"Lori Jakiela�s Portrait of the Artist as a Bingo Worker is a hilarious, working-class hero of an essay collection. It�s full of mall employees, flight attendants, working mothers, struggling writers, loving daughters, and adopted children, who all end up being one person named Lori Jakiela. A book of many masks, it proves the saying: there is no such thing as an ordinary life" Scott McClanahan, author of Crapalachia and The Sarah Book...

"Lori Jakiela�s Portrait of the Artist as a Bingo Worker is every bit as lively as its title. Jakiela�s wide-ranging dispatches from the land of polka, sex chairs, nut-rolls and fish frys are truly unforgettable. It is said that we see the world we are looking for � Jakiela sees human kindness and human folly in equal measure, and describes all of it vividly, poignantly, and with a brilliant sense of humor. " Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic & Desir