Differences between life when you're poor and life when you're middle class

boing
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I smoke. It’s expensive. It’s also the best option. You see, I am always, always exhausted. It’s a stimulant. When I am too tired to walk one more step, I can smoke and go for another hour. When I am enraged and beaten down and incapable of accomplishing one more thing, I can smoke and I feel a little better, just for a minute. It is the only relaxation I am allowed. It is not a good decision, but it is the only one that I have access to. It is the only thing I have found that keeps me from collapsing or exploding.

One of the first comments criticises her for complaining about money when she has the gall to be spending money on cigarettes at the same time, then goes on about how easy it is for them to get a bank account. I wonder what makes people feel that everyone deserves their station in life?

@ChickieD I was never poor either, but my parents were always very careful with money (we did eat meat, but it was generally off-cuts and offal. Almost all of our clothes were donated to us, then handed down through the family). A lot of this (OK, just about all of it) was because my father chose missionary work rather than following his major (mechanical engineering) and my parents decided that my mother should be a stay-at-home mom instead of following her major (maths).

There was a big difference between us and other people we knew, who didn’t have the resources to care for their own families or encourage their children to thrive. In many senses we were always middle class with less money than people around us; there was never the desperation that our lives wouldn’t get better no matter how much we worked, or that we were looked down upon because we were always the family with problems. More importantly, we never had crippling debt or long term unemployment. We had time to make long-term decisions and a support network if things went wrong. We had good nutrition because my mom had the time to go to multiple shops at the right time of the day or week to find cheap good quality food. My school and university fees were paid for, as well as any healthcare costs. Both of my parents had been taught important skills by their parents that meant they could mend, cook, build etc., so we didn’t have as many crises and we didn’t spend as much money on things like fast food or repairs.

It’s not usually a great resource for insightful commentary, but one of the writers on Cracked wrote a number of articles about living with poverty that had many of the same points as this article.

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Oh, well…I figured people on BB might be familiar with what a great place Cairo, IL is.

http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?t=39039

http://www.visualnews.com/2010/11/30/cairo-illinois-picture/

I’m not finding any online citations, but my wife knows people who have taught there. Alexander Co. is at the southernmost tip of the state, with Cairo being right at the tip of the county where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet. At its peak, it was a pretty big town, and relatively prosperous; now, it’s around 2000 people and falling. The economy of the rivers changed, though, and so did Cairo. Median income is $24k, about half the state median income. It’s easily the poorest school district in Illinois. I have heard anecdotes from people my wife knows who have student-taught and taught there, and they describe it as hellish. The kids live with no hope, so they tend to have horrible behavioral problems. The schools can’t afford, well, anything. Crime is a problem throughout the county because, well, the county is so poor that they sheriff’s department had their patrol cars repossessed.

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I see you mention freezes for the faculty and fees going up for students… How’s the administrative staff doing? Dean get a raise this year? President? I’m going to go with yes. And if so, nice work guys!

I see it happen all the time and it makes me want to burn buildings down in a rage.

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Cairo makes me want to hug it. I recall the flooding up there a few years back that didn’t help matters either. Everyone talks about Detroit when there are so many smaller places just like it.

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Don’t forget about sports programs in your rage.

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When I see a troll I can’t help clicking on the profile to see their comment history. Mostly its my unhealthy way of pissing myself off, but every so often I’m surprised to see that they usually post thoughtful, or at least not vile, contributions to the discussion and reconsider what they’ve written in a new light.

Alas, this wasn’t one of those times.

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That is beside the point that poor people might experience a basic human imperative to procreate. I suppose they should all sterilize themselves.

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What irks me about this article is how the term poverty is used. It seems like everyone who talks about it must readjust the definition to suit how they’re feeling. But I don’t believe struggling, despite its difficulties, is to be called poverty when there are millions around the world far worse off.

The white American view of poverty seem to be a dose of self-pity and an insular perspective as to where they actually are in life. It’s always about what they don’t have, and what the man two doors down is doing. Not that I have no empathy, but having setbacks are a part of life, and that doesn’t automatically thrust you amongst the bottom 1%. The word poor should not be so arbitrary.

However, I am not here to discount the author’s experiences, or belittle her. It’s just that I found myself misled by the comments. After reading what she wrote I don’t think she is qualified to write a book, when her grasp of the English language, and ideas about true poverty are too inadequate to be made into a novel. There is no point in giving her funds, so that she can jot down her life story. She’d be better off doing something more casual, like having a podcast, in which she could dish out her story in a piecemeal fashion. Then if possible get some sponsors.

I know that my comment seems critical, but if poverty is such an important issue it should be discussed by those who have special, profound insights. In the author’s article there is a lot complaining, but no real solutions, or examination. She talked about Planned Parenthood centers, yet did not go on to significantly explain its importance, or what it has to do with being poor. There is no progression in the article. No details which are crucial to the story.

At its heart it’s about being thrust out of a middle class life style, and struggling, and facing the possibility of real poverty. Yet there is no ponderance on why it all happened, nor is there contrast on what being poor isn’t. I would like to see a frame around the article. A border with which we, as the readers, can compare.

Best of luck to her at any rate.

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I think they should take their children and send them away to be raised in the wild by other children at an abandoned mall before killing themselves at the age of 30.

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A most excellent point.

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I’m not sure they got raises, but we did get a new president who started doing things like trying to centralized the university, especially things like advisement. In fact they made the departments cut their undergrad advisement position and created a new center for advisement, which is going to be a disaster (we’re transitioning to it now). My friend lost her job, after being assured that the other things she does for the department would protect her. But the university cut the funding for her job and made them fire her.

The president has also started harping on MOOCs as a way to expand our student base (without all that bother of hiring tenure track faculty). GA Tech just started a sort of MOOC based program, which has been controversial to say the least–in part because they apparently did not consult the faculty at all:

Additionally, the university has built a shiny new sciences building and has bought several new buildings downtown, including one that is supposed to be refurbished for the college of arts and sciences… so far, nothing. The science building was built in like a year… Not to sound bitter, because I really don’t begrudge the STEM fields their due but the reason they are getting this is due to bringing in outside money. That being said, we have not had raises in 10 years. We make the university minimum wage, essentially. Meanwhile, we have little to no research support, outside of a small grant our grad student association offers. Our only option is endlessly applying for highly competitive fellowships and grants for dissertation writing… you can imagine the impact this has on dissertation writing…

But word on the street is that there are those in administration who are sympathetic to us. It’s an issue I’m interested in dealing with. Even if it doesn’t nothing to help me, I’m really wanting to leave the place better than when I arrived. But we’ll see how that goes.

That being said, I get to think for a living. As frustrating as all this is, I am incredibly fortunate and am incredibly grateful everyday for that.

Sorry… rant over! :wink:

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Thanks for answering. I wasn’t sure where you were going. I would argue that East St. Louis probably “bests” Cairo, but yes, your detailed description helps me understand your point much better.

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It sounds like you were expecting a biography and history course from a stream of consciousness blog post.

People’s level of suffering will always be relative. I think it’s ridiculous to say that people aren’t in poverty here because compared to somewhere else (like a third world country) they have it better.

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That’s what some people think… How dare they act like human beings–they are poor, not people… /snark

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Ah, East St. Louis, the city so nice they filmed a post-apocalyptic movie there.

It’s down to a little over 20,000 people now. And interestingly, there are newer, nicer places there now, closer to the riverfront. My guess is that it’s largely people who work in St. Louis looking for affordable housing closer than the outer Missouri suburbs.

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No need to apologize. I know more than my fair share of adjuncts and how little they get paid makes me super sad when I hear about the private loans that administrators get access to so they can buy beach houses.

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So, as long as there are places that are being drone-bombed or people are being killed in other countries, none of us can complain? WTF? If you didn’t mean to belittle her, you still did.

Please, tell us how hard it is for poor people, since you apparently know so much about it. Regal us with tales of how it is on the mean streets, because clearly this woman knows nothing about her own life.

And this is why people tend to hate academia, because some of us act just like this…

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I think that’s the point. If you’re living hand-to-mouth, working two shit jobs to make ends meet, and raising kids in the bargain, part of your poverty trap is that you have no time or energy left to really think things through or plan beyond tomorrow.

Obviously this author’s reality is a little different in that she is going to school, has a blog, etc. But what I think she’s trying to do is look beyond herself and give some insight into the mentality of poverty. Some of that mentality may help keep poor people poor (smoking, junk food, etc), but to a large extent it’s thrust on them by an existence where most waking hours are consumed by simple survival. Don’t forget the title of the piece: “Why I make terrible decisions.” Simple answer: because for the working poor, just surviving is damned exhausting.

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I found it made me mean, which is probably why I’m not poor anymore. I made better decisions, but I thought like a sociopath. I’m clever enough not to commit crime, but I was dead enough inside that if I weren’t just somewhat gifted with a head for planning I’d probably have ended up stuck. Luck, sort of. Lots of luck. In fact, I basically ended up creating an identity, dissociating from most of my human parts, and living to get ahead. So… I get the gold star here for not smoking and spending all my money on school and birth control. Yay! The deserving poor! Which, interestingly enough, makes one the invisible poor… because a lot of my time was spent carefully pretending not to be until I could get my hooks in. But I think what she says has truth to it. I don’t think the way I used to. I’m better integrated, and yet now there is a part of me that was created in youth that is colder and meaner than I feel like I am… or the me I want to call me.

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But I don’t believe struggling, despite its difficulties, is to be called poverty when there are millions around the world far worse off.

The existence of others in worse conditions does not negate her struggle.

The white American view of poverty seem to be a dose of self-pity and an insular perspective as to where they actually are in life.

As a white American that lived for years under the poverty level, I find this blanket statement to be problematic on several levels.

However, I am not here to discount the author’s experiences, or belittle her.

That’s exactly what you are doing.

ideas about true poverty are too inadequate to be made into a novel

How, exactly, are you defining “true” poverty?

She’d be better off doing something more casual, like having a podcast

Please research “barriers to entry”. Podcasts and podcasting is a luxury.

I know that my comment seems critical, but if poverty is such an important issue it should be discussed by those who have special, profound insights.

Not seems - is. Please define " those who have special, profound insights".

Yet there is no ponderance on why it all happened, nor is there contrast on what being poor isn’t. I would like to see a frame around the article.

Please reread the first paragraph.

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