John Koopman spent 25 years as a journalist, including time embedded with a Marine unit in the Iraq War. Then he was laid off as newspapers started to decline. He turned to managing strip clubs, then spent some time ferrying marijuana over state lines, or as he calls it "a modern bootlegger." One of his friends was a marijuana dealer from high school onward. Another friend spent years as a sex worker. He tells their stories, and his, with an emphasis on why they took on those jobs. The three main reasons are: 1. these activities pay significantly better than anything else they could have done, 2. you are your own boss instead of punching a clock and taking orders from someone else, and 3. the danger provides a thrill that makes one feel truly alive. There are definite drawbacks, especially in the case of the prostitute, who had low self-esteem and hated the job. Read the stories of all three people in an essay at LitHub. -via Damn Interesting