You have to understand that we
know that we will never not feel
tired.
We will never feel hopeful.
We will never get a vacation. Ever.
We know that the very act of being
poor guarantees that we will never
not be poor. It doesn't give us much
reason to improve ourselves.
Linda Tirado
“At times it’s like, I know I got this
midterm, but damn…my feet cold,
my stomach growlin’, my hands
cold. No gas in my vehicle, and I
still gotta study for this midterm…so
it got to the point…to hell with that
midterm.”
-Oscar
“I know some people who go to [nearby
colleges and universities] that live under
the bridges along the river and they’ll get
up at 5:30 in the morning they’ll take the
bus and they’ll wait for the gym to open so
they can take a shower. They’ll change
and they’ll eat at a soup kitchen
downtown then uh they just work their
system and they don’t look homeless. “
-Adam
“It’s HARD, people don’t understand
it’s HARD to sit in the dead of the
winter …you can’t run your car for
the heat because you don’t have
enough gas so you in there studying
like this (mimicking holding a book
and shivering)…[can’t] get your
work done and that’s hard. Because
it is hard to stay focused.”
-Oscar
“[I go to school] to know that I’ll be done
with my education and to get a better job.
To better myself for my kids. And their
future. That was the whole reason I
started to go to school, to better their
future…cuz I want them all to go to
college as well so that they could be
something other than a grocery store clerk
or workin’ at Burger King or McDonalds.
Cuz my kids are very smart and I know I
am too.
-Maria
“So I came in [to a building on campus] and
got warm my feet was …freezing and I ran
across this guy who works here, and he saw
me and he was like “Man, you should try to
get into school” I say “Man I don’t give a shit
about school”. I in here tryin’ to be warm. So I
opened up to him that day because I needed
somebody I could talk to at this point. So you
know we got to talking and he convinced me I
finally enrolled in school.”
-Oscar
Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term
brain.
Whatever happens in a month is probably going
to be just about as indifferent as whatever
happened today or last week. None of it matters.
We don't plan long-term because if we do we'll
just get our hearts broken. It's best not to hope.
You just take what you can get as you spot it.
This is what our lives are like, and here are our
defense mechanisms, and here is why we think
differently. It's certainly self-defeating, but it's
safer.
-Linda Tirado
“No one knew [that I was
homeless], because I carried myself
like I wasn’t…but I was out there.”
-Oscar
I make a lot of poor financial decisions.
None of them matter, in the long term. I
will never not be poor, so what does it
matter if I don't pay a thing and a half this
week instead of just one thing? It's not like
the sacrifice will result in improved
circumstances; the thing holding me back
isn't that I blow five bucks at Wendy's. It's
that now that I have proven that I am a
Poor Person that is all that I am or ever
will be.
Linda Tirado
You have to understand that we
know that we will never not feel
tired.
We will never feel hopeful.
We will never get a vacation. Ever.
We know that the very act of being
poor guarantees that we will never
not be poor. It doesn't give us much
reason to improve ourselves.
Linda Tirado
“At times it’s like, I know I got this
midterm, but damn…my feet cold,
my stomach growlin’, my hands
cold. No gas in my vehicle, and I
still gotta study for this midterm…so
it got to the point…to hell with that
midterm.”
-Oscar
“I know some people who go to [nearby
colleges and universities] that live under
the bridges along the river and they’ll get
up at 5:30 in the morning they’ll take the
bus and they’ll wait for the gym to open so
they can take a shower. They’ll change
and they’ll eat at a soup kitchen
downtown then uh they just work their
system and they don’t look homeless. “
-Adam
“It’s HARD, people don’t understand
it’s HARD to sit in the dead of the
winter …you can’t run your car for
the heat because you don’t have
enough gas so you in there studying
like this (mimicking holding a book
and shivering)…[can’t] get your
work done and that’s hard. Because
it is hard to stay focused.”
-Oscar
“[I go to school] to know that I’ll be done
with my education and to get a better job.
To better myself for my kids. And their
future. That was the whole reason I
started to go to school, to better their
future…cuz I want them all to go to
college as well so that they could be
something other than a grocery store clerk
or workin’ at Burger King or McDonalds.
Cuz my kids are very smart and I know I
am too.
-Maria
“So I came in [to a building on campus] and
got warm my feet was …freezing and I ran
across this guy who works here, and he saw
me and he was like “Man, you should try to
get into school” I say “Man I don’t give a shit
about school”. I in here tryin’ to be warm. So I
opened up to him that day because I needed
somebody I could talk to at this point. So you
know we got to talking and he convinced me I
finally enrolled in school.”
-Oscar
Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term
brain.
Whatever happens in a month is probably going
to be just about as indifferent as whatever
happened today or last week. None of it matters.
We don't plan long-term because if we do we'll
just get our hearts broken. It's best not to hope.
You just take what you can get as you spot it.
This is what our lives are like, and here are our
defense mechanisms, and here is why we think
differently. It's certainly self-defeating, but it's
safer.
-Linda Tirado
“No one knew [that I was
homeless], because I carried myself
like I wasn’t…but I was out there.”
-Oscar
I make a lot of poor financial decisions.
None of them matter, in the long term. I
will never not be poor, so what does it
matter if I don't pay a thing and a half this
week instead of just one thing? It's not like
the sacrifice will result in improved
circumstances; the thing holding me back
isn't that I blow five bucks at Wendy's. It's
that now that I have proven that I am a
Poor Person that is all that I am or ever
will be.
Linda Tirado