Barbara Ehrenreich

I wonder if I could do what she did -- live for 3 months on minimum wage. Or make that "living wage." Does anyone wonder what we mean my "living" in that phrase? Maybe it should be survival wage. What she ends up doing I would not want for my life.

I added a short video that sort of spoofs the book -- starring Barbara Ehrenreich -- on the wiki. Check it out (it's on the Ehrenreich questions page under class notes).

She says that her friends told her to just do the calculations and see how hard it would be (or easy, I suppose). But she decides it's better to try the experiment herself to see if there are any "hidden" shortcuts or tricks that poor people know about getting by on so little money, So she gives herself some rules: must have car; must take highest paying job and try to keep it (this part is important); must not be homeless; must not use education or previously learned skills (as a result of her higher education); must not fall back on savings or credit cards unless she was about to go hungry. How much is that really like being poor? Poor people don't have those kinds of resources to fall back on. anyway...

She recognizes some advantages right away: she's white and she is a native speaker. Later that will hurt her in some ways, but ultimately she has the upper hand in looking for the kind of work she is looking for. Her friends later ask her if her co-workers could "tell" that she wasn't "like them." Her response was that the only thing that made her stand out was her lack of experience. She was pegged as "a waitress" or a "housekeeper" and no one questioned that. To what extent do we do that, in any case? People ARE what their occupation is.

Okay -- I'm going to read more and most more later.