Posted on 11/12/2012 12:47:47 PM PST by mojito
In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore — equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird — Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric....
“I have $80 bucks left!” Magida said. “I’m so happy!”
“I have $12,” Mak said with a frown.
The two friends weren’t tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for...food stamps.
Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding...to dry up. She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then she’s used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house...and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away....
Mak, 31, grew up in Westchester, graduated from the University of Chicago and toiled in publishing in New York during his 20s before moving to Baltimore last year with a meager part-time blogging job and prospects for little else. About half of his friends in Baltimore have been getting food stamps since the economy toppled, so he decided to give it a try; to his delight, he qualified for $200 a month.
“I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.”
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
h/t Vanderluen.
everyone should apply for food stamps, lets break this government so we can end it and start fresh.
I think this is part of the problem...
Yeah, It’s a great lifestyle... until it isn’t.
Just wait until the ‘necessary’ pullbacks on food stamps occur. Fifty bucks here, (Ohio), fifty bucks there and then you’re doing dumpster diving and raiding other people’s gardens for food.
In light of what I did during my twenties, I just want to smack the spoiled brats. Two jobs, school, and ramen were my life.
...then starve, loser. Or go with basics like beans, rice, and potatoes.
(I'm referring to the quoted speaker, not you, grimalkin.)
So, Magida got a useless degree in college. Mak left a real job (albeit one that could have been in trouble) for an incredibly low-paying job with no actual future.
I’m with you guys—smacks for both of them.
I didn’t get to read the entire article—going to salon.com will cause my IQ to drop.
They start raiding gardens and they’re going to get either a buckshot enema or a canine ankle bracelet.
Shame is underrated.
SnakeDoc
I don’t object to people buying good ingredients with food stamps. It’s often cheaper to cook gourmet stuff from scratch than to buy junky boxed, precooked, or frozen dinners with little nutritional value. In fact, I occasionally teach a class for low-income mothers and try to convince them to do just that.
The issue is not what people use food stamps for, it’s who uses them.
That article is from March 15, 2010!!! WHEN there were ONLY 38 millions people on food stamps. NOW there are 47.1 million!!
same here. 2 jobs... Kraft macaroni and cheese and canned green beans (generic) every night of the week except weekends, when I allowed myself to grill hamburger. this was my way of life and I didn’t think to go on the dole.
Wow. Only $350 between the two of them? We saw a lady at a grocery store yesterday that had that much in two carts and paid for it all with the SNAP/grifter card. Nary a hint of shame either.
Powered off-brand Mac-n-cheese here. During college, it was all I could afford.
When I had a few extra dollars, I’d add canned chili to the mix and have “gourmet chilimac”
This is the New Normal, people. No disincentive to get off the dole. “You can buy anything with food stamps now”. If I gave you free stuff, would you turn it down???
Wait until austerity comes. The public leeches will go nuts because their EBT cards wonk work for Brie, Endive, or imported Spanish olives.
Public Assistance used to be an embarrassment. Now it’s an expected public allowance.
Powered off-brand Mac-n-cheese here. During college, it was all I could afford.
When I had a few extra dollars, I’d add canned chili to the mix and have “gourmet chilimac”
This is the New Normal, people. No disincentive to get off the dole. “You can buy anything with food stamps now”. If I gave you free stuff, would you turn it down???
Wait until austerity comes. The public leeches will go nuts because their EBT cards wonk work for Brie, Endive, or imported Spanish olives.
Public Assistance used to be an embarrassment. Now it’s an expected public allowance.
Powered off-brand Mac-n-cheese here. During college, it was all I could afford.
When I had a few extra dollars, I’d add canned chili to the mix and have “gourmet chilimac”
This is the New Normal, people. No disincentive to get off the dole. “You can buy anything with food stamps now”. If I gave you free stuff, would you turn it down???
Wait until austerity comes. The public leeches will go nuts because their EBT cards wonk work for Brie, Endive, or imported Spanish olives.
Public Assistance used to be an embarrassment. Now it’s an expected public allowance.
Powered off-brand Mac-n-cheese here. During college, it was all I could afford.
When I had a few extra dollars, I’d add canned chili to the mix and have “gourmet chilimac”
This is the New Normal, people. No disincentive to get off the dole. “You can buy anything with food stamps now”. If I gave you free stuff, would you turn it down???
Wait until austerity comes. The public leeches will go nuts because their EBT cards wonk work for Brie, Endive, or imported Spanish olives.
Public Assistance used to be an embarrassment. Now it’s an expected public allowance.
Ramen was a luxury. I lived on oatmeal.
Agreed. A Cloward-Piven scenario will actually benefit conservatives. Bankruptcy and/or hyperinflation seems to be unavoidable anyway, so we may as well make it work to the benefit of the producers of society, not the losers featured in this article.
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