Posted on 11/03/2017 4:41:31 PM PDT by mdittmar
On a recent weeknight, writing instructor Ellen Tara James-Penny sits with a student in a parking lot near San José State University for more than an hour, explaining the perils of “hasty generalizations” and other pitfalls in college-level writing. Then, James-Penny and her husband get into their aging Volvo sedan and drive a few blocks to a local church, where she sleeps in their car with one dog and he sleeps in a tent a few feet away with the other.
Despite the four college courses she teaches, and the master’s degree she earned a few years ago, James-Penny is homeless. She simply does not earn enough money as an adjunct professor—that is a college educator who lacks tenure or job security, and typically is hired on a per-class basis—to afford the high cost of rents in Silicon Valley. Last year, James-Penny made $28,700, according to California’s state worker salary database. This year, she expects to make a little more, thanks to raises negotiated by her union, the California Faculty Association.
(Excerpt) Read more at neatoday.org ...
Beat me to it.
A Great Looking Dog (on the right...)
The "prof" looks fine too. Just not a deep thinker.
See #42.
That’s a hasty generalization.
Would you let a beautiful dog like that live in a car?
Tara’s had too much sun.
There is a two-year waiting list to park an RV at a trailer park in Silicon Valley.
Should have gotten a Master in Writing in Spanish not English ... much more demand in Ca.
Not my dog.
Whoa, before I drown in sympathy tears, it should be noted that the federal government completely overhauled the student loan repayment system in 2010.
Everyone gets to go on income contingent payment plans, even if that means $5 per month on $300,000 debt.
It only makes sense if you can get the politics of it. The default rates were horrific, it reverberated. Then, presto! Loans are being taken out of default status left and right. Credit reports are clearing up, you can see where this is going.
Someone who is low income and homeless absolutely should be able to get not only income based repayment, but a hardship deferment.
How she could not know this is a mystery.
Owe no man anything but to love one another...
Well, that rules out a name-change to Ellen Tara James-Pretty-Penny.
Unless the brown-eyed one is Ellen.
That’s a drawback of White Supremacy...
And age; who am I to complain about the degradation of age?
I’ve seen a few Class 8 straight truck RVs. They seem to be pretty cool.
News flash for Ms and Mr. James-Penny: There is much more to this country than Silicon Valley.
Move.
I know lots of people that live on boats. Know one gal who lives in a travel trailer. Don’t know anyone that lives in their car or sleeps in a tent. Just shaking my head.
The only person I know of who got a professorship with just a masters degree was Neil Armstrong in aeronautical engineering and he walked on the freaking moon.
This story appeared on FR some time ago and in spite of numerous suggestions, she appears not to have accomplished much since. There are many ways to live on $29K a year in the bay area - a second job is one, roomies are another. The main problem is she is using dogs as an excuse not to move on. Finding an inexpensive place for one person to live is pretty easy; a couple is harder; with 2 dogs is near impossible because they require a yard, where they can bark and run around.
there are more than a few places like these for those looking to live in the city on the cheap:
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/roo/d/private-master-bedroom-in/6359867261.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sub/d/sale-bunk-bed-in-shared-room/6364612518.html
In San Francisco there are more people that have dogs than have children. This marginal life for the Bay area is trite, there are tens of thousands that live in trailers, AirBNB rooms that are too crappy to rent as an apartment and all sorts of homeless quasi abandoned buildings.
You can’t rent an apartment for less than the moon. You have to have good credit or you can’t rent either. No apartments can meet zoning to get built. It is a sad sack area in many ways. If you have a home anywhere, multiply its value by 300% and that is what it costs in the bay area if you can afford utilities that are double or worse.
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