1. Matthew Desmond, the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Evicted, has just published another book entitled, Poverty, by America. Dave Davies of the radio program, Fresh Air, interviewed Desmond on March 21st. While walking to meet up with Debbie at The Beanery this afternoon, I listened to this interview. In it, Desmond, a professor in Princeton's Sociology Department, briefly discusses growing up in poverty as a boy in Arizona and tells stories about the year he lived in Milwaukee in an inner city mobile home park and in a rooming house on Milwaukee's black north side while working on research that later resulted in the book, Evicted.
In this interview, Desmond discusses both the financial realities of poverty and the other stressful factors such as tooth decay, poor health care, fear of eviction, mental depression, and other realities. He also discusses how social division (segregated housing), governmental policies (especially tax policies), and other factors such as predatory lending and the decline of unions contribute to keeping people poor.
It's a sobering interview that made my walk to The Beanery a thought provoking and troubling one.
If you'd like to listen to it, click here.
Oh! Before I move on. Two things Matthew Desmond, at least to my ears, doesn't do: he doesn't appeal to guilt nor does he ask us to feel sorry for the poor. He focuses on causes of poverty and on the impact poverty has on the people who are poor. He looks at the history of our efforts in the US to reduce poverty, both in our deeper past and in more recent years, and presents statistical evidence of what has worked.
Yes, Desmond is deeply troubled by what he has experienced, observed, and studied.
I appreciated his matter of fact, even toned, calm, and learned approach to what is a divisive and emotional reality in American life.
2. I didn't bring my serious thoughts about this interview to The Beanery.
I am happy that The Beanery has Firestone Walker's Luponic Distortion on tap and so I ordered a pint and soon Debbie arrived and we had a very good talk sitting on The Beanery's deck.
Debbie is drawing upon what she's learned in her first year as a teacher at Pinehurst Elementary to make plans for next year. She has a much better understanding of the students at Pinehurst and this understanding is helping her shape her plans for next year.
These are fascinating discussions and always center around how teaching is such a dicey and unpredictable undertaking, filled with hope and uncertainty.
3. Back home, I got out the HelloFresh bag and made Debbie and me three black bean tacos each. I followed the recipe closely, but by adding cumin to the black beans, I improvised a little bit. The sauce the beans and green pepper and onion simmered in was very good and I liked that our bag included a generous amount of shredded cheddar and jack cheese. The last time I fixed this recipe, Debbie didn't like it much. Tonight was different. I don't know exactly what was different, but we both loved this dinner.
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