7/05/2006

 

C'est La Vie

Things have been dull this week, more or less. That's not necessarily a bad thing; I can't handle as much excitement as I could back in my younger, more dynamic days. It's just that the routines seem more tedious than normal.

The heat and the corresponding ozone problems have kept us from getting out of the house much. Mike and Ness don't seem fazed at all, but Mama and I are getting a touch of cabin fever. I'm hoping I can get my Trusty Steed out of the shop before summer's gone, and maybe hit Durham and check on my mom and aunt. My aunt (who's younger than my mom) has developed a medical condition that's thrown my mom into the awkward role of caregiver. I give her what support I can, but I'm immersed in my own socioeconomic quagmire.

July 4th was quiet. Ordinarily, we'd have attended Fun Fourth, Greensboro's Independence Day street festival, but again, the heat and ozone kept us inside (I went to the convenience store to pick up some soda and ice. Walking out the front door was like walking into a blast furnace, and I was suffering asthma symptoms before I'd gotten out of sight of the apartment.) No fireworks for us either, since they're held in another part of town as Fun Fourth, and we would not have been able to catch the bus home (they stopped running earlier than normal since they were on a holiday schedule). It's just as well; Mother Nature decided to join the fun and roll a few severe thunderstorms over us around showtime anyway.

I promised a reader I'd help put the word out for her: Married3x@aol.com wrote me in an e-mail that her sister has become homeless and Married hasn't been able to contact her. I gave her a few options to try and promised to spread the word here. She thinks that her sister is in the vicinity of one of the city's Wal-Marts. Any reader in the Greensboro area with some information please pass it along to Married, eh?

Also, cyberdog1968 has made an excellent point: there are too many of us poor who think that it's cool to simply lay back and let the rest of society take care of them. All they do is give the rest of the poor a bad image by (what?) perpetuating a stereotype. There are many poor who struggle every day with jobs, health and child care, yet the image many in society see is the lazy, shiftless person who could work, but won't, and who uses the welfare system as a first course of action, not a last resort safety net. Sadly, I've run into too many of these people myself. But I take comfort in the fact that they're more rare than many political pundits would have you believe.

I try not to be lazy, but I have my days... Still, even though I take some welfare myself (food stamps and Medicaid, primarily for the kids) I'd rather pay my own way, so that I won't have to keep proving I'm poor to various and sundry social workers. On that note, some developments are occurring that I don;t want to say too much about for fear of jinxing things. Stay tuned.

Comments:
"On that note, some developments are occurring that I don;t want to say too much about for fear of jinxing things. Stay tuned."

We'll keep our fingers crossed over here. And you have my phone number if you need something. For the kids...
 
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