well... that's debatable
Posted on 11/24/2013 12:09:12 PM PST by dynachrome
Linda Walther Tirado, or “KillerMartinis,” has received over $50,000 in donations after she wrote an essay about her thoughts regarding poverty.
The blog post, posted on her Gawker profile page, was titled “Why I Make Terrible Decisions, or, poverty thoughts.”
In it, Tirado discusses poverty and how it affects people, making herself the main example.
“Rest is a luxury for the rich,” she wrote. “I get up at 6AM, go to school (I have a full courseload, but I only have to go to two in-person classes) then work, then I get the kids, then I pick up my husband, then I have half an hour to change and go to Job 2. I get home from that at around 1230AM, then I have the rest of my classes and work to tend to. I’m in bed by 3. This isn’t every day, I have two days off a week from each of my obligations. I use that time to clean the house and soothe Mr. Martini and see the kids for longer than an hour and catch up on schoolwork.
In her post she explores how when she was pregnant she was living on food stamps and in a weekly motel, with a minifridge and a microwave, and how the closest Planned Parenthood to her is several hours away.
She also explores fast food (“convenience food is just that. And we are not allowed many conveniences”); depression (“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.”); and poor financial decisions (“I make a lot … 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?”)
Tirado now says that her life has changed drastically as a result of her post going viral and her getting the tens of thousands of dollars in donations on gofundme. “I have more money to work with than I have ever had at a time in my adult life,” she said.
She has quit her second job to work on becoming healthy and seeing her kids more, and she has also received a book offer and is writing a book proposal.
oh good so you arent a mutant
Does this author live near an interstate, or does she have to take the wagon trail?
Assuming she can take an interstate, or at least a decent 4-lane state road, let's assume she lives 180 miles away from a PP. At freeway speeds (~60 mph), even at a paltry 25 mpg, she'll use about 7 gallons of gas. At the current $3.25 or so, she'll spend a bit over $23 on a one-way trip. You wouldn't want to make that trip every day, but I wouldn't consider that "a lot of money in gas."
I think you are right...
Updated posted by Linda Walther Tirado 1 day ago
Okay, at some point I am...Okay, at some point I am going to have to bump this number to something that really does make me feel like an ass. I hope you people are happy with yourselves for that. God knows I am.
http://www.gofundme.com/59yrak
well... that's debatable
made malleable by the Refiner's Fire
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled What It’s Like To Be Poor - And Make Terrible Decisions, dynachrome wrote:
You can read all about her and donate here, if you wish. I won’t. In nine days she has raised more than I make in a year. I ain’t poor. (Is she on medicaid, food stamps, HUD,etc.?)
http://www.gofundme.com/59yrak
Someone is offering this arrogant lowlife POS a book deal?!
I wrote a thing on the Internet about being poor, and it’s gone sort of viral. Like, now I have a book agent viral. So I have a gofundme, because I can’t write a book proposal and keep two full-time jobs. If you can help a struggling sudden artist out, that’d be awesome. If you do, we’ll assume that you are simply preordering, and I’ll send you a copy when I have them in hand.
I am sort of surprised that smoking was the thing that got everyone all aflutter. I had thought that the concept of self-medication and limited health care access would be not unfamiliar to people who have read the news recently.
I did not know that people who were not poor hadn’t at least pieced together that poverty is depressing. Being even a little poor sucks, guys. Not fun. I’m not sure why people would expect a sunny attitude about the whole thing, when being super-friendly to anyone that walks within a few feet of us is probably the thing we do all day for money. That dude who cut you off in traffic? Smile and apologize for being in his way. The guy who just barely got ahead of you in a long line and you have two things but he has two baskets? Ask him if you can help him unload it all, and while you’re at it organize it so that all the frozen is bagged together. It feels like that. And if you once snap, if you don’t smile widely enough or sincerely enough, Asshole Entitledpants will complain about you to management, because it’s your whole job to cater to imbeciles. Oh, and once you’re off work, smile and nod at the man behind you in line who desperately needs to unburden himself of his rage at you for having the fucking temerity to get formula for your baby on WIC, because that shit takes forever. Never mind that it only takes forever because the requirements are so strict. You know, like the requirements that very dude probably wants to put on food stamps so you can only buy approved brands and sizes of specific items. LOGIC! Yeah, so do all that all day, and then tell me you’re not going to feel like collapsing. How is it possible that people hadn’t assumed that we’d be depressed?
Oh, and while I am on a good rant, I am a bit irate at the number of people who apparently have never read any financial news, ever, and still manage to have money somehow. If you do not understand the use of the Fed or at least the basics of currency and markets but your livelihood depends on those things, you are a willful idiot and, since you think we live in a strictly meritocratic society, should immediately be stripped of your assets and made to work at my restaurant as a dishwasher. Our actual dishwasher, who is a no shit physicist but is undocumented and so washes dishes, can have your money to get his paperwork through and do physics shit. Newsflash, oh ye of little literacy, there are more poor people because some shenanigans went on and suddenly we value shareholders over customers. It isn’t because suddenly millions of people forgot how to work and became lazy and stupid. That doesn’t make any sense, unless you think there is a strange virus spreading through the land that only you have spotted, in which case I suggest you get thee to a doctor. Now.
http://killer-martinis.squarespace.com/my-wordpress/2013/11/21/what-happened-now
FWIW I grew up poor. Dirt poor. No depression, just no money.
She is full of BS, a scam artist, imho.
better to fill those hard to reach places...
Patriot Act vs. checking account?? Connection???
BS flags everywhere
I don’t get that either. I think banks ask for an ID to open a bank account. Otherwise not sure what the impediment is to opening a bank account.
Maybe this ties in with the liberal view that voter ID is a barrier to voting, that it is hard to get an ID???
Is she reporting it?
I thought the article was very interesting. I have no idea who she is [don't really care] or if she is as she represents herself. But I think her reasons for the poor decision-making that leads to and maintains poverty were very interesting.
I hope the IRS sees this, but I can guess that she is an obozo lover, so she’ll skate.
In this country of endless opportunity, people are poor by choice.
A craton of cigarettes cost me $6.50 at most. Of course it does take a few minutes of time and effort to make them..........
I also call BS on this story. Her lack of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors is a dead give away. I know plenty of smart successful people who can’t spell worth a darn, but the opposite is rarely true. In addition, my husband and I are barely making it right now, but I don’t consider us poor or depressed. It’s more like “a rough patch,” that I know we will get through because we’re smart and resourceful. Once again, this woman is a poser, IMO.
Open a checking account and they ask you questions about whether or not you’ll be expecting large sums of money transferred internationally through the account. I guess if you’re al-Quaida, or really stupid, you have trouble with that question. You are informed that it is a provision of the Patriot Act.
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