What's it like to live at the poverty line?

Okay, as long as there was absolutely no fraternisation or paternisation/maternisation down and through the decades I am prepared to accept your victory.

 

I don't know about a victory. That was more a matter of clarification. Running someone else's business might not make you an entrepreneur, but starting one does. If you count farms, it goes back farther than four generations. At least one of my great great grandfathers used his own savings to buy the land and start from scratch.

ETA: Wait, no. That was another great grandfather. It was in the 19th century though.

 

K. but if they sold that, wouldn't that reduce their ability to produce an income? Wouldn't selling that be a last resort and make it not nearly as flexible as liquid assets? Not only that, but a couple of thousand dollars isn't a lot of money, if someone only made $10,000 in a year, I don't think them having $2,000 in assets would do much to put them over teh poverty line, would it?

 

I know what you mean though, Osaka has had more than its fair share of restaurants owned and operated by the same person. Amazing food, no posted hours of business anywhere. Random unannounced days off. Fifteen tables with two flames in the kitchen.

 

Wait. Is this supporting his statement or...?

 

Rather take my chances with the old alchy, his sake and spirit burners than the portion control trained to smile.

 

So constant stress, constant calculation on budget, poor living conditions, poor material possessions...

What else? Can someone who's family is poor attend a school mostly for the middle-class?

 

Yeah, grammar school - like me, a school for genius.

 

Please elaborate more. I'm more thinking about middle-class school where she and a few others are lower class and poorer than the average. You know, moldy and ratty shoes, tapping for the 'poor kid' card at the canteen, etc...

 

Supporting Homer. For all I know he could burn a juice box trying to get it open, but he can cost, order, and organize a joint like nobody's business. We've got all the chefs but not enough managers.

 

Post-war in the UK, and a system adopted in S Asia, possibly? I believe Singapore has O' levels. Is that right?
...
Age 11, children take an exam that sets 1/3 of the children to pursue cerebral mathematics, English, Science at the grammar school, with the other 2/3 who 'failed' the exam attending the secondary modern school for more technical, hands on, brains off pursuits, woodwork, possibly computing, & cooking..

Policy was condemned during the 1960s; gradually all free/state schools combined into the more universal Comprehensive Schools' system.

...

It is a divisive and political issue to this day - people adopting one of the two positions - 'grammar schools are good' or 'grammar schools are unfair, damaging...'

..

BEWARE - today schools called 'Grammar school' are often actually fee-paying/private schools.

 

America is one of the few nations where the poor are overweight. Not due to eating junk food per se, it's mainly just because the poorer one is, the worse the neighbourhood one lives in, the less healthy food choices one has access to. So think a lot of fried fatty foods and minimal amount of fruits and vegetables.

That's speaking from experience. I grew up poor.

 

Oh. Sorry.

Can I ask you questions?

 

Ha! No need to apologize. But yes, ask away.

 

What was life like? What was the dominant feeling? Stress? Hunger? Fear?

How did being poor affect your parents? What did they do?

What lifestyle differences were there? What things did you do that other richer children didn't? What as it like, collecting food stamps? Did you get mocked, bullied, or laughed at for being poor?

How did people treat you differently, when you were poor?

 

For me? None of the above. Didn't know any better life, so I was content with what I had. That changed (greatly) with age, but none of that.

Note: Watching friends die did make me paranoid around strangers though.

When I was born, both of them got hit with a bad luck typhoon - Dad lost his bank job and Mom her cooking one. Never really recovered, since both are pretty bad with money. I'd say they were stressed most of the time - even after getting decent jobs later in life.

Hmm, besides a few bullets flying on occasion and much more exposure to the harsher realities of life, the richer kids an I weren't that different. An example: Because the richer kids knew about expensive items they'd want, their parents brought them lots of it (usually), but for me, I was content with what we already had. So both of us (poor kid, rich kid) didn't want for much, only my clothes weren't as pretty.

My mom did the food stamps thing until I was....four? Then she felt ashamed about it and pushed herself to get another job. It hurt her pride for sure.

As for the bullying - yep, people tried, even though they too were poor....anyway, nothing a bloody nose couldn't keep away.

As a kid? Not differently at all. All others around me were poor as well, though, the kids were a different story.

As an adult, most get impressed that some "street rat" as I jokingly call myself made himself into who I am today.

 

If you were to, say, know a better life at the time you were young, how would you have felt? Were there shortages of food? Were there lack of utilities like Wi-fi or electricity?

 

Eh, can't say for sure how I would've felt. Those times have passed.

But we didn't get a computer until I was sixteen, so no internet. Pretty sure wifi wasn't around in the 90s, but eh. We had one tv and the power never died once.

Honestly, at the risk of sounding like an ass, being poor in America isn't all that bad when compared to other places. All things considered - I received an education, never went too hungry, had medical coverage and grew up in an environment that allowed for growth. I'm lucky to have experienced that.

 

Yes. True. But still....

I suppose I can give my dear character wifi and working electricity.

 

Well if you start spouting about wifi, broadband, internet speed modem I-phone convenience then you lose some readers.

 

Well it isn't hard to get free wifi. Half the businesses in the area have free wifi...and libraries and shopping malls and entire college areas and...

Just because you can't purchase it doesn't mean you can't have it.

 

I guess I can have her use the library?

Is it normal for her to have a computer of her own? Or a phone?