The Working Poor: Invisible in America

At the end of Chapter four in the book The Working Poor: Invisible in America a man by the name of Agustin said something very interesting to me:

"The most important is that I have my children and my wife. I have a life that continues, so I can't say that I'm so poor. I also recognize that I don't have money. I have something to eat, and my children have their clothes and their shoes, and I feel good. If I say I'm poor, I don't know, maybe. If I say I'm really poor, it would be bad before God, and if I say I'm rich it would be too proud. So I cannot classify myself."      

This passage is about a man who has a hard time classifying himself. It is difficult to save his money because he has a family to provide for and he usually does not have a penney left over to save. This does not bother him because he is happy just having his family in his life. As long as his children are clothed, he is doing pretty well. I think that if everyone had this attitude towards their life the world would be a much better place. People would be appreciative for what they have and maybe everyone would be kinder and more understanding to each other. Some people are very involved with work and money and it ends up being all they have in life which may lead them to become miserable. Agustin has the right idea of how to look at life, you only have one chance so you can't be worrying about things like money.

The Working Poor: Invisible in America

The book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, causes the reader to think about poverty in the United States in a way that they have not before. The author, David K. Shipler, introduces the concept of how the people who serve you food at a fast food place might not have enough money to feed their own family or the person that washes your car doesn't even own one. This is not something that we notice or think about on a daily basis because it is not something that we want to admit is true.

I came across a quote that made me see the bigger picture of poverty around the world. Michael Harrington said "The American poor are not poor in Hong Kong or in the sixteenth century; they are poor here and now, in the United States". Compared to other countries, the poor people in america would not be poor if they lived in a less fortunate area with the same pay. I think this is a positive way of looking at the poverty in America.     

As I was reading Chapter five in Feature Writing, an example of an interviewing process caught my attention. The first thing that surprised me was the fact that people who write for newspapers sometimes have to think of a topic they want to write about and then go find the perfect person to interview and tell a story. I always thought that they first heard of an intriguing story and then took action on getting an interview with the person who was getiing attention. Now that our class is doing a piece where we have to think of something that we are interested in and then go find a person that fits the profile to interview, this concept is easier to understand.
   
The example that caught my eye was one that a woman named Isabel Wilkerson from The New York Times had done research on. She wanted to write a piece on ten children growing up in extremely difficult environments. To find the perfect candidates she thought it would be best to look in places where parents would be trying to pick themselves back up on their feet, such as night classes. She found the perfect child by complete luck because the mother had walked in late after Isabel had already announced her purpose, but as the sheet to sign came around to the woman that was late, she asked what it was for. Another student said that you have to sign it if you have a child between the ages of 9 and 12, so the woman signed it. It was interesting to me how close Isabel was to missing the perfect chance for her piece. This example also shows how much dedicatin Isabel put into her piece because of al the places she went to just to find the right kind of people to interview.