Anyone Can Grow Shit Themselves

Well, not quite anyone. If you've not a patch of land or a balcony or suitable space indoors for growing pots (not to mention the required additional equipment), then you're out of luck.

But otherwise, yea, anyone can grow shit themselves, as Ms Broke-Ass Grouch makes so eloquently clear in this fantastic article.

Here's a snippet:

Listen up, locavores, opportunivores, dumpster-diving fermentation fetishists, and Dave Matthews Band fans: A great many of us live by the same ecologically sound principles that you do. We, however, are not doing so because we nurture an abiding desire to "create choices" for ourselves or to "live intentionally." We don't have any more than a passing interest in "sustaining biodiversity." We are known as poor people.

Now go ahead, read the rest.

[Cross-posted at economicus ridiculous]

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Gracious Thanks Extended

Recently, friend Ocean's monetary income was enriched, as she had applied and has received, Canada Pension Plan benefits and the Supplement for Elderly Renters. Her quality of living soared.

For those of us living in financial poverty, it is a real relief when our fortunes improve. It also gives us the opportunity to say thank you to all who support us along the way. Ocean has done this in the form of a letter to the editor of one of our local papers. Here it is, in full.

Generosity makes this best place to live
Chrystal Ocean, The Citizen
Published: Wednesday, November 17, 2010

I am a woman who lives daily with debilitating chronic pain, the result of the wear and tear of everyday life on a childhood injury.

Having turned 60 this summer, now I qualify for two important government programs. Now my annual income has gone from $7,200 (all my tiny savings could manage) to $10,000.

Now I receive a small monthly payment from the Canada Pension Plan, a contribution to my income I earned from a lifetime of work.

Now I am getting monthly help with my rent in the form of the Supplementary Aid for Elderly Renters, a provincial program. I am immensely grateful for S.A.F.E.R. It goes beyond description the degree to which this help has lessened my daily stress.

But it's the local resources and the people of this Valley I most want to thank.

Keeping one's head up when economically challenged can be difficult in a society that treats the dollar as god; and it can be difficult at times accepting kindness because it reminds you of how far you've fallen.

It's also a constant challenge accepting your own limits.

Without the kindness of people of this Valley, the quality of my life and the lives of so many others would be far worse. Many of us would be dead.

Beginning late last year, I began visiting the food bank every few weeks to get bread. Never anything else. Just bread. Prior to such visits, I'd stopped eating bread altogether. The price of the ingredients to make my own bread and the prices of loaves sold in stores were prohibitive. Bread didn't seem as essential as fruit or vegetables.

In the early days, my visits to the food bank were hit and run. I'd skulk in through the back door, avoiding eye contact, grab some bread and skulk back out. I was embarrassed to have to use this resource.

Now I don't skulk. Now I might stop to have a coffee, perhaps something to eat if a colourful salad catches my eye, and even a chat.

To the many people of this Valley who contribute bread and other foodstuffs to the food bank: thank you.

To the people who maintain the food bank, including Dave the cook (other cooks' names I don't know), and the driving force behind it, Betty Anne Devitt: thank you.

To the local grocers, to stores selling general merchandise including food, to independent bakeries and to home bakers, and to the many others who contribute to the food bank: thank you.

To Karyne Bailey, the woman behind Cowichan Valley Recycle ReUseIt, a wonderful online resource through which people of this Valley -- 1,151 members and climbing -- can obtain and give away stuff for free: thank you.

At the heart of CVRReUseit is recycling. Countless times I've received items I'd been going without, including basic kitchen equipment and bedding; and I've been able to give away items to people who needed or wanted them.

To Jenny, who brings me free eggs every couple of weeks: thank you.

To Daisy Anderson, who takes me along on grocery trips and changes my hard-to-reach light bulbs: thank you.

To Daphne Moldowin, who knows what it's like to live this way and helps me refocus when I'm down: thank you.

To the people who together make the Cowichan Valley one of the best places on earth to live -- for all of us: thank you.

Chrystal Ocean,
Duncan

While I was reading it, I was thinking about the many other people out there who use the services provided that give a helping hand. Ocean's letter brings alive a real person to the nameless others who also use these services. Her letter shows an intelligence not often associated with the 'needy'. Ocean's letter indicates to me that she is graciously grateful.

Well done.

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On Obesity and Poverty

A new study done in the US predicts that obesity rates there will peak at 42 percent, not the 34 percent previously predicted.

My immediate reaction: a shrug of the shoulders.

If you live in the poverty well, you know more than most of the 'experts' about the chief cause of certain illnesses. You know more than the health professionals, political advisers or policy makers. To whit, you know that obesity rates will peak at 42 percent in the US because more USians are poor.

With poverty comes poor nutrition and a helluva lot of bad carbs.

Consider the dilemma for parents whose household incomes have their families living in the bargain basement. It's 1) feed your children nutritionally, but exceedingly sparingly, and then ignore your children's cries due to the pains in their bellies from starvation; or 2) feed your children pasta, bread, rice, cookies, donuts, snack food, etc. to fill their bellies and stave off their hunger; the result of which, of course, is malnourishment. And don't forget to feed yourself, although not the good stuff.

Should be obvious, eh? So why don't governments do something about it? Especially governments in countries with a universal healthcare system?

It costs not just lives but MONEY to keep people in poverty, folks!

Far better for the federal government in cooperation with the provinces to implement a guaranteed income for all (GAIA). Far better for municipalities to ensure a robust local food infrastructure and to have inclusive property laws to allow truly affordable housing. Far better these than to pay the enormous financial cost of serving a large swath of the population whose poor health due to poverty drains the healthcare system of crucial resources.

[Cross-posted at economicus ridiculous]

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Shameless Self Promotion

First, it's my birthday today. Sixty years of age. I made it!

Second, my name, the WISE book and economicus ridiculous get mentions in an article today in The Tyee.

The writer has done a good job on the issue. That's no surprise coming from The Tyee, an independent media organization that does British Columbians proud.

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BC Municipality Enacts Canada's First Living Wage Bylaw

It's New Westminster, which has been at the forefront of other poverty-reduction campaigns.

Living wage bylaws set a wage 'floor' above the minimum wage for workers who work directly for the city, for firms that receive contracts from the city, and firms that receive economic development money from the city.

"Once the policy is implemented, all direct and indirect workers (contract workers, etc.) performing work on City premises will earn a wage no lower than $16.74," [Dave] Tate [of BC ACORN] said in an email.

How about other BC municipalities and the province following New West's example? Heck, why not municipalities and provinces/territories throughout Canada?

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On Liberals' Proposed National Food Policy

Don't be fooled by the big numbers. Here's what the Liberals propose to be included in their national food policy as reported by the CBC:

* $50 million to improve food inspections and ensure imported foods meet domestic standards
* $80 million to promote farmers markets and local food
* $40 million to help 250,000 low-income children get healthy food (my emphasis)

Let's look at that last one, shall we?

Any program has administrative costs, so it's not clear that the entire $40 million would go to 250,000 children. However, let's assume it does.

The numbers reduce to this: $160 per year per child, or $13.33 per month, or 44 cents per day.

Wow.

Food costs are higher where people of low income live. Most of us haven't the means - a vehicle or bus fare - to get to where the bargains are. We must walk everywhere or transport ourselves in a four-wheeled scooter (if we're so fortunate to have one and live in a building that provides plug-in facilities). If we've a scooter, then accessibility to, from and in stores becomes a further barrier.

How much do you suppose someone can buy for 44 cents in a neighbourhood where there's only one grocery store and accessibility for people with disabilities is an issue?

Here's another bone to pick. Children under a certain age don't have income. Their parents or guardians do.

You can bet that hungry children have even hungrier parents. Parents will deprive themselves first of food before they'll let their children starve.

Politicians and poverty activists should stop the "child poverty" crap. Because you can't lift a child out of poverty unless you treat the whole family - hell, unless you treat the whole community.

Incidentally, by the time the Liberal plan would come into being, inflation would have eaten up all or a good chunk of that 44 cents.

[Cross-posted at economicus ridiculous.]

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Guergis Resignation Doesn't End the Questions

How will Helena Guergis, now former Minister of State for Status of Women Canada, pay for that $890,000 mortgage, without the extra $50,000 a year cabinet pay and its associated cushy expense account out of which she bought shoes, socks and other clothing? - items that women for whom SWC is supposed to be a champion must hope to get gently used and free?

Don't think Guergis' resignation is the end of this and other questions concerning her conduct. While fresh reports (by one of my favourite journalists, Kady O'Malley) say Guergis is also out of the Conservative caucus, which means she must sit as an independent or move to another party - not that any party would want her - she is still a member of Canada's Parliament.

The reports also indicate that the RCMP and ethics commissioner will be investigating. Good.

And the media and public should continue turning up the heat. With the RCMP called in, Stephen Harper will be quick to play the 'no comment' card. However, the questions shouldn't only be about Guergis, but also concern the judgement of the Conservatives with respect to the candidates they accept to run on their party's behalf.

By the way, the new minister for Status of Women Canada? That would be Rona Ambrose, whose former chief of staff is Darrel Reid of Focus on the Family fame - an anti-choice, fundamentalist organization. Reid is now the policy chief in the Prime Minister's Office.

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Treat Welfare System Like Criminal Justice System

Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.

The Blackstone ratio guides our criminal justice system. The same theme has appeared in one version or another throughout human history, including in the writings of the 12th century philosopher Maimonides and in the Bible.

Would that poverty were treated like a crime. In that case, the same principle would justify a guaranteed annual income for all. That it doesn't, and the overwhelming reason why it doesn't, is among the ironies.

Certain conservative types fear that a GAIA would discourage people from working. They imagine the default human condition is to do nothing, to contribute nothing and never to strive for a better life.

That's a decidedly un-Christian perspective of the human being, which was purportedly made in a certain deity's image. For Christians, in fact, it's an illogical point of view, one that's inconsistent with other Christian principles.

Charity is another argument used against a GAIA, even against having a public welfare system at all. Charity and charitable institutions are supposed to take care of 'the needy', 'the less fortunate', 'the vulnerable'.

Again, there's an underlying inconsistency.

How might one fill one's charity quota if a public system exists to ensure there are no impoverished unfortunates?

Charity preys on need. Its very existence requires a class system and people who are without.

Those two religiously historical concerns, for 'the work ethic' and 'Christian charity', are why the principle that underlies our welfare system is opposite to the one that guides our criminal system. It's the principle:

Better that ten innocent suffer in poverty than one guilty person escape.

[Cross-posted at economicus ridiculous]

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Feeding Yourself on a Dollar a Day

So two teachers in the USA set about doing an experiment to see if they could eat on less than $1.00 per day for 30 days. Then they published a book about it.

They needn't have bothered.

This is old news for anyone who lives in my peer group of income. I live like that all the time and have detailed on economicus ridiculous the struggle to eat nutritional food and still stay healthy. What differentiates those in true poverty from those merely experimenting are certain assumptions: that one has a car for toodling around to get the best deals and in bulk; a fully equipped kitchen; a garden or balcony or other area from which one can grow one's own food and the tools with which to do it; and so on.

In Canada, income in the lowest decile category demands no more than a $1.00 day spent on food. So let no one suppose there's no poverty in this country. It's all around us.

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Kiltie Goes to SPCA

[Originally posted to economicus ridiculous]

I've thought about not writing this.

Our intention when starting this blog was to share our day-to-day lives in the poverty well, to put two human faces on it. It means sharing the decisions we make, the barriers we confront, the silly things we do, our talents, our faults, even certain toilet habits.

The point was to bring home the reality of two lives in poverty and their struggles to maintain dignity and a sense of self-worth. If readers have been following this blog since it launched January 1st, they'll have already detected the inner conflicts, the desire and determination to maintain X and not do Y while ultimately having to do Y anyway, and then the struggle to adjust to the new reality. For life in the poverty well, it's forever a struggle to adjust.

The following I began yesterday, at 2:30 in the afternoon, as I waited for Daphne to arrive with a car to transport Kiltie and I to the SPCA.

--

I'm crying as I write this.

Kiltie got sick again, was vomiting the past two days. An hour ago, she vomited blood. This condition is new and unlike the two urinary tract infections she had previously. Those appear to have cleared up entirely, thanks to a special diet paid for by a kind benefactor and several hit-and-miss series of antibiotics.

Kiltie and I have been together for ten years, ever since I rescued her when she was about eight weeks old.

Today, I can't keep doing it anymore. There's no money to have Kiltie go back to the vet, again, be examined, again, get x-rays and likely go to surgery. So I must do what I've dreaded having to do these past three years, since she first developed FLUTD. I've phoned Daphne and she's coming over. Together, we're going to the SPCA. They will take care of Kiltie in a way I can't. It's a no-kill, clean, caring shelter with lots of volunteers. I'm bringing the blanket Brodie uses so Kiltie will feel a sense of home; and a full prescription of Cipro that I've had standing by, just in case.

--

Last night was the first night without Kiltie. Emotionally exhausted, I slept 11 hours. Brodie and I cuddled more than usual, last night and again this morning.

Tonight or tomorrow night we may have Kiltie back. The lady at the SPCA - manager Sandi Trent, it turns out - said they'd prefer to keep Kiltie with me ... if it's possible. That they'd likely not be able to find Kiltie a new home, given her age and maybe needing special care.

Sandi said to leave Kiltie with them for a day or two and for me to call her later today. They'll get Kiltie vet-checked, monitor her condition and see what they can do to support her staying with me... And I'm crying all over again, dammit.

People who make the blanket declaration that poor people shouldn't have pets have no clue.

Did you pick up above that I rescued Kiltie? She's had ten years of life, a good life in a home where she has been much loved. Those ten years she likely wouldn't have had.

Kiltie and Brodie (I rescued him too*) have also been my lifeline. Too many times to count, their presence prevented my suicide. As a mother would feel about her children, I couldn't, wouldn't, leave my two furry companions without someone to care for them. They needed me, someone, to make sure they were alright.

What would happen if I died? I feared no one would take the two cats in or if they did, it wouldn't be a good home, and then they'd be abused or die.

Kiltie and Brodie are the only reasons I kept going through some terrible years, including the years I was doing the WISE project.

I will always need an animal companion. They help me maintain my humanity....

Which brings up the point of BC's anti-pets tenancy act. Rarely in this province can one find a rental unit - private, subsidized or public - that permits animal companions.

*Foolishly, in late 2000 I expected to become employed. Didn't want Kiltie to be alone all day, hence I got a second cat. Never did get anything but brief, contract or part-time employment.

ETA: It's 1:40pm and I've just spoken with Sandi at the SPCA using SkypeOut. Kiltie's vet hasn't returned Sandi's call yet. Kiltie hasn't eaten since she arrived but there's also been no vomiting. Sandi will keep her there another day. We're both thinking Kiltie may not be eating due to stress (as with her human). If she still hasn't eaten by tomorrow afternoon, Sandi may take her home to her place and put her in a room of her own so she might settle down. Either way, there's two of us now concerned with Kiltie's health and I'm reassured that Kiltie is in good, caring hands.

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WISE Book Available in E-Book Format

Are you interested in obtaining an electronic version of the book Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the front?

WISE sold out its book inventory early in 2007 - a coup given the book was 100 percent researched, written, designed and published by women in poverty and we sold 1,000 copies. An electronic version of the 192-page book is available in PDF format, suitable for desktop viewing and compatible with devices such as the Sony Reader.

The soft-cover edition sold for $25, plus shipping and handling. The e-book version sells for $9.95. Because it's deliverable by email, there are no additional charges.

Please contact me if you would like to obtain this electronic copy of our book.

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BC "the best place on earth"

The phrase quoted this post's title is an attempt by the BC Government to whitewash its Olympic message about homelessness.

According to the BC Government's Downtown Eastside 'Information' Centre (DTESIC):

• Lack of affordable housing isn't the problem.
• Lack of housing, period, isn't the problem.
• Lack of LAND for affordable - even CHEAP - housing solutions isn't the problem.
• Lack of municipalities with by-laws that encourage, rather than discourage, innovation in housing and housing density isn't the problem.

The problem of homelessness according to the DTESIC is due to the unaccountable rise of mental illness. Thus the problem of homelessness in BC has to do with too many people here being mentally ill.

Because we all know homelessness is caused by mental illness, right?

WRONG

"They say that homelessness is about addiction and mental illness; it's not true," says Wendy Pederson of Carnegie Community Action Project. "We have a housing supply problem. We don't have low-income housing in this city. We have an income problem. We need to raise welfare."

Now that's the truth of the matter but let's not have truth interfere with our propaganda.

[Cross-posted at economicus ridiculous]

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economicus ridiculous: First month, 2000 visits?

When Daphne and I began our new blog, economicus ridiculous, we didn't expect much by way of response. We supposed that, given the blog's topic - tips, tricks and tales regarding life in the poverty well -, there'd not be much interest.

While WE knew this kind of personal clearly is political, we expected that economicus ridiculous couldn't possibly match, let alone surpass the welcome Challenging the Commonplace received; it couldn't possibly achieve our popular political blog's numbers. And while we hoped for it, we didn't expect to influence people's thinking about poverty or about the people who live with poverty daily.

Well, slap me silly with a feather! We were wrong!

As I write this, economicus ridiculous looks likely to close its first month with 2,000 visits. Here I'd been hoping that by month's end, we'd have reached 20 per day or 500 for January.

We can probably thank the reputation that Challenging the Commonplace has built for part of this unexpected and welcome surprise. But there's more to it than that.

I've received communication from students who study the social determinants of health, with a particular focus on poverty. The first told me in a telephone call (thanks to SkypeOut) that I'd helped change her thinking. She'd learned things in that one phone call that her years of study had never taught. Which is no surprise to Daphne and I. For years, we've offered to talk to students in the classroom; no academic has taken us up on it.

Another student picked up on a point Daphne and I stressed throughout our work with WISE: The best thing people living the life can do for themselves is raise their voices, loud and clear. This student is contacting women in poverty in her home country, referring them to economicus ridiculous and encouraging them to follow our example.

If you haven't yet visited our new blog, we ask that you do and that you help spread the word.

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BC Agencies Defraud Government, Don't Help Poor

If you live in BC, you may have followed the story of WCG International HR Solutions based in Tucson Arizona. The company ran the JobWave program which was intended to help people on welfare find regular employment and the Triumph employment program for people with disabilities.

The [Human and Social Development] office in Prince George raised questions about why WCG International HR Solution's office in the city had already billed the ministry for intake for clients it later described as "intake no-shows."

...

The investigators identified $2,800 in overbillings. Also, of the eight intakes they looked at from January and February last year, just one was done within the 21-days allowed under WCG's contract with the government.

The problems went beyond overbilling the government and they aren't restricted to WCG.

I’ve been with Triumph for five months and they have done the sum total of NOTHING. I get one phone call a month where I have to tell the girl I am number ____. It’s always somebody new. The office has always moved. She never knows what’s going on. And her biggest question is: “When’s good for you next month?

That's a quote from the story of Lucy (p76), from the 2005 book Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the front. If you click the link, you can listen to her story via podcast.

There are also major issues with Community Futures. When that federal community economic development agency was privatized, it morphed into FutureCorp, which is aptly named. The story of Anna is typical of the experience (p17f, in the book) of people seeking help who are consistently getting caught in a maze not of their own making.

These women were desperate to find work, desperate to forge a new future for themselves and their families. All they met was intransigence or indifference.

Unfortunately, Lucy's and Anna's stories can be duplicated countless times. These agencies that purportedly exist to help the poor seem more to be helping themselves to government money.

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Barriers: Tele-communicating

On economicus ridiculous I've published a three-part post on barriers related to tele-communicating with government organizations, non-profits and online and local merchants; in other words, with just about anybody who works in an organizational environment.

From Part 1

With decision made and my new life without a phone, I could have done without unfair restrictions by Canada's telecom giants - aided and abetted by our federal government - on the use of VOIP technologies. And I could have done without certain assumptions and out-dated practices maintained by government and private organizations. Except for these issues, I was sailing quite happily in the unmapped bay of my virtual unmapped island.

I hope you will visit economicus ridiculous to read more.

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economicus ridiculous

Please don't forget the new blog created by Daphne and I, economicus ridiculous, a consumer advice blog with a twist. Latest posts: Silver Linings Savings Plan and Getting a Bank Account.

Help in getting word out about this new blog would be appreciated.

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New Blog: economicus ridiculous

For 2010, Daphne and I have created a new blog, economicus ridiculous. We concluded it was time to separate our political writings from the everyday challenges we face living on the dirt cheap.

As the introduction to the new blog explains, economicus ridiculous is intended to be a 'consumer advice' blog, but one with a twist. Please check it out.

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It Just Warms My Heart

... to read such drivel.

Where DOES the Times-Colonist find these people? First it was this privileged whine. Now Lawrie McFarlane blusters forth with his inflated two cents:

Two B.C. courts have now ruled that the City of Victoria was wrong to prevent homeless people setting up tents in downtown parks.

Let's bypass the fact that a good portion of the campers were propagandists who use "homelessness" as a bludgeon. Our courts seem bent on redrawing civic rights in a way that has no foundation in law.

Their first step is to suppose that if a serious issue exists, it must be the duty of government to fix it.

Careful, Mr. McFarlane. Your stereotypes are showing.

Agreed: It is not the business of government to provide housing.

That's where our agreement ends.

It IS the business of government to regulate market conditions such that affordable housing is available to anyone who wants it. This includes half the people living in poverty who work one or more full-time and/or part-time jobs on low wages without benefits, and a considerable number more people living in poverty who worked in similar employment much of their lives and now face the end of their days in meagre retirement.

Among these people are those who serve you at your favourite retail haunts, wait your tables, serve you at theatres, monitor your home security, take your parking fees, wash your cars, book your travel arrangements, and provide your catering, home cleaning and home repair needs.

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On "Needy Renters"

One would think from reading the Cowichan NewsLeader that people who are struggling to find affordable rental housing are "needy renters."

Why do media types insist on using the word 'needy' when describing people without housing? People looking to be housed are not simply a bundle of needs. In fact, that's the least of who they/we are.

We have skills to offer, and insight and wisdom born from our struggles, which we wish others would recognize as useful and worthy of respect. We have solutions for our communities to what others deem intractable problems; and our solutions require considerably less outlay than those typically proposed by politicians, non-profits and business.

A serious shift in thinking is required. It can begin with simple acts, like journos and others no longer using words like 'needy' to describe people without housing.

Language matters. It's about R E S P E C T.

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Senior Couples Split to Afford Nursing Home Care

In BC, we're already well on the road to recovery from that 'worst recession since the Depression'. People again are parking themselves overnight to line up for 'affordable' housing... So much for that housing correction, eh?

It's a sorry economic boom indeed when senior couples are separating or divorcing so that they may afford hursing home care, but that's what's happening in increasing numbers, according to one seniors advocate.

As more people enter nursing homes, Veronica Ratchford, a representative from the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents' Rights, said an increasing number of couples are legally splitting up so they can get government help with the cost of that care.

"It is happening, I would say, on a regular basis and I think the reason why we do not hear about it is I feel that people are afraid," Ratchford said.

"They're afraid to speak up against government policies and also they are embarrassed for the public to know their income and what financial situation that they're left with."

When public services fail and your very survival is in question, you develop strategies to work around a program's stringent criteria. These criteria, of course, are designed less to help people than to prevent 'abuse' of the system.

When the system itself is abusive, no recourse is left; it brings back onto itself that which it so generously inflicts upon others.

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