The New Poor {guest post}

by on February 3, 2012

{ 4 comments }

new poor

On the surface, I am like so many of us out there. You would never know that I am poor. I like to think of it as “the hidden poor” – we don’t meet the stereotype, and therefore the image of the statistic is skewed. I could be your next door neighbor: I have a ...

Not a roller coaster, an express train

by Dresden February 1, 2012
at fertility clinic

I thought my meeting with the Northeast clinic was Tuesday. Turns out it was Monday. This is another reason why I am glad I share a calendar with my Mom. She sent me a text message Monday morning essentially saying, “forgot the doctor’s appointment was today.” And because I was so not in the fertility [...]

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Chow down on this chowder

by Dresden January 30, 2012
potato corn chowder

I will seldom brag about my skills in the kitchen as being anything other than what I learned at the apron strings of my Grandmother and several thick and well-loved cook books. Today is different. Today I am going to proclaim to you that I invented a corn chowder recipe that will make you sigh [...]

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welfare queen

by Dresden January 27, 2012
food stamps cadillac

Politics. You can’t miss it right now. Every night a new city hosts a new debate or another attack ad blasts on the radio. I don’t write about politics here, not really. But in a sideways way, when I have written about my family’s experience with health care, unemployment, and public assistance I have been [...]

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Public misconceptions about who actually benefit from state benefits {guest post}

by Dresden January 27, 2012
3 children

There is a vision of what an average welfare recipient looks like. None of it is pretty. Very little of it is accurate. When I tell people who I advocate for – people with autism and with intellectual disabilities, reactions usually come close to “oh that’s so noble..” it’s clear people believe it is a [...]

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Little Moments

by Dresden January 24, 2012

I’m sure, like most of you, I tend to read the same collection of stories over and over each evening after bath time. We have a nice variety in the toddler library but unless it has wheels it won’t be making the reading rotation for a while. He favors stories about hero tractors, animal loving [...]

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Does any parent love the car shopping cart?

by Dresden January 23, 2012
car cart

Of course there was a time when I thought it was positively adorable to plonk W into one of those bean cars attached to my shopping cart at the grocery store. Ah bliss, as my adorable toddler happily drove and beeped the horn of his child cart while I filled the basket area with items [...]

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My childhood on assistance and experience with poverty {guest post}

by Dresden January 20, 2012
doublewide

It’s not like the people I grew up with were wealthy. Our county was predominantly poor and rural. Our teen drop out rate was shockingly high because it “didn’t matter,” and you were Someone if you could afford to shop at the Gap and Old Navy. Color coordinating outfits and a few trapper-keepers. Trapper Keepers? Please. That put you [...]

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The stuff he says

by Dresden January 19, 2012
toddler adorable

W is at an age where I am constantly blown away by the stuff that comes out of his mouth. It feels like this kind of communication is so recent for us and I love every bit of it. He likes to grab on to a concept and then he shapes his world around that [...]

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