Hot cross buns || Hot cross buns || One a penny, two a penny || Hot cross buns . . .

[twoapennything]

Despite the obvious conclusion from the subject line of this post, my user name of twoapennything does not come from the Hot Cross Buns song (although, mmmm, hot cross buns!) -- it actually comes from Les Miserables. Marius sees Cosette for the first time and asks, apparently agog, "Eponine, who was that girl?" and Eponine answers (bitchily and with a toss of her ratty hair, no doubt): "Some bourgeois two-a-penny thing . . . " From the Now You Know files . . . now onto the real subject of this post.

Gakked from laurelwood: The Food Stamp Diet.

I read this with great interest, as at least half of my clients are on food stamps and that is their only form of income for food. Well, let's back up. It's far easier to get food stamps (here in Colorado, food stamps are called Quest -- they are no longer in coupon form, but are now on a card, kind of like a debit card) as a single woman with children than it is to get food stamps as a single adult who for whatever reason is unable to afford food. There's a commercial that plays out here on the radio, which features an obviously older woman saying, "I had a hard time meeting my nutritional needs, so I joined the food stamps program!"

Like it's that easy. Honey, food stamps ain't no club that you "join." While I think the premise of individuals experimenting with trying to feed themselves on $3.00 per day is definitely a worthy one, for it quickly dispels the myth that people who receive food stamps do so only because they are lazy -- the stress of trying to support one's self on a paltry monthly food stipend is very real. If a person is homeless, the challenge is exacerbated by the fact that one cannot store food unless it's both easily portable and non-perishable. It obviously costs more to drop $5.75 at Taco Bell for one meal than it does to spend the same amount on a bag of pintos and a bag of rice which might be stretched out into multiple meals if proper food storage and refrigeration is available.

An adult who can no longer work due to the progression of a mental illness can apply for SSI or SSDI* It can literally take years to be approved for SSDI or SSI through the Social Security Administration. Invariably there will be multiple denials of benefit eligibility, and an individual must go through a lengthy appeals process in order to approved for benefits. Some people never are approved. As a single adult, it is only through SSI or SSDI that an individual might have access to Medicaid or Medicare. In Colorado we have a program called CICP, which is the Colorado Indigent Care Program, and it's actually a fairly decent program for those who are low income and cannot afford health insurance on their own; however, it specifically excludes psychatropic drugs and mental health treatment. So, yeah, you have bronchitis? No problem if you have CICP. Bi-Polar Disorder? Shit-outta-luck. Anyhow, when an individual is in the process of applying for SSI or SSDI, they are sometimes eligible for Aid to the Needy/Dependent, or AND as it's called, which is a whopping $230.00 a month. Sometimes food stamps are offered along with AND, usually in the amount of $120.00 per month.

Imagine trying to support yourself on $350.00 per month -- including food, housing, transportation, medications and medical care.

*blinks*

While I do think the challenge of trying to feed yourself on $3.00 a day is a worthy one in order to gain perspective, I'm a little nonplussed by the flip "the hottest diet sweeping the nation" opening to the article. That's a bit condescending. It's like quipping that, hey, wouldn't it be fun to move to Ethiopia and take off a few pounds? After all, there's no food there . . .

* The difference between SSI and SSDI is that SSDI is for individuals who have worked long enough to have paid into the Social Security system for approximately ten years or more; SSI is for individuals who do not have an appropriate work and social security history, such as a 23-year-old who is disabled by severe schizophrenia, for example. Children can receive SSI. Also, SSI or SSDI, or both, can be granted for any form of disability, not just for a mental illness.

In other news, I picked up my new glasses last Friday and they're really really comfortable. As someone who has never worn glasses, I was worried the adjustment would be huge. However, it's not been bad and the frames are very comfy. For the first few days everything appeared rounded and, at times, sloping downward in kind of a Dali-esque way. I think that was the astygmatism at play.

I'm debating driving down to dh's workplace and park in his employee parking spot, and then hoof it for the few remaining blocks to Coors Field, in order to see fireworks. The kids really want to see fireworks and it's been several years since we saw a formal display on the 4th. The only thing that bothers me is having to walk with my children through the district where all the shelters are. Although the shelters have strict curfews, there's a huge amount of loitering and public intoxication and alcohol and drug use in the area. Hmm . . . maybe I'll try and find a more roundabout way to get down toward Coors Field. The good news is that if we have to turn around and come home because of, I dunno, road baracades or insane traffic/people, we're only four minutes from home in that area.

Okay, off to prepare the fixin's for BBQ and try and wade through Mt. Everest (AKA my laundry pile) . . . Happy July 4th to my fellow Americans! *lights sparkler!*

Comments

[aome.livejournal.com]

Heh - yeah, I assumed it was from the Hot Cross Buns song. :)

A local columnist responds to the food stamp diet challenge - but yeah, it's obviously a tough thing to achieve, and maintain any semblence of nutrition. To classify it as a "trend" is insulting.

How's your knee, btw?
What I remember, in terms of illustrating global food-distribution, was the lesson from college where 100 people participate, and draw lots as they enter the "feast". Something like, say, 75 people eat rice on the floor with their fingers. Twenty people get rice and beans and maybe something else, and a utensil. The remaining five get a banquet.

[twoapennything.livejournal.com]

Hot Cross Buns = Sexy Mad Buttocks!

That was an interesting response and that columnist's solution is definitely a good one. But some people can't eat grains like that, such as those with Celiac's Disease or food allergies. Fundamentally, the nation's supplemental food and nutrition program is broken.

I love that college lesson you shared -- very demonstrative. I wonder how many people would sit on the floor with nothing at all?

Thanks for asking about my knee. Frankly, the news is not good. I need to have a full knee replacement, which at my age is practically unheard of. I have severe arthritis, plus the accidental falls totally dessimated what was left of my cartlidge. It's like a shark attack in there, all shredded up and gross!

I told my orthopedic surgeon that I preferred to take a more conservative approach until I can lose some of my weight. We're focusing on pain management -- he's given me something called Naprocin (?) that I'll take twice daily, and also a reserve RX for Tylenol #3, to take when the pain gets really bad.

[pumagrrl.livejournal.com]

Eating for $3 a day? I'll get one meal ...
Trying to live on $350 a month? That's less than my rent. No wonder people resort to crime to make a living.

[twoapennything.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. For example, the cafe in my building charges $1.95 for a bowl of oatmeal -- that's two-thirds of the daily budget right there!

I mean, I can easily spend $350 for two-three weeks worth of food for our family of four.

[shewalksonroses.livejournal.com]

Honey, food stamps ain't no club that you "join."

I've been trying to figure out what to write here for days, now, because although I'm not really comfortable going into details on a public post (or indeed on anything online, other than email or my own locked, filtered LJ), you know my background, and....fuck, yeah. *squeezes you*

One of the things I really love about you, J, is that you get it. The older I get and the farther from home I travel, in time and space and education and life experience, the harder it is to find people who really just get it. It's easy to find people who've been there, sometimes, but it's truly rare to find people who understand without having actually been there - with just having cared about people who've been there. Thanks for that. <333

And on that ambiguous-pronoun-laden note, I'm going to bed. :))

[twoapennything.livejournal.com]

*hugs you tight* Yes, these things are very hard to talk about -- people who don't even remotely know what it's like to experience having to rely on public assistance are quick to judge others, with outrageous misconceptions of what kind of people are poor, and what that means about the individual who for whatever reason is having to accept public aid to survive. But, you know, people are ignorant and mean, and that's their burden to carry. I'd rather be poor than be an asshole.

Sleep well, love ♥