UP ALL NIGHT: A PORTRAIT OF PORTLAND, OREGON TOLD THROUGH THE STORIES OF ITS NIGHT WORKERS
Who is out there in the dark while the rest of us sleep? In "Up All Night,” Portland, Oregon writer, teacher and activist Martha Gies profiles two dozen graveyard-shift workers living and working in Portland, Oregon, and presents a rare insider's look at the unseen workers who keep our cities humming after dark.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In the tradition of Studs Terkel's legendary book, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, Martha Gies's book is a portrait of Portland, Oregon, told through profiles of its graveyard shift workers.
In Up All Night a baker, a nude dancer, a flower market wholesaler, a longshoreman, a newspaper distributor, a shelter worker, a zookeeper, and sixteen other night workers living in Portland candidly share personal histories. Their stories about night work-and about their lives during the daylight hours-are often funny, often poignant. Some work at night by choice-to earn higher wages or to avoid bosses. For others, such as recent immigrants or parents with day-working spouses, their only option may be the midnight shift.
Author and night owl Martha Gies guides readers on a nocturnal tour of unique workplaces-the waiting ambulances that encircle the darkened city, the maze of conveyor belts at the industrial bakery, the Internet service provider's help desk. She visits and vividly describes the cold, gritty, and isolated settings of night work-the truck cab, the silhouetted cubicle, the empty street.
Up All Night gives us a rare insider's look at the unseen workers who keep the city humming after dark.
FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“The night calls myriad workers to keep the world chugging while most of us lie snug in bed. Gies, a self-proclaimed night owl, shadowed and interviewed each of her Portland, Oregon-based nocturnal subjects to channel their voices in this stirring collection of night shift stories. We meet Sativa, a nude dancer at the Boom Boom Room, who devours Charles Bukowski when not shimmying up a pole; a pair of gamine EMTs; a rotund cabbie named Judie who has been mugged, shot and stabbed, but remains fearless; a formerly homeless, recovering addict who mans the mission that saved him; a volunteer DJ who spins the blues; a cop; a baker; a street sweeper; a zookeeper; and a pool shark, just to name a few. Not all have chosen the witching hour because it suits them best. Obdulia, an illegal immigrant who cleans the syrupy, trash-laden bleachers at the sports arena and speaks no English, works around the clock to make her $475 monthly rent. Others, like Gary, a city bus driver who says he "wouldn’t trade his job for any in the world," have effectively eliminated the burden of childcare costs by being at home during the day. This medley of night vignettes offers a rare, intriguing look into the idiosyncratic lives of workers tucked away in the city’s dark and often forgotten corners.”
FROM BOOKLIST
“Ever wonder what goes on in a city when most of its citizens are tucked away in bed? Well, to start with, keep in mind that 15 percent of people work during the nighttime hours: exotic dancers, poolroom operators, street sweepers, newspaper distributors, and on and on. Gies spoke with more than 20 night owls in Portland, Oregon, finding out what they do, why they do it, and what it's like to be working when most everybody else is sleeping. What does the city look like in the middle of the night? And what sort of life do these people live during the daylight hours? Although most of the narrative is in the subjects' own words, the author injects enough of her own voice to offer us some insightful observations of the subculture of the graveyard shift. Like Studs Terkel chronicling the lives of workers, Gies gets inside her story and allows us to get a real feel for a style of life few of us will experience. A fine example of living, breathing oral history.”
REVIEWS
"[A] stirring collection of night shift stories… this medley of night vignettes offers a rare, intriguing look into the idiosyncratic lives of workers tucked away in the city's dark and often forgotten corners."
– Publishers Weekly
"Like Studs Terkel chronicling the lives of workers, Gies gets inside her story and allows us to get a real feel for a style of life few of us will experience. A fine example of living, breathing oral history."
– Booklist
"On the Skidmore fountain is inscribed: 'Good citizens are the riches of the city.' In Up All Night, Martha Gies brings many of Portland's riches to life in a very intimate way, giving an insight into the reality of the city not seen by us daytime 'normals.' A fascinating spectrum of people, a fascinating read. Once started, I couldn't put it down."
– Bud Clark, former Mayor
of Portland, Oregon
“Martha Gies is a savvy writer whose sophisticated eye for detail allows Up All Night to become an oral history rather than a volume of overnight anecdotes.”
– John A. Mangarella,
Small Spiral Notebook