Cloaking the Poor: Reading and Representation in American Literature
The poor cannot be saved by respecting their cultural identity. What they need is money.
The Future is Another Country
The poor cannot be saved by respecting their cultural identity. What they need is money.
Underserving of merit in any other way, Donald Trump’s overweening emphasis on his financial success is an effective way to establish social dominance and gain power from individuals who consider wealth the ultimate “accomplishment.”
This is what we often overlook when we write about work: people exist beyond of systems of labor and exploitation.
Given this picture of the state as defined by poverty, it is little wonder that West Virginia became known for its support of Donald Trump and his promise to “make America great again.” But, here in West Virginia, there is also a sense that our collective longing for the good old days has been hanging around for quite some time.
The failure engendered in poverty is a collective one. It represents our willingness to accept a world where “the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many”—a world where those living east of the Anacostia are condemned to destitution and misery.