I Graduated From UCLA...

Dear Friend,

Bet you're surprised to hear that, no?  Follow me...

Before I forget, last night's teleseminar went great.  If you missed it, it doesn't make you a bad person...

But... if you're curious about what you missed, then why not give it a gander over here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/22ways

Alfred Lubrano and I have a few things in common.

He's from New York City... I'm from New York City.

He -- from Brooklyn, and me -- from the opposite end of the D train, in the Bronx.

(I once dated a girl from Brooklyn.  She lived on McDonald Avenue.  It was a summer fling and... to be honest, I really don't remember much about it other than that.)

Also, Al was the first person in his family to go to college, and so was I.

He went to NYU, down in the village... I went to "UCLA" -- University on the Corner of Lexington Avenue (that's Baruch College, part of City University, by-the-way).

His dad was a blue-collar worker -- a mason I believe... and mine was a toll colllector.

He's in "Limbo"... and so am I.

Here's what I mean. 

Last year, I read Al Lubrano's book called "Limbo:  Blue-Collar Roots, White Collar Dreams", and I suggest you go out and buy yourself a copy.

Al's like me, in the sense that when you're reading his stuff, you feel like you really "know" him.  And in fact, he is a good guy.  I sent him an e-mail telling him how much I enjoyed his book and he was kind enough to respond to me just a few days later.

See, when you're a blue-collar kid and you go to college... you're sort of "stuck" in the middle.

The guys back in your old neighborhood you grew up with, don't really want to hang out with you anymore, because they think YOU think you're shit doesn't stink anymore, just because you've gone to college.

Which, of course... is totally ridiculous.  Especially because nobody ever learns anything in college that actually makes you any money anyway, and... you're usually so overwhelmed with life you don't even think of things like that (at least I didn't -- but there again, admittedly... I was a slow learner).

THen, on the other side of the coin, you've got the blue bloods and second and third-generation college grads.  And those guys don't really "accept" you, because you're not one of them either.

So you're basically kicked out of your old club, and denied admission into the new club you've been socially pedigreed to get into.

Ergo the title, "Limbo".

Guys like us tend to be more confrontational... less polished.

Is that good?  Is that bad? 

I don't know.

Here's a passage from Al's book which kind of summarizes the whole ball of wax.  It's on page 225 of the hardcover version in case you're interested in reading it:

"For Straddlers, life's ultimate goal is reconciliation:  finding peace with the past and present, blue collar and white, old family ways and the new middle-class life.  That is a challenge.  Different values and different views often seem to get in the way.  Now-vegetarian Loretta Stee wil never be able to talk about the find points of cooking meat with her family.  Manhattan resident Rebecca Beckingham will probably only exchange polite perfunctory chat with her folks on the farm.  Doug Russell has gone far in his company, but he knows that his blue-collar background will forever hold him back.  "I want to fit in and grow with the organization," he says.  "But I feel people will always talk about me in a different way: "Will he be running the company in five years?  Oh, no, he's a little rough, he's a little loud.'  And I think, 'Why wouldn't you want to have people like me?'"

The phrase "people like me" is telling.  Limbo folk remain aware of their otherness throughout their lives.  Often out of step with their parents, their coworkers, and even their born-to-the-middle-class children, Straddlers can feel like perpetual outsiders.

Still, as tough as limbo can be, it does not have to be debilitating.  The more successful Straddlers -- and by this I mean people who are comfortable with their lives -- embrace their middle-class reality while honoring their blue-collar roots.  Though they live in limbo, they choose to concentrate on the upside and what makes them unique."

I'll add something to this excellent description.

People in Limbo, are magnetically attracted to other people in Limbo -- people who've climbed up and out of the hole and into the brightness of the daylight.

And the deeper the whole they've climbed out of, the deeper the attraction.

I'm pretty much comfortable with things nowadays.  I like the "edge" I have that other people may not understand, or even be able to relate to.

And... with age, comes an enhanced ability to use that edge to your advantage, instead of letting it control you, which... I believe is one of the biggest changes in your life when you move up the food chain and into "Limbo", from "down below".

Good book, check it out.

Now go sell something,

Craig Garber

P.S. The fastest way for you to get out of "Limbo" is to get a hold of my newest marketing kit.  So get you're grubby little mouse-clicking hands on over here, right away:  http://www.kingofcopy.com/22ways

Any comments?

Send them to me by scooting over to the contact form on my "Here's How To Contact Craig" page, and maybe I'll publish them -- I appreciate your feedback!

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