An entire subculture of Bay Area residents survives by reselling wealthy residents’ trash.
poverty
Posted inStory
The American Worth Ethic
Like so many of our lofty ideals, the “American Work Ethic” is actually two different standards — one for the wealthy and one for the poor — with two different interpretations of what work looks like.
Posted inNonfiction
Honey Bees, Worker Bees, and the Economic Violence of Land Grabs
Melissa Chadburn challenges her own belief that environmental justice issues are reserved for people of privilege.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Class Dismissed
When she attends an elite private college on scholarship, Alison Stine discovers that education isn’t quite the equalizer she expected it to be.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
Class Dismissed
When she attends an elite private college on scholarship, Alison Stine discovers that education isn’t quite the equalizer she expected it to be.
Posted inBooks, History, Nonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women
The Indignities of Poverty, Compounded by the Requirement to Prove It
In an excerpt from her debut memoir, Stephanie Land recalls being poor, and moving with her young daughter from a homeless shelter to transitional housing.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
When a Missing Nickel Makes All the Difference
“Yet money was a lie—pieces of paper and metal suggesting prices for goods, services, labor, and human beings themselves in a way that often had more to do with profit than with true value.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
It’s a Small Paycheck After All
Disneyland’s painfully low wages make for an unmagical kingdom.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Nonfiction, Story
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
“There’s an idea that laborers end up in their role because it’s all they’re suited for. What put us there, though, was birth, family history — not lack of talent for something else.”