Tag Archives: poverty

Why Baltimore Blacks Are Down and Out

By Robin Bates | Published: May 7, 2015

Black poverty in Baltimore has racial causes that are invisible to most people. Dickens would understand.

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GOP Budget Proposes Gruel Cuts

By Robin Bates | Published: March 24, 2015

Mean-spirited legislators who seek to cut food stamps and other programs for the poor bear more than a little resemblance to the workhouse authorities in “Oliver Twist.”

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Raised in Foster Care, Saved by Oates

By Robin Bates | Published: July 10, 2014

Joyce Carol Oates’ Wonderland Quartet provided a lifeline for this woman who grew up in foster care.

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Unemployment & “the Undeserving Poor”

By Robin Bates | Published: December 27, 2013

Are those who will lose unemployment insurance tomorrow deserving or undeserving of support? George Bernard Shaw has something to say about that.

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Feeling the Pinch During the Holidays

By Robin Bates | Published: December 13, 2013

Barbara Kingsolver gives a vivid depiction of life for the working poor during the holiday season.

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Life for the Poor Is No Crystal Stair

By Robin Bates | Published: December 2, 2013

NYT columnist Charles Blow appears to be channeling Langston Hughes as he gives advice to the poor.

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Grapes of Wrath, Still Relevant

By Robin Bates | Published: February 28, 2013

Life today is a far cry from the Great Depression, but Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” is still relevant.

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Gingrich Auditions for a Dickens Villain

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2011

Newt Gingrich’s proposal that poor children be allowed to serve as janitors in their schools calls for a Dickensian response.

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Is America Selling Its Soul?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 7, 2011

The 1941 film “The Devil and Daniel Webster” is unsettling by how relevant to our current day economic crisis is its story of America selling its soul.

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