A Voice from the Poor

About the blog: The multifarious issues of classism and living in poverty in one little blog from a poor person who like vast majority of fellow low-income people IS NOT LAZY. About me: I refuse to lie down and tolerate classism in silence. I will not keep quiet. I will call out classism and any other form of -isms I discern. I tolerate no oppression, including and ESPECIALLY legally sanctioned discrimination. .

[geekjocktivist]

Pride Month and Being an Ally

Want to be a good ally during Pride Month? The way to be a good ally is meaningful action. One suggestion for the day. Is your local library doing Pride Month programming? ( Mine sure is! I'm proud of the Programming Department for that. I’ve voiced my support; however, as I also work there it does not lend the gravitas that a non-employee taxpayer’s voice would.) Is the local school district openly voicing support for LGBTQIA+ students and holding celebratory activities? 

Keep this in mind. Public schools and libraries are tax-funded. They stand very little to gain monetarily, but a lot to lose. How about other local not-for-profit organizations? Call them, email them, comment praise on their social media, ATTEND THE EVENTS if you are able, whatever feels right and comfortable, but please do not be silent in your support.  

There are unfortunately still a lot of people out there that carry a lot of hate for some or all of the LGBTQIA+ population. Many of those people tend to be loud. I implore the supporters to be just as loud and not mere bystanders. You do not have to out yourself as LGBTQIA+ to voice support. Say you are an ally that has friends that are not straight and/or cis and/or allosexual and/or alloromantic, etc... Or even just voice the support and leave it at that. 

Why is openly contacting these libraries, school districts, and other tax-funded nonprofits so important? Why is openly posting on their social media expressing praise for the programming so important? Consider this. What is a public school district or library going to do next year if they hear and see only opposition and backlash to Pride Month programming? If they are made to think nobody among their taxpayers actually wants it because of all the people that actually want it remaining silent? Will they still have such programming next year? The year after?

This bi/panromantic asexual thanks you for your time and consideration

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

I never understand why people always have to tell survivors of poverty, homelessness, bullying, emotional abuse and other complex traumas that it’s “character-building” as though it makes what happened to them okay.

It’s like, sure, maybe I do have more empathy and whatnot but I would likely be a much more emotionally stable and confident person without the following in my life, thank you very much:

Feeling on edge in bars and other places crowded with people near my age

Feeling on edge near kids’ parties and activities- too much of a reminder of how I was treated at those

Always thinking people are laughing at me behind my back even as they say I’m cool to my face

Extreme trust issues

Hearing people make fun of me for not having the toys and gadgets they have in my head

Feeling invisible walls between myself and other people, feeling cut off from everyone

Feeling as though nobody will ever love me because I don’t really love myself, and people love saying “you have to love yourself to be loved by others.”

Being shy and quiet because of the firmly ingrained instinct to try to be as invisible as possible despite invisibility NOT being a good thing in the professional world

Internally panicking if I’m made the center of attention, even in a good way (since that once meant booing, things being thrown at me or subsequent humiliation would come later on)

Internally panicking anytime there’s an unexpected expense even if I am as an adult (going strictly by my annual income) middle class and exactly as financially secure as any millennial with $50k in student loans can be- I have a car, rent my own place, 2 jobs, health insurance, a retirement plan and all sorts of privileege that’s new and confusing because I was always poor

Feeling nauseous anytime people say nasty things about people who don’t have cars because that was me until my late twenties.

[geekjocktivist]

I just entered my kitten Nala in the America's Favorite Pet contest. Please vote for her!

Vote for Nala to be in Dogster or Catster Magazine and take home a $5,000 cash prize!

[geekjocktivist]

So I love the show Daria, but the episode See Jane Run will forever make me want to scream in frustration. 1, Track athletes often have stellar grades on their own, many studies prove it. 2, you CAN be a runner and an artist. Alexi Pappas, anyone?! Runners =/= conformists. That said...

This!! So much this! Also, where are the nerds that are really good at sports AND PLAY THEM for that matter?! The so-called jock/geek dichotomy (or spectrum, as I've seen it presented in graphs, as though they are mutually exclusive things) needs to go die in a fire

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

The rent is too damn high

[geekjocktivist]

" It is no concern of mine whether your family has--what was it again?”

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

Bully Apologist Bingo

[geekjocktivist]

XX Soccer and XY Soccer instead of Women’s Soccer and Men’s Soccer

“The sexes in sports should stop being "men” and “women” and instead be designated XX and XY, with intersexed athletes being placed in whichever category closer matches the phenotype that their genotype yields” 

A person’s gender does not always match the genotype and yet the genotype DOES have a massive influence on sports performance, so the competitive categories in sports should  be based off genotype and not a person’s gender.

As for people that need testosterone or estrogen, they can switch genotype categories IF their hormones test to more accurately match the other major genotype’s hormone levels.

Thoughts?

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

Bully Apologist Bingo

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

Bully Apologist Bingo

[geekjocktivist]

Being Abused Doesn’t Make It Okay to Abuse Others

This meme is exactly what I thought when I read this local news article about a former classmate (and one of the worse bullies I had, by the way) that is now in jail for attempted murder after he set his ex on fire. The DA was such a massive abuser apologist! 

“ He described Mr. Osborne’s “less than ideal childhood” that include physical and sexual abuse, as well as a dependency on alcohol that lead to substance abuse and factors to be considered in the sentencing.”

So. Fucking. What. I know lots of survivors of physical and sexual abuse- myself included, given what a woman did to me when I was 7- that have never, ever, EVER considered doing such a thing to an ex. One of my ex lived by Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” remark and did that to at least 9 girls- that was my reason for dumping him, in fact. And, I didn’t realize it at the time because I was in too bad a headspace to defend myself, but I think what he did to me might qualify as abuse- I told him I was extremely uncomfortable with PDA and he’d STILL grab my ass or boobs in public  Is that abuse? It’s definitely crossing boundaries. ANYWAY. Wouldn’t even consider lighting him on fire. 

Article here; trigger warning for graphic descriptions: http://riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com/2018/01/85304/victim-describes-being-set-on-fire-at-ex-boyfriends-sentencing/ 

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

I never understand why people always have to tell survivors of poverty, homelessness, bullying, emotional abuse and other complex traumas that it’s “character-building” as though it makes what happened to them okay.

It’s like, sure, maybe I do have more empathy and whatnot but I would likely be a much more emotionally stable and confident person without the following in my life, thank you very much:

Feeling on edge in bars and other places crowded with people near my age

Feeling on edge near kids’ parties and activities- too much of a reminder of how I was treated at those

Always thinking people are laughing at me behind my back even as they say I’m cool to my face

Extreme trust issues

Hearing people make fun of me for not having the toys and gadgets they have in my head

Feeling nauseous anytime people say nasty things about people who don’t have cars because that was me until my late twenties.

Feeling invisible walls between myself and other people, feeling cut off from everyone

Feeling as though nobody will ever love me because I don’t really love myself, and people love saying “you have to love yourself to be loved by others.”

Being shy and quiet because of the firmly ingrained instinct to try to be as invisible as possible despite invisibility NOT being a good thing in the professional world

Internally panicking anytime there’s an unexpected expense even if I am as an adult (going strictly by my annual income) middle class and exactly as financially secure as any millennial with $50k in student loans can be- I have a car, rent my own place, 2 jobs, health insurance, a retirement plan and all sorts of privileege that’s new and confusing because I was always poor

[politicalsci]

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

Precisely! People that walk to work have less time than people that own cars  and even less time than people that can afford to hire chauffeurs and thus can do work while their chauffeur drives them.

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

You know how the word celibate is used to describe people, whether allosexual or asexual, that choose to abstain from sexual intercourse? There needs to be a word for people that choose to opt out of romantic relationships (whether because they’re aro and find the concept revolting or are alloromantic but have personal reasons for opting out of romance in spite of experiencing romantic attraction.)

[astrodidact]

[republicanidiots]

Hey Trent?  I don’t want my taxes paying to educate the doctor who delivered your baby.  Find a doctor who paid for med school himself, you leech.  .

[geekletespeedyhobbit]

Hey Trent? I don’t want to pay to fix the potholes in the road you live on- or if you’re one of those privileged people on a private road, whatever the first public road you have to drive on from your house is. Hire your own construction worker to fix the potholes. Your damaged tires aren’t my problem.

[geekjocktivist]

Toys R’ Us and #GrowingUpPoor

When everyone’s all depressed about Toys R’ Us closing but you grew up poor so you  never got any of their expensive toys, just toys from the Salvation Army, 99 Cent Store, Walmart or K-Mart. And consequently? You quite frankly don’t really care that they closed.

[geekjocktivist]

What 6 survivors of homelessness want you to know

It's nearly impossible to find permanent affordable housing in San Francisco. Here's how some people have survived homelessness here.

[geekjocktivist]

Homelessness is a traumatic event that may occur alone or in conjunction with other traumatic events (complex trauma). Educators who are not able to recognize the signs of trauma or who are unable to provide the necessary supports may inadvertently maintain an existing barrier or create new barriers to learning.