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The Working Poor part 2

The more I read from Shipler's book, the more grateful I am for what I have in my life.  He wrote about a woman named Caroline that worked at Wal-Mart.  I definitely felt for Caroline because she worked hard to get to where she is now.  She earned her associate's degree and got her own house after being homeless with her daughter.  She was discriminated against at her work for the simple fact that she was older and she has no teeth.  A man was hired after her and was immediately paid more than her.  It's not fair that she is being treated any different for her appearance.  I am very lucky to have a job in a restaurant that pays me fairly.  I also feel lucky for my teeth.

In another chapter, I learned about a sewing factory that a man named Juan works at.  They are very sneaky in the way that they pay their employees.  Instead of paying minimum wage, the employer pays based on how much work was done.  Most of the employees only end up making $3 an hour.  If the minimum wage is raised, the required speed of production is also raised so that they don't have to give out any more money than they were before.

The Working Poor Reading

I was surprisingly intrigued by what I've read so far.  Unfortunately, I found myself being able to relate to a lot of topics that Shipler mentions.  Growing up the youngest of five, my parents definitely did not have a lot of money and have always lived paycheck to paycheck.  Some of the stories in the book are heartbreaking and some parts stood out more than others. On page 10, Shipler wrote about the way poor people define poverty.  A fifteen year old girl from New Hampshire used the word "hopelessness" to describe it.  A quote on the next page really put their situations into perspective.  It reads, "A run-down apartment can exacerbate a child's asthma, which leads to a call for an ambulance, which generates a medical bill that cannot be paid, which ruins a credit record, which hikes the interest rate on an auto loan, which forces the purchase of an unreliable used car, which jeopardizes a mother's punctuality at work, which limits her promotions and earning capacity, which confines her to poor housing."  That shows the true struggle that people suffering from poverty go through on a normal day.  It is nearly impossible to move past debts when one leads to another.  It is absolutely heartbreaking to read.  I've already learned some valuable pieces of information that could help me in my own future.  The book went into a lot of good detail about W2's and other tax forms.  I hope that the more I read, the more I will continue to learn about this issue and maybe even help my family and others.

Topics and Narrative

Degregory writes that one of the most important parts of writing about a topic is that you have to be at the scene.  It's not enough to just hear about it.  The other necessary condition is that you have to have access to the person's everyday life and have an insight.  I found the part about the transgendered girl eye opening because sometimes I'll focus on one topic for such a long time and realize I have nothing worth writing and I may give up.  For Degregory, it took ten months for her story to finally have a meaning but it seems that it was worth the time.

When reading the ten tips written by Kramer, I thought the most helpful tip was "pinpoint your subjects' emotional experience, not your own."  Most if not all of the writing that I've done has been based off of my own feelings toward the subject and I need to learn to think about not just my response but the character's response like Kramer said.  I also like the tip about using metaphors because sometimes metaphors can help put situations into perspective and can brighten up the piece.

Telling True Stories

One of the most important parts of the reading that I took away is that using a lot of quotes isn't always the best idea.  Overusing them will not interest the reader and it's best to use them sparingly.  In Susan Orlean's piece, "On Voice," she explains that she sometimes finds herself writing in the same voice as one of her characters.  It's important to keep your voice your voice and keep their voice their voice.  It can be very easy to mix the two without even noticing.