Skin in the game: idiomatic expression meaning to have money or something of value invested in an opportunity This morning Iva Dixit told the world she quit her elaborate skincare routine. Roughly four million people heard her declare she'll no longer be a financial prisoner to her now poreless face. Apparently she used to have…Read more Skin in the Game
poverty
The Good Fight
"Forgive m'lady but you don't get it. You're brought up to think it's all within your grasp. That if you want something enough it will come to you. We're not like that. We don't think our dreams are bound to come true because they almost never do."-Downton Abbey Servant Do not throw in the towel…Read more The Good Fight
Homeless
This morning a fellow writer asked an out of the blue question about when I was homeless. What did I eat? Where did I sleep? How did I survive? I, in turn, asked my husband if saying I’ve been homeless is legit. He said stuff like that happens to everybody. Minimization and globalization are survival…Read more Homeless
Flight of Ideas
I’ve always appreciated this image but was recently struck by the number of ‘likeable’ elements; as if any privileged white person might see themselves in the face of the mother or her children and decide it's polite enough, even desirable, to empathize with. This is the image of hard times I can face and maybe…Read more Flight of Ideas
Somebodies
I followed MSN's series on Poverty in America. Article after article shared depressing, definitive data pointing to the growing effects of systemic oppression, the desperate need for affordable housing, healthcare, living wages and a revision of where the government draws the arbitrary poverty line. Maybe it's an imaginary line on the white sandy beach between…Read more Somebodies
Who Came First
Fighting over the global garbage can Shell it out, fish, dish, take it Poke Yolk splattered on cosmic ground The Gods Spilled gut seeds in a violent explosion Big Bang Get More for your buck Don't bother fighting back, get more Than you ever bargained for F@&! me like you hate me Bending over backwords…Read more Who Came First
On Lookers
The pretty ones Spreading wings for paparazzi Bedazzled bed parts Vying for cheap significance which is safer than risking failure at being loved for who we are The emptiness stuffed with Sephora Bingeing Too Faced Innersense Tarte Drunk Elephants need First Aid Beauty because Earth's Nectar is drowning in Urban Decay Free People! and yet…Read more On Lookers
How I Didn’t End Up on Food Stamps
A twenty something vegan blogger posted a video called Food Stamps to Six Figures in One Year. If YouTube had been a thing when I was 15 I would've grabbed a notebook and watched it with high hopes. As a grown woman who found her way out organically I pressed play with objective curiosity and…Read more How I Didn’t End Up on Food Stamps
We the Free
"I can't make you love me if you don't."-Bonnie Raitt Eradicating poverty, as with all cultural shifts, needs to take place in our hearts for real change to occur. Policies are the 10 Commandments, ABC's and 1,2,3's of giving a shit about your neighbor. Civil Rights are a law and yet they haven't eradicated racism.…Read more We the Free
Lionitis
“I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” -Georgia O'Keeffe Good, bad or otherwise there was no time for fear growing up in my family. Poverty doesn't give you the space to pause; maybe that's true for…Read more Lionitis
