Throughout English education, we are taught to brainstorm our ideas for upcoming writing assignments. The organization required of this step I'm sure would be extremely useful if I were a follower of this example. I have always been one to jump into the writing process and find my purpose along the way. As each sentence leads to the next, it begins to paint a picture and with each addition, I see how I want the picture to turn out and focus on the end destination. I personally had a difficult time choosing a topic for the semester long writing projects. I wanted to find a balance between having a passion for the topic and also taking advantage of the opportunity to learn more about a topic I knew not much of. In high school, I led a youth community service organization and traveled twice to Tijuana, Mexico to volunteer at an orphanage. My mother, two siblings and myself did not have much growing up and although at one point we ended up sharing an 8'x8' room, I always felt lucky. A feeling I owe to my mother. Did I really understand poverty: what caused it, how it continued and what is being done to combat it? No. Last Christmas and friend and I collected items for donation and handed them out to folks living in Pioneer Park downtown. I could see a pile of boxes, overflowing with random items dropped off in the corner of the park. While I appreciated that people were trying to think about others, it saddened me that people didn't take the time out to walk around and talk to people who call Pioneer Park home. We sang "Happy Birthday" to a man named Walter and met one of the kindest gentlemen I have ever encountered whom said, "You give more than I can take" after handing him a brand new, clean pair of socks. Poverty may tear us apart in many ways, but it does not make us inhuman. Without a true understanding of poverty I didn't really know what perspective to take, but as I have educated myself about the arguments regarding whether or not the rest of society should help those living in poverty and the evidence which backup each claim, clarity started to form, but still not yet a perspective of my own. Then, I spoke with Ari. A man living on the property of the family I work for. And as Ari began to explain the difference between being homeless and being poor, and how most unfortunate people don't have family support I started to collect images of what the problem was and how I felt about it. Honestly, I didn't go into any of the projects knowing I wanted to focus on a proposal or a position argument. My profile piece did not turn out at all how I had originally expected however. I planned on it being a text based essay, but as it was to remain very objective I struggled with remaining objective and often found myself moving towards a persuasion style piece. Thus, the timeline was born. The timeline allowed my audience to form their own ideas about Carson's childhood in poverty into becoming an international neurosurgeon, famous for separating twins conjoined at the head. In the end, I feel it was the best move...especially since my professor spoke highly of the piece. While I enjoyed writing my flash memoir about my time in Mexico, I wanted to take it a step further and adapt it into something new, but I wasn't sure how. After a lab session with my professor, I was given the idea to create an audio recording of the piece to allow the audience to experience the piece has I intended it to be. At the beginning of the magazine project I juggled the idea of adapting either my flash memoir or a few of my smaller pieces/notebooks. In the end, I did include my interview with Ari, as mentioned above, but I felt including my personal experience created a stronger appeal to my desired direction on poverty. After translating the flash memoir into an audio recording I was able to later listen to the recording and hear the piece as if I had not written it. From an audience point of view, I was able to gauge how it might be absorbed by others and allowed me to change inflections in my voice to help others perceive what I had hoped for. As the Visual Editor, my team gave me a lot of freedom when it came to creative design of our online magazine THRIVE. At our initial in-person meeting, each member expressed a desire of a clean and easy to navigate design. As they all expressed their admiration for my Weebly eportfolio, and with my experience with the site, I was given the green light. One member came to the meeting with a name for the magazine, and from there the story of THRIVE began. Once the site was live, each person easily settled into their assigned role while perfectly balancing a democratic option for each change. We each added and revised group pieces and offered feedback to one another while always making sure the recipient felt they had final say in their pieces. All in all, I think our group fell into their roles perfectly and I could not have asked for a better team that worked together as well as we did. Group 8 didn't hate!
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HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT POVERTY RIGHT NOW?Views tend to lean one of two ways. 1) Those living in poverty are responsible for their own situation. 2) The government should provide aid to help combat poverty. DO YOU FEEL IT IS EASY OR DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY TO FIND WORK?In 2016, the LA Times took a second interactive poll of 1,202 American adults. The poll asked the public about their opinions on poverty, the government's ability to alleviate poverty and their views on those living in poverty. Question: Do you think it is very hard for poor people to find work, or do you think there are plenty of jobs available for poor people/anyone who is willing to work? Pictured Below: Results from the 2016 poll. As you can see about half (51%) of participators living above the poverty line believe it's very hard to find work as compared to 71% of participators living below the poverty line feel it is very difficult to find work. NOT SO LAZY AT ALLFrom the same poll, participators were also asked: How many people, do you think, living below the poverty line would prefer to earn their own living than live off welfare? 64% of participators living below the poverty line claimed they would rather earn their own living than live off welfare. LACK OF EFFORT, LACK OF WEALTH
ITS ONLY MONOPOLY MONEY
PASSING DOWN PRIVILEGE
SCARCITY MENTALITYAfter watching Rutger Bregman's Ted Talk on poverty, Bregman brings to light his thought transformation on poverty. Bregman states, like so many others he too believed there must be something wrong with those living in poverty. Bregman then dives into education. As important as education is, it is not enough. He then quotes behavioral scientist, Eldar Shafir, "It's like teaching someone to swim and then throwing them in a stormy sea." And most importantly, Bregman talks about the investment in poverty and that by using 1% of U.S. GDP (Gross Domestic Product), a total of $175 billion, we could eradicate poverty. "AN EXISTENCE WITHOUT POVERTY IS NOT A PRIVILEGE, BUT A RIGHT WE ALL DESERVE.""HISTORY HAS TAUGHT US--THINGS COULD BE DIFFERENT." Rutger Bregman IF I WERE TO ASK YOU WHAT IS BEING DONE TODAY TO HELP ALLEVIATE POVERTY, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?Government aid programs like food stamps and welfare have been around for a long time. In fact, food stamps were first introduced in 1939, but it wasn't until 1964 when President Johnson signed the Food Stamp Act, that SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) became a permanent program. In 2007, an experimental CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) program was introduced in New York City to research the results and long term effects of a CCT program. A CCT program is a reward system offering cash to participators whom follow a set of behavioral guidelines. After the program's scheduled end in 2010, no new CCT programs have been implemented in the U.S. LIFE IS NOT ABOUT |
AuthorAnne is 25 years old and originally from the Bay Area, California, but grew up in the small charming town of Horseheads, just south of the Finger Lakes Wine Country in Upstate New York. Archives
April 2019
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