So grateful, and ready to give back!
Yesterday I woke up with a scratchy throat and cough. If I had still been in South Carolina, there wouldn't have been anything I could do about it. I would have had to go to work sick, at a grocery story, mind you, and possibly infect my coworkers and customers. In Oregon, however, I called in sick. The minimum wage is so much higher here, and the work is so plentiful at my job (thanks, Donald Trump) that it was no problem. I was much worse today, so I called in sick again. Back in the South, I could not have done that; I'd have gotten fired! Here, I do need a doctor's note, but that's no problem, because I have Oregon Health Plan. Peace Health Medical Group, my provider, even provides an urgent care clinic for the weekends, which has a location quite near my home. I just walked over there, waited a bit, spoke with a very nice doctor who listened to my lungs and tut-tutted warmly, went into Fred Meyer and got my medication, and came home. I know that sounds like a very normal thing to do when one is sick, but for me, it's a freaking miracle. I feel so lucky to have this very, very simple care for my health. I mean, I kind of feel crappy because I have bronchitis, but I can rest easy with the proper medication, knowing that nobody at my job is mad at me, and that I can go back when I feel better. I don't have to work or else starve, because I have food stamps. I can also have healthy food to eat, fresh fruits and vegetables. This week, I will see my primary doctor for the first time, and hopefully get ahead of my health problems, repair the damage that's been done, and start living a full, healthy , active life again.
I've been talking to people all week in red states who are really, really mad at everyone on "welfare." Since "welfare" pretty much no longer exists, they must be talking about food stamps, health care, and the modest available subsidized housing. I've never gotten anywhere near subsidized housing so I can't comment on that. Until recently, health care was a dream too. I did have, for the part of the time they were not able to deny the benefit, $85 a month in SNAP (food stamps.) That is very, very little for one person for a month. Now I have $194, which is much better. Given that the minimum wage is $9.25, I have health care, and supplemental nutrition assistance, I am ABOVE THE POVERTY LINE!!!! Woo-hoo! I am living the dream!
Mission Accomplished, y'all! Thanks a lot! The plan worked! I really appreciate everyone who helped me! Now, on to the next mountain!
While I enjoy listening to answering machines and dutifully recording people's mild rantings about Obama's ancestry, thus doing my part for the great Election Machine, I think pretty soon I will have a counseling job. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I might have landed my dream job! No, not personal counselor to Stephen Colbert, street outreach counselor for homeless and runaway youth. Boy, do we have a lot of them here in Eugene. It's as if there's a magnet! Obviously, I am in the right place. The agency, Looking Glass, seems to be a collection of small, innovative programs that are addressing real needs in the community in tangible, and often messy, ways. The drop-in program where I interviewed has a school for kids who are trying to get a high school diploma. Maybe I can help someone with my college counseling experience. At any rate, there are plenty of lost children there who need a little attention, a sleeping bag and tarp, a little guidance, a smile or a joke or cookie, a bar of soap or a stupid sticker just to show that someone cares. The staff spend part of their time roaming the streets looking for strays. I do that anyway, so it'll be nice to have some sponsorship, as it were. Some of you are thinking, "Worst. Job. Ever." I will love it. I will be so happy with my cluttered closet of an office and my tribe of ragged stinky young clients.
Because of my personal experience over the past eight years in abject poverty, I now have a lot of experience to draw from for my work. I've been joking that I was writing a book about poverty for years: It's the most ambitious immersion journalism experiment ever attempted. Now I am educating myself in the scholarly language of poverty, all the programs and policies that have been tried over the past fifty years as America has grappled with her poor, now more numerous than ever. Because of my Aspergian research and analysis superpower, soon I will have mastered the topic of poverty. The Eugene Public Library is fulfilling their evil socialistic agenda by providing me with all the books and articles I need absolutely for free, as long as I don't delay their return. The Internet is a rich mine of information as well, and yes, I have my waders, and I know how to distinguish real ore from the vast galactic ocean of shit that passes for our collected knowledge these days.
I'm planning on developing a presentation I could give to community groups that would be a very engaging Intro to Poverty kind of workshop. I am good at that sort of thing. It turns out my poverty book is not a joke. I'm really writing it! I'm also collecting people's personal stories of poverty, if you would like to share yours. I want to lift up the voices of the poor. Towards that end I will soon be lifting up the voices of some of Eugene's street kids, and I hope you will hear those voices and amplify them as well. The future belongs to these young people, and they need our help to save humanity. Let's get to work!
Support my work with the homeless and writing on poverty via Patreon!!! Email/Paypal ariadne73@live.com Thanks for reading!