Yesterday was my second shopping excursion for the food stamps project. Surprisingly, I did a lot better this time. I didn't spend anywhere near as much time dithering over choices and made a concerted effort to buy more crunchy produce, which I was sorely lacking last week. Here's the rundown:
1 1/2 gallon of milk
32oz. of plain yogurt
1.5 lbs. of oats
1 green pepper
1 cucumber
0.7 lbs of carrots
2 apples
1 box whole wheat spaghetti
6 eggs
1 packet of tomato paste
4 bananas
1 large yellow onion
2 potatoes
1 8oz. block of cheese
1 pkg. wheat bread
1 top round steak
================
TOTAL 20.90
Salaam.
13 March, 2009
Who really needs $555 million anyway?
Our esteemed governor, Rick "The Coif" Perry, has pulled a Marie Antoinette and said "No" to $555 million in stimulus bill funds because the state would have to broaden the qualifications for unemployment benefits:
(from today's Austin American-Statesman)
"To get any of the money, the state would need to adopt a new method for determining whether a worker has earned enough in wages to qualify for benefits. About 30,000 workers would become eligible with this change, which would make $185 million available, according to the National Employment Law Project.
(from today's Austin American-Statesman)
"To get any of the money, the state would need to adopt a new method for determining whether a worker has earned enough in wages to qualify for benefits. About 30,000 workers would become eligible with this change, which would make $185 million available, according to the National Employment Law Project.
Of the four other possible changes, only two need to be enacted to get the remaining $370 million. The two least-expensive options — and the ones most likely to be enacted — would extend eligibility to people looking for part-time employment and those who quit their jobs to move with a spouse for a new job or for "compelling family reasons," such as family illness. About 16,000 workers would be affected by the change."
Actually, this was my favorite line in the article:
"Perry said he and his staff will continue to review the stimulus package to see whether there are other aspects of it that they want to fight."
The image I get is of a petulant child. Well, Rick, you and Bobby and Haley can skulk off to your clubhouse and congratulate yourselves on jobs well done.
Salaam.
06 March, 2009
Food Aid from Ian
My roommate's girlfriend and her two young kids came over for dinner last night. Her very bright and funny 10 year-old son, Ian, and I got to talking about the food stamp project. He anticipated my food wouldn't hold out and began offering up ideas to keep me from "starving," as he put it. Luckily, I'm sure I'll more than survive because his ideas included eating roommate Robin's cat (an awful cat that nobody likes, so not really a loss if it came to that). After they finished their dinner he came up to my room, hit me up for some paper, and sat down to write. He essentially wrote an op-ed against hunger; a slightly cracked op-ed written in chicken scratch with a Sharpie on scrap paper, but enjoyable none the less. It ended with this:
"I propose we ask people, 'Aren't you hungry, Dana? Wouldn't you like to eat, Dana?' This will lead to a fatter and happier world. By the way, Dana is a made-up name I invented."
I'm extremely tempted to show it to my professor.
He also left a half eaten bag of Cheetos on our kitchen counter with a note attached:
"Eat this Dana or you'll starve!"
I declined the offer.
Salaam.
"I propose we ask people, 'Aren't you hungry, Dana? Wouldn't you like to eat, Dana?' This will lead to a fatter and happier world. By the way, Dana is a made-up name I invented."
I'm extremely tempted to show it to my professor.
He also left a half eaten bag of Cheetos on our kitchen counter with a note attached:
"Eat this Dana or you'll starve!"
I declined the offer.
Salaam.
05 March, 2009
$21 down, 7 days to go
The funny thing about only having $21 to spend on groceries for the weak is that even though you can only buy a few things with it, you'll have to spend a lot of time figuring out how to spend it. I think I was in HEB for two hours. I can't be sure; colorful packaging, florescent lights and my endless recalculating made the time blur. It was darker outside when I left, though.
I thought I would breeze through this. I've lived in developing countries, in villages where the only market set up shop once a week. I don't eat out anyway and don't eat packaged stuff.
Great in theory, but meaningless here. I do suspect I would have been able to haul home more fresh produce is I was back in the ME, though.
I walked in the store and, as is my habit, I started with fruits and vegetables. However, once I started weighing things and figuring prices I thought I should go for my main meal items first. That's a huge difference right there: fruits and vegetables essentially became "garnish" for this weeks diet. And, I never really realized how much that stuff weighs.
At first I thought I could nail this by shopping from the bulk foods, but they're still not the norm in stores. I did get some green lentils and some oatmeal. I knew there could be no compromise on a filling breakfast, lest I kill somebody by noon.
Within about ten minutes my head began to hurt. This is not shopping , I thought, this is chess. Pick up a gallon of milk and think you're so smart because this will last you over two weeks and then realize that the $4 it costs means you can't buy rice, so you replace the gallon with a half gallon. You pick up the cheap wheat bread and wonder what the hell to buy to put on the bread that will last the week. Peanut butter is certainly out - my cousin recently had a homeless man turn down the peanut butter crackers she'd offered him: "That stuff'll kill you!" So, I wandered around pondering that for a while before I decided that a $0.99 bag of garbanzo beans would go far if I made another batch of my hummus (sans tahini, sadly). I wavered quite a bit on whether to spend the $4.50 on chicken, but really couldn't quite make it fit with everything. Luckily, I'm not a big meat eater anyway. I kept stopping, using my mobile phone to keep track of my tab, and stealing glances at the baskets of other shoppers and trying to extrapolate meaning from their purchases. One young family with three small, round girls went by with what looked like a side of beef in their cart. Another woman with a toddler in her cart had just eight loaves of cheap, white bread. At this point I was hungry and more than a little annoyed.
Here's what I got for $21:
1/2 gal 1% Milk
32 oz. Plain Yogurt (I blame the Turks for my addiction, but it does wonders mixed with lentils or beans)
1 5oz. block of cheese
1 32oz. bag of brown rice
1 can black beans
1 1lb. bag of garbanzo beans
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1.4 lbs. of organic steel-cut oats
0.81 lbs of green lentils
1 bag frozen, chopped spinach
1 bag frozen chopped broccoli
I loaf whole wheat bread
3 bananas
1 box black tea
I'm trying to be quite literal with this, only eating what I buy...or find or steal. I think I did pretty well, actually. Let's see how I feel next Thursday. Saturday morning I plan to hit the downtown farmer's market, which advertises as accepting food stamps, to see what somebody could actually purchase there. Based on what I've seen, I suspect not much.
Salaam.
I thought I would breeze through this. I've lived in developing countries, in villages where the only market set up shop once a week. I don't eat out anyway and don't eat packaged stuff.
Great in theory, but meaningless here. I do suspect I would have been able to haul home more fresh produce is I was back in the ME, though.
I walked in the store and, as is my habit, I started with fruits and vegetables. However, once I started weighing things and figuring prices I thought I should go for my main meal items first. That's a huge difference right there: fruits and vegetables essentially became "garnish" for this weeks diet. And, I never really realized how much that stuff weighs.
At first I thought I could nail this by shopping from the bulk foods, but they're still not the norm in stores. I did get some green lentils and some oatmeal. I knew there could be no compromise on a filling breakfast, lest I kill somebody by noon.
Within about ten minutes my head began to hurt. This is not shopping , I thought, this is chess. Pick up a gallon of milk and think you're so smart because this will last you over two weeks and then realize that the $4 it costs means you can't buy rice, so you replace the gallon with a half gallon. You pick up the cheap wheat bread and wonder what the hell to buy to put on the bread that will last the week. Peanut butter is certainly out - my cousin recently had a homeless man turn down the peanut butter crackers she'd offered him: "That stuff'll kill you!" So, I wandered around pondering that for a while before I decided that a $0.99 bag of garbanzo beans would go far if I made another batch of my hummus (sans tahini, sadly). I wavered quite a bit on whether to spend the $4.50 on chicken, but really couldn't quite make it fit with everything. Luckily, I'm not a big meat eater anyway. I kept stopping, using my mobile phone to keep track of my tab, and stealing glances at the baskets of other shoppers and trying to extrapolate meaning from their purchases. One young family with three small, round girls went by with what looked like a side of beef in their cart. Another woman with a toddler in her cart had just eight loaves of cheap, white bread. At this point I was hungry and more than a little annoyed.
Here's what I got for $21:
1/2 gal 1% Milk
32 oz. Plain Yogurt (I blame the Turks for my addiction, but it does wonders mixed with lentils or beans)
1 5oz. block of cheese
1 32oz. bag of brown rice
1 can black beans
1 1lb. bag of garbanzo beans
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1.4 lbs. of organic steel-cut oats
0.81 lbs of green lentils
1 bag frozen, chopped spinach
1 bag frozen chopped broccoli
I loaf whole wheat bread
3 bananas
1 box black tea
I'm trying to be quite literal with this, only eating what I buy...or find or steal. I think I did pretty well, actually. Let's see how I feel next Thursday. Saturday morning I plan to hit the downtown farmer's market, which advertises as accepting food stamps, to see what somebody could actually purchase there. Based on what I've seen, I suspect not much.
Salaam.
Another Day, Another $3
I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow.
Normally, this would not rate as news or elicit a post.
However, tomorrow I'm going on food stamps. Sort of.
For the next two weeks I'll shop and eat on an average food stamp budget: $3 a day.
Even I can do the math on this one: $21 a week; $84 a month.
It's a project for my social policy course. We'll each be writing a paper on the experience.
My first observation: the easiest way to get initial information on the food stamp program is online. Which begs the question, how many food stamp households have Internet access?
The food stamp challenge has been getting a lot of press. Members of Congress, a few governors and members of the media have had a go at it. May you'll give it a try as well.
Salaam.
Normally, this would not rate as news or elicit a post.
However, tomorrow I'm going on food stamps. Sort of.
For the next two weeks I'll shop and eat on an average food stamp budget: $3 a day.
Even I can do the math on this one: $21 a week; $84 a month.
It's a project for my social policy course. We'll each be writing a paper on the experience.
My first observation: the easiest way to get initial information on the food stamp program is online. Which begs the question, how many food stamp households have Internet access?
The food stamp challenge has been getting a lot of press. Members of Congress, a few governors and members of the media have had a go at it. May you'll give it a try as well.
Salaam.
27 February, 2009
I is for Inequality
From a piece in the NYTimes today about Obama's proposed budget agenda:
Summer's little hypothetical grabbed me.
"As a result [of rising pretax incomes and reductions in tax rates for the wealthiest households over previous three decades], the average post-tax income of the top 1 percent of households has jumped by roughly $1 million since 1979, adjusted for inflation, to $1.4 million. Pay for most families has risen only slightly faster than inflation.
Before becoming Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers liked to tell a hypothetical story to distill the trend. The increase in inequality, Mr. Summers would say, meant that each family in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution was effectively sending a $10,000 check, every year, to the top 1 percent of earners."
Salaam.
Summer's little hypothetical grabbed me.
"As a result [of rising pretax incomes and reductions in tax rates for the wealthiest households over previous three decades], the average post-tax income of the top 1 percent of households has jumped by roughly $1 million since 1979, adjusted for inflation, to $1.4 million. Pay for most families has risen only slightly faster than inflation.
Before becoming Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers liked to tell a hypothetical story to distill the trend. The increase in inequality, Mr. Summers would say, meant that each family in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution was effectively sending a $10,000 check, every year, to the top 1 percent of earners."
Salaam.
24 February, 2009
Phrase of the Day
SWAG: Scientific Wild-Ass Guess
"I wasn't sure, so I SWAGed it."
"Give me your best SWAG."
Salaam.
"I wasn't sure, so I SWAGed it."
"Give me your best SWAG."
Salaam.
19 February, 2009
The Joys of Public Transit
I do not own a car. I am hoping I will not have to own one for awhile. I live close enough to walk to my department and the rest of campus and I take the bus everywhere else. People with cars generally don't grasp riding the bus; they believe it must be wildly burdensome, uncomfortable, etc. It's generally none of those things. Most people are totally oblivious to the entertainment value.
This morning I finally got around to making a grocery run after my stocks had dwindled to tea and tortillas. I sat my pack down at the bus stop to wait for the 10 just as a wiry man sporting a thick Nordic sweater and even thicker Manson-esque head of hair and beard. His nails were a few inches long, but neat, and he balanced his cigarillo delicately between two fingers. He kindly informed me that the grocery store had just wrapped up its weekly free doughnuts and coffee and then casually asked if I knew I could be arrested just for sitting at a bus stop. He told me he had been arrested for criminal trespassing for sitting at a bus stop and this led to a discussion of rights and organizing the people. As somebody who will talk to anyone we kept the conversation going for several minutes. Then he told me something new.
"Did you know that Oprah ran for President recently? I'm sure glad she didn't get it because can you really imagine Oprah as Commander in Chief? She'd nuke everybody!"
He laughed as I pondered the idea of Oprah as a Strangelovean leader of the free world.
"I'm glad we have a black president, though. All the wars this country's ever fought were started by white men."
His bus pulled up, headed north, and we parted.
Salaam.
This morning I finally got around to making a grocery run after my stocks had dwindled to tea and tortillas. I sat my pack down at the bus stop to wait for the 10 just as a wiry man sporting a thick Nordic sweater and even thicker Manson-esque head of hair and beard. His nails were a few inches long, but neat, and he balanced his cigarillo delicately between two fingers. He kindly informed me that the grocery store had just wrapped up its weekly free doughnuts and coffee and then casually asked if I knew I could be arrested just for sitting at a bus stop. He told me he had been arrested for criminal trespassing for sitting at a bus stop and this led to a discussion of rights and organizing the people. As somebody who will talk to anyone we kept the conversation going for several minutes. Then he told me something new.
"Did you know that Oprah ran for President recently? I'm sure glad she didn't get it because can you really imagine Oprah as Commander in Chief? She'd nuke everybody!"
He laughed as I pondered the idea of Oprah as a Strangelovean leader of the free world.
"I'm glad we have a black president, though. All the wars this country's ever fought were started by white men."
His bus pulled up, headed north, and we parted.
Salaam.
07 February, 2009
Love
Walking home from school last night I passed a small homeless man with a squat face dragging his belongings heaped in a shopping cart. It was a bit windy and I wasn't prepared. I guess I looked chilled because he waved as he approached and I took out my ear buds.
"I just left a scarf on a pole down the street there and you go on and take it and wrap yourself up," he said with a toothless smile.
I thanked him profusely and told him that since I was only about a block from home I'd leave it for someone who needed it more.
We wished each other goodnight and carried on in our own ways.
Salaam
"I just left a scarf on a pole down the street there and you go on and take it and wrap yourself up," he said with a toothless smile.
I thanked him profusely and told him that since I was only about a block from home I'd leave it for someone who needed it more.
We wished each other goodnight and carried on in our own ways.
Salaam
St. Jerome Ventures From Cave
Lest you think I am all work and no play... I went downtown with friends to enjoy an all-you-can-eat sugared cereal fueled cartoon fest this morning at our local indie cinema. I pretty much ate my own body weight in Froot Loops, Honeycombs, Lucky Charms and the like, though I did eat a bowl of Alphabits for the educational value. Most of the cartoons were from the later years of my childhood, so I hope in the future they'll plumb the depths of television history. I was denied a chance to see Thundar the Barbarian and that show's apocalyptic opening sequence that I loved freaking out to every week as a kid (the moon cracks in HALF people!). And, who knew how much sexual subtext is in those shows, or at least how much could be pulled out by a theater full of sugar-addled adults.
Best of all, they let you carry off the leftover boxes, so our house is now three boxes richer. And mine came with a toy! A little regression can be a good thing. Now if I could just find some protein to counteract the eventual blood sugar crash....
Salaam.
Best of all, they let you carry off the leftover boxes, so our house is now three boxes richer. And mine came with a toy! A little regression can be a good thing. Now if I could just find some protein to counteract the eventual blood sugar crash....
Salaam.
04 February, 2009
Post-Racial?
For anyone naive enough to believe Pres. Obama has magically destroyed racism in this country and that we can all sit around the fire together now, roast marshmallows and sing "Kumbayah", I offer these comments heard by relative in a recent adult Sunday School class:
"Looks like I'll have to take my gun up to Washington because there's a coon in the White House."
(sick excuse for a joke met with much laughter)
(in response to believing an older male student believed Mrs. Obama to be "attractive", when in fact he was talking about the late Mrs. Kennedy)
"Oh, I thought you were talking about that thing living there now!"
(again, met with laughter)
My relative may have been disgusted by what she heard, but she also remained silent, not that speaking out against those around you is easy. Keep that in mind next time someone tells you how nice it is that we've "gotten over" race in this country or, I suspect, anywhere else.
Salaam.
"Looks like I'll have to take my gun up to Washington because there's a coon in the White House."
(sick excuse for a joke met with much laughter)
(in response to believing an older male student believed Mrs. Obama to be "attractive", when in fact he was talking about the late Mrs. Kennedy)
"Oh, I thought you were talking about that thing living there now!"
(again, met with laughter)
My relative may have been disgusted by what she heard, but she also remained silent, not that speaking out against those around you is easy. Keep that in mind next time someone tells you how nice it is that we've "gotten over" race in this country or, I suspect, anywhere else.
Salaam.
01 February, 2009
St. Jerome Has Nothing on Me
Listening to: Sufi songs and zikr from Kurdistan and Jonatha Brooke, The Works
I've always loved representations of St. Jerome in art. There he is in all his withered glory, far from the distractions of society, living in a cave or spartan cell.
That's sort of me these days. I am either on campus or working in my cell - er - room. I am subsisting primarily on harira, which I cook up weekly in large batches, am fueled by copious amounts of tea and Turkish coffee. I have been known to forget to eat, but so far, I am more focused than I've ever been. I just don't really go out and do anything other than school work.
And the thing is, I am fine with it. I may be a nerdy hermit, but I like it. Tonight, I am pulling sources for a literature review on Islam and Social Work. I still have readings on human development theories and the juvenile justice system. And then there's the research on the MENA region for a project in my International Social Work course, my one elective this semester.
Our theory course is giving me fits, mostly because the sheer amount of information and the fact that I am having trouble processing it all because I have yet to grasp how it will fit into my future work. It's a course that leans more towards clinical practitioners, not macro focused folks like me. The other two - Social Policy and International Social Work - are more my thing, but we all have to have these foundational courses, so there's no sense complaining. Meanwhile, I am meeting with folks in the Middle East Studies department, trying to craft one or two independent studies to fit into my program on Islam and social development and trying to figure out how to squeeze Arabic courses into my life. I aspire to someday, someday, swim laps again.
So, if my posts are few and far between, that's why. But, I am happy.
Salaam.
I've always loved representations of St. Jerome in art. There he is in all his withered glory, far from the distractions of society, living in a cave or spartan cell.
That's sort of me these days. I am either on campus or working in my cell - er - room. I am subsisting primarily on harira, which I cook up weekly in large batches, am fueled by copious amounts of tea and Turkish coffee. I have been known to forget to eat, but so far, I am more focused than I've ever been. I just don't really go out and do anything other than school work.
And the thing is, I am fine with it. I may be a nerdy hermit, but I like it. Tonight, I am pulling sources for a literature review on Islam and Social Work. I still have readings on human development theories and the juvenile justice system. And then there's the research on the MENA region for a project in my International Social Work course, my one elective this semester.
Our theory course is giving me fits, mostly because the sheer amount of information and the fact that I am having trouble processing it all because I have yet to grasp how it will fit into my future work. It's a course that leans more towards clinical practitioners, not macro focused folks like me. The other two - Social Policy and International Social Work - are more my thing, but we all have to have these foundational courses, so there's no sense complaining. Meanwhile, I am meeting with folks in the Middle East Studies department, trying to craft one or two independent studies to fit into my program on Islam and social development and trying to figure out how to squeeze Arabic courses into my life. I aspire to someday, someday, swim laps again.
So, if my posts are few and far between, that's why. But, I am happy.
Salaam.
20 January, 2009
The Future of Guantanamo?
Attributed reports in Reuters and AP are saying the Guantanamo are being suspended pending directive from the new Obama administration. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Resolving this shame is something I will hold our new president to, but if true it's a good note to start on.
Salaam.
Salaam.
Observations on a day...
Making my way across campus towards the School of Social Work as fast as I could, just in time to see Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduce Aretha Franklin, who still has it...in spades.
As Sen. Feinstein introduced Chief Justice John Roberts, who administered the oath of office, and asked that everyone stand, all of us in the darkened auditorium stood, one by one, and silently watched Barack Hussein Obama be sworn in. I am not too proud to say I cried.
The remarkable, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, truly a living-legend, making us all smile:
"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."
All of us applauding wildly as the wheels of former-President Bush's helicopter left the ground. Of course, he flew off to the state I currently reside in, so I'm STILL not rid of him! Gah!
Cameras panning over the crowd in front of the Capitol pausing above two people with huge signs with the now-famous O logo that read, "Obama to speak in Morocco". I have no idea what they referred to, but as a gal who once lived there, I sure hope he'll go.
Reading an email from a friend whose mother was deeply involved in the civil rights movement in this country: "Mom pretty has pretty much cried at the drop of a hat all day, but it's fun because it's a happy thing."
A house built by slaves now houses the first African-American president.
Sitting back from the table in the campus cafe and realizing a weight had been lifted - from me, from all of us - and that I could literally feel it lifted. And then getting back to my Arabic.
Missing Istanbul! I saw a photo of what looked to be a raucous inauguration viewing at a club off Istiklal Caddesi.
Realizing I am going to be very, very busy from here on out, but very, very happy about what I'm doing.
Salaam.
As Sen. Feinstein introduced Chief Justice John Roberts, who administered the oath of office, and asked that everyone stand, all of us in the darkened auditorium stood, one by one, and silently watched Barack Hussein Obama be sworn in. I am not too proud to say I cried.
The remarkable, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, truly a living-legend, making us all smile:
"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."
All of us applauding wildly as the wheels of former-President Bush's helicopter left the ground. Of course, he flew off to the state I currently reside in, so I'm STILL not rid of him! Gah!
Cameras panning over the crowd in front of the Capitol pausing above two people with huge signs with the now-famous O logo that read, "Obama to speak in Morocco". I have no idea what they referred to, but as a gal who once lived there, I sure hope he'll go.
Reading an email from a friend whose mother was deeply involved in the civil rights movement in this country: "Mom pretty has pretty much cried at the drop of a hat all day, but it's fun because it's a happy thing."
A house built by slaves now houses the first African-American president.
Sitting back from the table in the campus cafe and realizing a weight had been lifted - from me, from all of us - and that I could literally feel it lifted. And then getting back to my Arabic.
Missing Istanbul! I saw a photo of what looked to be a raucous inauguration viewing at a club off Istiklal Caddesi.
Realizing I am going to be very, very busy from here on out, but very, very happy about what I'm doing.
Salaam.
A New Day
I begin graduate school today - I have Arabic in an hour and my social policy class later - and have a wee case of the jitters after being out of school for 11 years. I woke up several times last night, paranoid my alarm wouldn't go off. And, of course, Barack Hussein Obama is being sworn in this afternoon as our new president. Those of us in the School of Social Work are gathering together in our building's little auditorium to watch the inauguration together and I can't think of a better group to be with.
Will Obama have all the answers? Doubt it. Will there be times he and his administration make me want to scream and pound my head against the wall? I suspect so. However, at this moment, the last hours of the some of the worst eight years in this country's history, I can only sigh with relief and hope the next administration will immediately get to work cleaning up the global mess left by the previous administration. I wish him well...and will be paying close attention.
Salaam.
Will Obama have all the answers? Doubt it. Will there be times he and his administration make me want to scream and pound my head against the wall? I suspect so. However, at this moment, the last hours of the some of the worst eight years in this country's history, I can only sigh with relief and hope the next administration will immediately get to work cleaning up the global mess left by the previous administration. I wish him well...and will be paying close attention.
Salaam.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)