Heavy reading
I found myself writing Friday, for the second time in a week, an article that involved a book.
This time, I was writing about an effort in the Fox Cities to raise awareness about poverty. Officials started the effort with a community-wide reading of "Nickled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America," by Barbara Ehrenreich.
I read this book a few years ago, and it opened my eyes to the reality of low-wage workers in this country. Ehrenreich went undercover as an uneducated, unskilled worker and saw what life is like working at places such as Wal-Mart, a hotel and a house-cleaning service. No matter what she did, she never could quite make ends meet -- and she didn't even have kids! The sad reality is, many, many women in that situation are also single mothers.
While I didn't agree with everything Ehrenreich wrote, and sometimes I didn't like the tone of the book, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for some serious reading. It'll make you think, I promise you that.
Jul 1, 2008 at 11:03 a.m.
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Stacy, I would certainly agree with you about this book. I had to read it for a college level class that I was taking. It definitely makes you think. I read it several years ago and I can honestly say that it affected how I perceive workers at Wal-Mart, cleaning businesses, restaurants. There ought to be a way to balance things out, but I don't have the answers either.
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