax's carried everything an artist might dream of, and more. If I got a position there, I could purchase all the painting supplies I would want...at a significant discount. As was becoming my custom, I walked in and told the unwelcoming, formidable woman at the desk that I was looking for a position and had an MFA and a great art background. The answer, as usual, was: 'You and everybody else in the city with an MFA wants a position here. Sorry, we don't have any openings.' With uncharacteristic confidence, not knowing that the woman I was talking to was the matriarch of the Flax clan, and, out of desperation, not taking no for an answer, I asked if I could talk to the owner...who happened to be her son. Reluctantly, she directed me to his office upstairs. Philip Flax greeted me with a smile, but gave me the same