Relative Poverty

I know when some people think of poverty they think of rural areas like in the documentary we watched (Brother's Keeper). My idea of poverty is a little bit different. I am from a very rural area. We have one traffic light and it's just a caution light. We have one store and it's run by my grandfather's first cousin, E.L. and everyone that ever went to my high school would always stop at "E.L's" after school to get a drink or get gas since it was the only place within about 10-15 miles to do so. My neighbor to the right is a farmer and his family, and my neighbor to the left is my cousin living in what used to be my grandmother and grandfather's house before they passed away. I had lived in the same place my entire life until I came to Samford. So when I think of a rural area, I don't think of poverty. I think of my neighbor who is more wealthy than anyone would ever know by talking to him. I think about E.L. who has more money saved up than I could ever even imagine, yet still drives the same truck he has had since I can remember.

E.L.'s store

View from my front yard into my neighbor's farm (and my adorable puppy Charlie)

Basically I think it all comes down to relative poverty. Two people from two different areas could have the same income but one could be in poverty and the other one not in poverty. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the cost of living is lower in rural areas so they are not going to have to pay as much for bills, a house, etc. Second, the rural person could possibly have other advantages like being able to get food from their garden or eggs from the chickens they raise. This helps them save a lot of money. The cost of living isn't the only thing that poverty depends on. There is also the factor of what sort of things people in a certain area value. For example, in the city, someone could live without a car. They could use public transportation which can get expensive if you have to use it everyday. In rural areas, that's not really an option. If you or your family doesn't have a car, you just sit at home. So while the two people may have the same income, it doesn't necessarily mean they are at the same place on the poverty scale. With the cost of living being so radically different in different areas, it's hard for me to believe there is a perfect measure of absolute poverty. It's not that I think there aren't people in rural areas that are in poverty. I know there are a lot. I just think that while some people may be under the poverty line, they very well might be living off what they grow/raise and not be as bad off as they seem.



 

 

2008. Lindsey. Absolute Poverty Vs. Relative Poverty: The Search for Survival. http://voices.yahoo.com/absolute-poverty-vs-relative-poverty-search-for-909253.html

Recidivism

About 40% of people on probation or parole right now will return to prison in the future for another crime they commit. Why is this? Don't they get enough of it the first time? It's like once they commit one crime, they are stuck in a continuous loop they can never get out of.

There are several reasons why people become repeat offenders. First of all, for some, prison is better than any sort of life they could have outside in the real world. Prison offers a place to sleep, 3 meals a day, and recreational activities like television, basketball, and reading. For someone who has been in prison their whole life, getting released might seem scary. They will no doubt have a stigma attached to them and probably have a hard time finding a job. This might eventually lead to homelessness and could be a reason for them to commit another crime because their life in prison was better than what they have now.

Another reason for recidivism is that for some people, a life of crime is all they have ever known. I work in the Electronic Monitoring Program for Family Court of Jefferson County. I see tons of kids that are on house arrest for months go straight back to detention once they have been released because they commit another crime. Most of them have had to fend for themselves their entire lives. A lot of them also have parents who are also criminals. They just don't know what it's like to live life without being a criminal.

Recidivism is a huge problem because it proves that our prisons are not really doing anything to rehabilitate people. They are just punishing them and then releasing them. We need a system that not only punishes people but also helps them to improve themselves. I don't know if or when the system will ever be improved, but if something doesn't change the statistics will just stay the same or possibly get worse.


2011. Repeat Offenders. The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/27/AR2011022703275.html

How are social networking sites affecting our relationships?

Social networking sites became popular several years ago and ever since then they have stayed an important part of our everyday lives. We had MySpace in middle school, moved to Facebook in high school, and now we're all pinning things that we will probably never do to Pinterest. Regardless of which site we are using, we are constantly checking our phones or computers to see what our friends are up to or to post a witty status. A website I found says that Facebook users worldwide spend around 10.5 billion minutes on Facebook per day(that's on a computer-not including mobile devices). That is equivalent to almost 20,000 years. Social networking sites can be a huge benefit to us. They definitely widen our networks because they allow for people across the world that we have never even met to be in our lives. The question is, how is all of this social networking affecting our relationships with people in real life?

As far as I am concerned, I have a love-hate relationship when it comes to social sites like Facebook.

 There are some people that are my friends on Facebook that make me thankful that I have an easy way to keep in touch with them. For example, I have people that I graduated with that I was friends with, but not good enough friends to still hang out together after we have moved on from high school. Through Facebook, I am able to know how they are doing, keep up with what they are doing in school, etc. If it wasn't for social networking, I probably wouldn't see or hear from them again until our high school reunion, even though we maintained a good friendship all throughout high school. Then there are people like my best friend. We did everything together in high school. She went on my family vacations with me, we stayed at each others' houses all the time, and we finished each others' sentences constantly. We ended up going to different schools but promised we would stay as close as we were in high school. While we definitely are still close and still see each other when we are both home at the same time, sometimes I find myself letting Facebook be my only contact with her and I have to remind myself to actually call her or visit her. I read her statuses and feel like she's telling me what's new in her life but then I realize that I haven't actually spoken to her in a few weeks.

While social networking sites do allow for a lot of ties, I think it lessens the amount of strong ties in our lives. We are less embedded in our relationships with people even though we have more of them. I also think that, like me, a lot of people forget that Facebook or Twitter or any site shouldn't replace an actual real life relationship with someone. We get lazy and before we know it, it has been a month since we have spoken to someone even though it feels like we just spoke to them today because they updated their status. Our relationships with people are important. Face to face talks are important and are something that Facebook and even Skype can't replace. I'm adding a few pictures below that I found really interesting.

 

Laird. 2012. Is Social Media Destroying Real World Relationships?          http://mashable.com/2012/06/14/social-media-real-world-infographic/