tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911130560032069160.post5208418893253465537..comments2023-02-24T03:24:51.690-05:00Comments on Wordy Evidence of the Fact: Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam ShepardSarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758927721152378470noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911130560032069160.post-16944868898917906602011-02-01T08:45:54.566-05:002011-02-01T08:45:54.566-05:00Thanks so much for your comment, Thomas. Your poi...Thanks so much for your comment, Thomas. Your point about who Shepard is actually talking to and about is a solid one. We explored this concept of audience (and purpose) quite a bit in class and determined that if he intended this work as an instructive piece or an inspirational model for those actually living in poverty (if he truly wanted to help), he would have created a different product than a book. He would have appeared on different media outlets than FoxNews or CNN. He would have self-published a number of these books to be donated to the Crisis Ministries shelter that he lived at. He would be doing speaking tours at shelters now instead of bookstores and universities. If this experience had changed him, he would be making change happen in the trenches rather than from his comfortable perch on a university auditorium stage.Sarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01758927721152378470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911130560032069160.post-39353078917498926132011-02-01T08:39:03.332-05:002011-02-01T08:39:03.332-05:00Excellent point, Teresa. We do all screw up, but ...Excellent point, Teresa. We do all screw up, but when the upper class do it, they're just not on their "A" game that day; when a member of the lower rungs of society does it, they are just doing what so many expect them to do. Expectations mean so much: for my students, for my children, and for every one of us.<br /><br />To his credit, he does acknowledge the difficulties of daily life in poverty are, but he doesn't see how his difficulties are so very different from someone else's.Sarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01758927721152378470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911130560032069160.post-73805268255650131342011-02-01T08:06:20.738-05:002011-02-01T08:06:20.738-05:00What a great post. And I agree with everything Ter...What a great post. And I agree with everything Teresa added. Easy to do anything for a year when you know there is an end point. And Nickel and Dimed had much to do with folks who didn't have the opportunity to escape minimum wage servitude. I agree that many today (in all age brackets) have a crazy sense of entitlement, but I am not sure folks working for minimum wage are the main perpetrators of that trend.Thomas Hogglestockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14284352537015457974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911130560032069160.post-44779341181115676162011-01-31T18:37:04.473-05:002011-01-31T18:37:04.473-05:00I read Nickel and Dimed several years ago, and one...I read Nickel and Dimed several years ago, and one of the things that it brought home to me was that when you're working low-wage jobs you have very little room for error. You miss a bus, you lose out on an interview. You decide one day, just one day, to be a little lazy and you miss out on another opportunity. Who doesn't make an error in judgment now and then? But for many of us, those small errors don't mean the difference between making rent or not.<br /><br />This kid sounds like he doesn't quite recognize how difficult that day-to-day life on the edge of poverty can be, especially for someone who doesn't start out with basic advantages and those who no longer have the energy level of a healthy 20-something.Teresahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09896331683344872038noreply@blogger.com