Journal 1

This page brought us into the life of the landlord, and how difficult the job was financially if they were a small company working on their own. It also brings us into Sherrena’s head a bit, and why she was so ruthless.

I wanted to remember how Desmond showed us who Sherrena was. While initially I felt the vibe that she was going to be a “sympathetic character” in this narrative, it turned out she wasn’t as sympathetic as I thought. She was not suffering by any means.

I found the policy experiment description interesting and noteworthy. The Wisconsin Works program sounds dehumanizing at BEST, with pointless jobs and absurd requirements. The federal laws signed by Clinton are just as damaging. Sure Wikipedia isn’t a great source, but is good for an overview: the page on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act during the Clinton administration is a great skim of the policy. The part about pushing for heterosexual child-rearing of two-parent households and reducing out-of-wedlock births is SUPER OFFENSIVE, especially given the rhetoric surrounding these additions of lazy sexual black women who just keep popping out kids.

These two pages describe Sherrena and her pretty crude behavior, in addition to the grossness that was the landlords convention.

I checked out this mobile home park on google maps just to see what it is like today, and if Google had historical images. It has definitely changed over the years! Some serious work went into making it prettier from the outside, from 2007, to 2018. The earliest view is 2007. Data is great for some things, eh??

I really want to remember this bottom part here. The way Arleen had assessed how she should talk to white people, and how she changed her behavior is super interesting! It uncovers a whole side to this story and to race relationships in general.

Often in the book I marked things as ”control” when they showed a sense of someone thinking or telling another person what they should or should not be doing with their money, their home, etc. Poverty comes with it a complete lack of autonomy, with public assistance sinking that to new lows. Everyone seems to have an opinion how someone SHOULD spend whatever little they may have, going so far as to create legislation about it.

And then the social implications of poverty. The stress of a hard life, and how it unfolds into personal relationships is important. Social connections and social capital are a source of support and elevation from struggle. By further breaking these apart, poverty pushes people deeper into its hold.

More evidence of control. People ask (and imply a judgement on!) Larraine as to why she doesn’t call the office...the office she TRIES TO CALL OFTEN.

I found a ton of value in his assessment of how a successful program might work. He states, “we cannot build our way out”. This whole discussion of what a plan might look like was something I want to return to.

This part is important for me to remember for two reasons. 1) That feeling self-sufficient is actually a priority for most people! Most people do not want to game the system. We want to take care of ourselves. 2) The administrative and regulatory hurdles that landlords face regarding accepting housing vouchers, so they simply don’t. This makes me wonder what those regulations ARE, and if they’re important and SHOULD be followed in any housing! As well as the “they don’t want ‘those people’”.

The end was poignant. The “cold denial of basic needs” is not an American value. If everyone sat down and was faced with the repercussions of what we have created, no one would be able to justify this!