Blog Review

Whatever is a blog written by John Scalizi. John defines the struggle of what it means to be poor, not how you become poor, or why you are poor, just the truth and raw realism of what being poor means. He writes through anger and passion and without hiding behind a curtain but with intent to showcase his world, a world that nobody notices or understands.

            Each sentence starts with “being poor is.” It is powerful. It’s a list with bullet points to give each statement its own respect. This keeps the reader intrigued because you don’t get lost or become bored like you might in a normal sentence structure paragraph. The emotion seems to pour from his heart right onto a page without shame as though he hates being poor but has accepted it for what it is. He talks about struggling with money and how the smallest amount, even a penny, is sacred. There are bullet points where in one sentence conveys something essential like food is to be valued and appreciated because some nights you might now have any. “Being poor is, crying when you spill the Mac’N Cheese on the floor.” There are references about how he struggles to not only take care of himself but also his kids, trying to explain to them that they need to make a box of raisin bran last. He has no shame about what he writes and what he’s gone through, but some shame about what he has, in a way, been forced to do just to live another day. This would include stealing meat from the store because there is no money to pay for it and there is no other option or he would have done it. The struggle to protect the ones he loves, his kids, and denying jobs he desperately needed because he couldn’t trust a sitter. Especially when the cops keep busting down the door in the neighbors property. Hoping his kids don’t grow because new cloths, even though they are never brand new, seem so hard to obtain. Shoes with glued on soles and underwear from good will was their normal. He knows how much everything costs because he is poor enough he can count his dollars.

John, this man who has struggled through everything reveals that this post is not about him, but about compassion. In 2005 Katrina hit New Orleans and destroyed everything. He knew that there were people there left in the same shape he’s lived almost his whole life. It’s the outcasts, the overlooked, the ones who really need just a bottle of water. Who at least had something, but now really have nothing. People may ask those people why didn’t they leave; he explains they had no place to go, just like he didn’t, and that made him angry, angry for them. He defines what it means to be poor, what it means to struggle, the realism and rawness of what being poor makes you feel like. The ability to showcase that he exists and that this world exists and you may choose to ignore even when real people are living it.