poverty

Poverty: The Difference Between A Reason and An Excuse

by Jose 08.31.2010

The vegetables in the local grocery stores still rot, years after studies have shown that poor neighborhoods always get the stale and less desirable groceries. As if the residents here deserve any less than equitably fresh tomatoes, yellow ready-ripe bananas, and lettuce that doesn’t need multiple rinsing. People in this citadel get exposed to Whole [...]

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Blog Action Day: They’re Not That Much Different

by Jose 10.14.2008

Following up yesterday’s post, I pretty much sat there, knowing that I had more than my fair share to say about this topic. I can’t tell you how many times people think I exist in a world of pure hyperbole and hallucination when I tell them about the “ol’ factory”. The stories of these children’s [...]

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Without Scum, There Are Still Yuppies

by Jose 10.09.2008

A short note on yuppies: Yes we get it. Young Urban Professionals. Upward mobility for (mostly) young white people wanting the best of everything. We get it: yuppies are more Wall Street conscious while hipsters are more charity conscious. We get it: they’re often the most biggest investors in urban art forms, including rap, slam [...]

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I Walked Across an Empty Land, I Knew The Backways Like The Back Of My Hand

by Jose 08.14.2008

This is one of the lost blogs I wrote while I was at Dominican Republic. It was inspired by another Clay Burell post, regarding tourism and its caricatures. Thought I’d post it up tonight in light of the recent immigration post. I also updated a few things here and there, in brackets. Enjoy. Originally written: [...]

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Ojala Que Llueva Cafe En El Campo (Hope That It Rains Coffee In The Field)

by Jose 07.22.2008

Juan Luis Guerra’s quintessential song is “Ojala Que Llueva Cafe En El Campo,” a song that comes across more as a incantation that the poor and hopefully at the least have coffee somehow fall from the sky to bless them, as if to say that G_d might bless them with their basic necessities to relieve [...]

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The Politics of Access

by Jose 02.11.2008

All the popular blogs are doing it.From: What Privileges Do You Have? – based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. (If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.) 1. [...]

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Short Notes: Somewhere In The Middle

by Jose 01.20.2008

A few notes of interest: 1. Yes, I cleaned up around here. Click refresh, and tell me what happens to that header. Do it a good 7 more and you’ll get your wishes granted ;-). 2. The oddest thing happened on Friday. One minute, my Feedburner says I have 83-93 readers, and the next, I [...]

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El Niagara en Bicicleta (The Niagara on Bicycle)

by Jose 01.17.2008

2 weeks ago or so, I watched Charlie Wilson’s War, and I must say, this movie had my attention the whole movie. I was enthralled with the idea of a covert war, mainly because things of this nature happen so frequently but are kept from us by the national media. In any case, what really [...]

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Everyone’s Got Their Doctorate Now

by Jose 10.28.2007

Before I continue, I’d like to thank Tia (not sure who she is, but she likes my blog) for nominating me for the Best Education Blog in the 2007 Weblog Awards. If you’d like to drop by and hit the little plus button next to her comment, that’d be dope. If not, keep reading anyways. [...]

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A Synopsis of The Road Less Wanted

by Jose 10.15.2007

Last week, I spoke extensively about one student who had some serious behavioral problems in his classroom, and how that’s a microcosm of what he’s going through at home. Whenever I look at kids like him, I know how to approach them because I’ve been witness to that environment. Unfortunately, because of program restrictions, I [...]

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