Shedding Light on a Dark Path: What Spirituality Can Do for People in Poverty

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

                                                           ---Hebrews 11:1

There are times in everyone's lives where the world and everything in it seems to be spiraling out of control. There are also times where the spiral appears to be endless, growing darker and darker the longer one falls. Individuals and families in severe states of poverty experience this falling sensation on a daily basis, especially when the government is doing little to eradicate the problem in a timely fashion. Based on past observations, I find myself frequently coming to the conclusion that people in poverty cope with their suffering in two major ways. Some feel as though they have no choice but to simply wait around for government policy makers to make their move and improve the lives of millions via new job opportunities, health care, child care, and so on. Others, on the other hand, make the effort to rid themselves of the many fears and anxieties associated with poverty by replacing all of their trust in man with a spiritual belief system.  As featured in the photo above, when all hope is lost and when one is at their lowest point in life, he/she will often look desperately for other ways to achieve a peaceful and healthy state of mind.


According to a national poll conducted by CNS News in 2013 that featured 2,250 American participants, 74% of respondents stated that they did, in fact, believe that there is a God. While the sample size of the study is somewhat small, the poll still manages to give the impression that beliefs in a higher power remain strong in some form. The problem, however, is that such an impression is often muddled and hazy in both mainstream media and everyday society. One reason for this involves the media's tendency to only report religion centric stories if they involve some type of negative, "extremist" behavior. Reports of people finding the face of Jesus on a piece of buttered toast, protests at veteran funerals by the cultish Westboro Baptist Church, and the inability of various religious scholars to predict the day of "Christ's Second Coming," are all stories that depict both Christianity and spirituality in a negative light. We also seem to be living in an era where the news media is clearly drenched in a thick coating of political correctness, a concept that strives to eliminate the topic of God and religion from any and all circles of public conversation. The point of the matter is that while we are still a nation under God, we do a fairly poor job of showing it.

So what does this do to the mindset of those in poverty? In essence, it prevents them from achieving a sense of spiritual strength that they desperately need in order to uplift their spirits in times when the government is at a clear standstill. It also keeps those in poverty, who have yet to experience what spirituality has to offer, from turning to a faith-based medium. Instead, they are forced to rely on the willpower of the U.S. government, a system that provides physical representations of relief, which, in turn, only seem to provide instant gratification. Many people (my family included) often state that having a faith-based belief system firmly in place helps to generate long-term relief to real-world issues that currently lack real-world solutions. As one may have already guessed, such long-term relief is neither a public policy, nor is it a statewide law. Rather, the relief takes the form of old-fashion, yet all-important human qualities of self-confidence, determination, courage, steadfastness, compassion for others, patience, temperance, sensitivity to others' needs, and most importantly, the ability to persevere through trying times. Furthermore, faith and spirituality serve to remind us that we, as human beings, have both the ability and tenacity to overcome the most difficult of circumstances if we simply embrace our inner strengths. In truth, the more the media moves towards an anti-spiritual stance (the opposite stance of which this country was partially founded upon, by the way), the less likely people will be made aware of what spirituality can actually do for someone in need. Granted, being poor and having these aforementioned qualities is not enough to immediately lift someone out of poverty, but simply knowing that one has the power within themselves to fight the good fight and make a name for themselves at some point in the near future is what truly matters in the end.

In conclusion, even though the subjects of spirituality, faith, and religion are topics of great controversy in this day and age, this should not keep mainstream society from at least acknowledging some of their ideas. Rather than making the effort to exclude these concepts from the public eye, the process of pairing them with the likes of government and political action is the first step towards bringing a sufficient level of  empowerment to those who are down-on-their-luck. In short, we simply need to start having a little more faith...in faith.


http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/poll-americans-belief-god-strong-declining

A CNS News article that manages to show the current decline of America's belief in God via an assortment of poll results from 2013.

Poverty's Psychological Side: The Effects of Poverty on a Child's Brain Development

 When anyone hears the word "poverty," there is a tendency to dwell on the likes of economics, finances, and the ever-present hand of government politics. A major reason for this is simple. Each is considered to be a major, physical characterization of poverty that can be seen with the naked eye and measured using a plethora of scientific tools. One of the real issues at hand, however, involves characteristics of poverty that are not readily apparent, particularly those that affect young children. In short, such descriptors are the effects of poverty on a developing human brain, a topic that, strangely enough, has not received as much attention as one might initially be led to believe. Even so, there are a handful of studies conducted in the past few years that serve to shed some light on this "hidden" issue with the hope that doing so will garner some much needed mainstream attention in the near future.

What Does an Impoverished Child's Brain Look Like?

At face value, many understand the potential environmental influences of poverty on young children who are forced to live under such conditions at a young age. Lack of success in future educational endeavors, for example, is one major result. The question is, are environmental influences solely to blame for poor academic success, or is there something else going on? Researchers who recently conducted a neurological study on impoverished children at Washington University seem to believe so. In short, they firmly support the notion that being in a severe state of poverty can actually "alter the physical makeup of a child's brain." Specifically, the children studied (ages 6-12) "had smaller volumes of white and cortical gray matter, as well as hippocampal and amygdala volumes." For those unfamiliar with each of these terms, white and grey matter are essentially a series of nerve tissues that serve as mailmen for the brain, constantly sending out electrical communication signals to the central nervous system. The hippocampus has the job of "converting short-term memory to long-term memory" and is also involved in one's ability to successfully decipher where they are and where they plan to go in any given physical space (spatial navigation). The amygdala is also involved with memory, but caters heavily to emotions and, in some cases, may even be at the center of various anxiety-related disorders that can arise in early childhood. According to researchers of the aforementioned study, having low volumes in any one, or all of these areas means that their "functions may be impaired" to a considerable degree.

The Potential Impact of Poor Nurturing Skills

On another interesting note, children of parents who demonstrated "poor nurturing skills" over the course of the study showed significantly lower volumes of both white and gray matter in regions of the brain that cater to "learning skills and coping with stress." This suggests that a parent's ability to nurture and take care of his/her child, regardless of outside circumstances, is crucial in providing children with skills that could potentially lift them out of poverty at some point in their young adult lives. As a result of not having quality parental care, children were also found to lack the skills necessary to deal with "stressful life events" inside and outside of the home, thus dwindling their chances even more of, one day, escaping poverty's grasp.

The Impact of Urban Environment Noise

To no one's surprise, past research on a child's early exposure and full-fledged experiences with poverty have amounted to a number of issues, ranging anywhere from "poor cognitive outcomes and school performance, to a higher risk for antisocial behaviors and mental disorders." In relation to school performance, in particular, one study found that "children with lower socioeconomic status tended to have less efficient auditory processing abilities" where a large portion of brain activity would be geared towards sounds from the surrounding environment, rather than towards the sound of a single voice. This finding not only supports the "known correlation between low income and the amount of noise exposure in urban populations," but also suggests that this may be a reason for why many children of this status find it difficult to concentrate and pay close attention in classroom settings. This could also explain the frequent accounts of misdiagnosing low economic status children as having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), where symptoms of fidgeting, inability to listen intently, and/or short attention spans mirror some of the major outcomes of growing accustomed to noise in urban environments.

What Remains to be Seen

In the end, further studies are needed to effectively answer the question of whether poverty conditions are the primary cause for keeping portions of a child's mental capabilities at bay. What little data  does exist, however, truly manages to speak volumes in terms of what policy makers may need to consider in the future if the mental development of children in poverty is to be protected and properly cared for.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/28/early-childhood-poverty-damages-brain-development-study-finds

 USA News', Allie Bidwell, discusses the overall impact of poverty on developing brains of young children by discussing the results and implications of a neurological study conducted in 2013 by Washington University in St. Louis.

 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-growing-up-in-poverty-may-affect-a-childs-developing-brain-180947832/?no-ist

Author, Joseph Stromberg, discusses what the current body of research shows with respect to a child growing up in poverty. Such research includes, but is not limited to nurturing skills and noise within impoverished urban environments. 

Taking a Leap of Faith: Macro and Micro Responsibilites of a Social Worker in Fighting Poverty

Not once did I ever believe that the poverty plague would hit so close to home. Over the course of five long years, my good friend, Mark, struggled endlessly to find his place in a world that rejected him for his mental disability.  On account of not receiving enough oxygen at birth, Mark is forced to live with physical and mental conditions that often separate him from both the social and work-related realms of society. From his rapid fire stuttering speech patterns and low IQ, to his poor hygiene and the inability to differentiate his friends from his enemies, Mark has been and continues to be placed into a sociological, psychological, and even financial standstill. With the untimely divorce of his parents after 15+ years of marriage, Mark was forced to make it on his own even though he was not well-equipped with the appropriate set of tools to do so. As a result, bouts of homelessness became his reality in between his search for a steady job. Now at 26 years of age, Mark is receiving much needed assistance from a social worker, who continues to provide him with the skills necessary to live a modest and comfortable lifestyle. Over the past few months, Mark has learned what it means to be independent and self-sustaining in a world where embracing individualism becomes crucial to one's survival.  This brief synopsis of Mark's story is a clear example of a micro scenario that social workers are confronted with on a daily basis. By being aware of and understanding the problems associated with poverty that are faced by individuals on a micro level, social workers then have the means to attack issues of poverty on a grander scale (macro), a level that is critical in winning the fight against poverty once and for all.

The problem, however, is that social workers (at least, in this day and age), never seem to move beyond the micro level of change. Granted, helping individuals to rise above their poverty-stricken lives one person (or family) at a time does bring us closer to the war on poverty finish line, but it will not help us win the race. Becoming victorious in this way not only requires a thorough understanding of micro-level techniques, but also requires professional social workers to tackle their fears of the unknown by being public advocates for change. In short, remaining "silent" on the macro level (as many social workers currently do and have done so for decades) stagnates our ability as social workers to create meaningful change not only throughout the U.S., but also within parts of the world that are hit hardest by poverty.  According to author, Rachel L. West, a potential reason for this inability in present day social workers to advocate for their clients on a political level "involves schools not doing enough to teach students their options for a future career." Rather than present students with a plethora of branches that are a significant part of the social work tree, for example, students are, instead, shown only a few of the major branches (Mental Health, Community Organizing, etc.) without any opportunity to explore other important options. In truth, this is one problem that must be addressed if advocacy on the macro-level is to become commonplace once again.

There is also this blatant fear of change that corrupts the hearts of social workers, their clients, and especially policy makers.  The latter of the three, in particular, are often so caught up with whether a proposed policy will be effective in the long run that the policy, itself, never even manages to get its foot in the door of poverty, let alone past it.  The issue, in this case, may involve the financial aspects of approving proposals made by social workers. Policy makers want to be absolutely certain that a given policy proposal will be successful before making the decision to provide the necessary funding. What they fail to realize, however, is that taking a genuine "leap of faith" rather than a "leap of scientific fact" is often necessary in promoting true change.

 

Providing people with feelings of empowerment on a global scale is one specific element of taking this "leap of faith".

More than 40 years ago, American citizens took their leap of faith in creating, developing, and publicly promoting widespread protests for the Civil Rights Movement, the War on Vietnam, and other government-related issues, much to their success. They not only created meaningful change, but also managed to firmly cement themselves in the cobblestone of American history. With the state of poverty the way it is currently, there is no excuse for social workers and citizens alike to refrain from uniting once again. Impoverished children, also known as our world's future, have been waiting for quite some time to see themselves rescued from their conditions, being that they are the poorest group in America to date.  With that said, do we, as social workers, have the right to deny these children their right to a healthy and successful livelihood by clinging to what is known, whilst fearing the unknown? Are we, in fact, guilty of being both part of the solution to ending poverty, as well as part of the problem in letting it continue?  In the end, to answer any one of these questions accurately and with confidence, it becomes imperative that we, as social workers, make the effort to clearly identify the fears of both clients and policy makers if any further progress is to be made in winning that dreaded poverty triathlon.


 http://cmatthewhawkinssw.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-social-workers-agents-of-status-quo.html

Professor Hawkins' blog post that poses the question of whether social workers are more concerned with being agents for widespread social change, or if their goal is to simply abide by the status quo of their respective agency.

http://cmatthewhawkinssw.blogspot.com/2013/03/social-workers-as-change-agents.html

Professor Hawkins' blog post that speaks of social workers as being "change agents" and how it often takes a substantial "leap of faith" in order to initiate a quality sense of change with respect to poverty.

http://www.socialworkhelper.com/2013/08/29/importance-social-work-politics-social-workers-call-arms/

Policy Staff Writer, Lydia Long, discusses the processes of "uniting" social workers together in order to develop more effective ways of serving client needs. 

http://www.socialworkhelper.com/2013/05/30/what-happened-to-social-workers-dominating-politics-and-civil-rights/

Author, Rachel L. West, explains an all-important shift in the social work field from public policy, to clinical/therapeutic work, as well as the reason behind such a shift.

Heads? Tails? Or Both?: The Importance of Structural and Cultural Functions of Poverty

Looks like it's time for a coin flip.  Rep. Paul Ryan has received an ample amount of flack in recent weeks for blaming the current poverty rate on a "tailspin of culture" in America's "inner city" life, a statement that many consider to be nothing more than a blatant use of dog whistle politics.  Granted, for him to simply come out and say that inner cities are rife with African American males who are lazy and have no ambition would have been much worse, but the truth of the matter is that Ryan simply forgot to do his homework on the subject. As with any form of controversy, there are always two sides to a single coin. The coin, in this case, represents poverty as a whole, while its two sides resemble the various cultural and structural functions of poverty.  In truth, Ryan spoke of poverty only in terms of culture (Heads) and, as a result, failed to recognize the all-important structural element (Tails) that many believe holds the key to understanding the roots of poverty within the broader spectrum of American culture.

Heads: The Cultural Side

Ryan's reasoning behind his choice of words may be due, in part, to a larger discussion involving the appeal of "cultural arguments" in American society on controversial topics. According to author William Julius Wilson, such arguments "are more likely to resonate with the broader public because there is this dominant American belief system that associates poverty and welfare with individual initiative." In short, Ryan is embracing the age old concept of an American who is poised to achieve "The American Dream" through a constant level of hard work and dedication. Anyone that falls short of this idea gets the "laziness" and "lack of motivation" labels attached to them, including whole cultures of people. These ideas are frequently reinforced in local news media broadcasts where stories of gunshot violence, drug raids, and burglary incidents are often paired with somber, unflattering, and often, embarrassing imagery of African American youth and families. The same can be said with regard to other forms of media that include, but are not limited to movies, television, and music videos. For example, African American Rap, Hip-Hop, and R&B artists tend to promote overarching themes of the phrase “Get rich quick!”, where becoming a millionaire can be done with little to no effort.  Such media imagery not only generates and promotes racial stereotypes, but also allows one to make the generalization that all African Americans think, act, and behave in ways that are counter intuitive to an honest, hardworking lifestyle. The longer this trend continues within mainstream media, the more likely people will regard it as an accurate descriptor of African American culture.

Tails: The Structural Side

The crux of the current discussion, however, involves the structural functions of poverty which, in truth, have a mixture of racial and non-racial connotations. The racial implications, according to Wilson, are rooted in historical forms of discrimination and segregation that are still considered prominent issues. In a hypothetical letter to Paul Ryan, author Jonathan Capehart wishes to set the record straight with Ryan on the cold hard truth behind inner city life by stating that such a lifestyle is nowhere near accidental, nor is it the result of an unwillingness to work.  Rather, the living conditions of present-day African Americans within impoverished sections of inner cities are essentially the result of generations before them who were subjected to “discriminatory housing policies” such as “redlining,” “restrictive covenants,” and the “departure of manufacturing of commerce from cities.” Not to mention, with the implementation of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson, integration of formerly all-white neighborhoods became a reality in the early 70’s, thus leading to instances of “blockbusting” that eventually turned thriving neighborhoods into slums. One might describe the entire process as taking on characteristics of a snowball effect, growing larger and more economically damaging with each new generation. Finally, with each new generation come non-racial structural functions of poverty such as economic changes (rising inflation, economic recession, etc.) and technological innovations (internet, cell phones, etc.).  These functions exist more prominently today as technology, in particular, has played a crucial role in redefining what it means to be a consumer, how interpersonal relationships are formed and/or maintained, and especially, the rate at which information is processed and spread across vast distances.  Not having access to such technology only manages to further alienate those living in near, or absolute poverty from middle-class “normalcy.”

Getting to Know Both Sides

The major point to take away from this discussion is simple. The government must do their homework.  They must refrain from offering black and white solutions to problems that are riddled with grey areas. They must also refrain from making rapid fire generalizations about a specific group of people based on brief glimpses from outside the inner city window. Instead, they must make the attempt to walk inside the city’s door. Once inside, do not simply converse with a fake smile. Speak with each and every individual on a personal level. Get to know their thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams. Persuade them to show you what the other side of the coin looks like.


http://www.utimes.pitt.edu/?p=18764

University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work Dean, Larry Davis, speaks at a University Club conference on the subject of African American males and how they are portrayed in various forms of media.

http://www.aapss.org/news/2010/06/18/william-julius-wilson-how-cultural-and-structural-forces-interact

William Julius Wilson is interviewed on the subject of how cultural and structural functions of poverty interact with each other, with a special focus on inner city poverty.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2009/03/how_to_understand_the_culture_of_poverty.2.html

 This article features William Julius Wilson's "revised" version of the "Culture of Poverty" thesis where "victims" of poverty are neither defended, nor are they blamed for their current position within society.

http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/paul-ryan-urban-plight-isnt-cultural

MSNBC Contributor, Jonathan Capehart, writes a "love letter" to Paul Ryan that instructs him on the truth behind inner city life for people of color.

Taking Care of Our Future: The Importance of Providing Quality Education and Government Funding to Children in Poverty

            For 26 years, my father embraced the role of a “tough as nails” high school language teacher in the city of Pittsburgh by making sure that his students were present, alert, and ready to learn at 7:30 am sharp.  It didn’t matter if little Susie was tired.  It didn’t matter if little Johnny had a tummy ache.  All that mattered to my father was his ability to provide his students with the best education a Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher could offer.  He frequently stressed that schools (classrooms in particular), were places strictly for learning, not socializing, which may explain why a majority of students in his class were quiet and attentive…that is, until he was required to work as a substitute for middle school children at University Prep.  That is a whole other story entirely.  The point of the matter is that his stern, neutral demeanor translated into a safe and fair learning environment that led to each and every student receiving equal attention and treatment, regardless of race, gender, age, or even home life.  This, in turn, led to a higher level of learning in a majority of his classes over the years, which was also evident in his extra-curricular activity positions as a board game club founder, swim team coach, and an assistant coach in softball.  To say he was well known throughout Schenley High School (now Barrack Obama Academy of International Studies), would be an understatement, as he made it his duty each and every day to ensure that none of his students fell behind when it came to the learning process.

I tell this story for a few reasons, both of which concern the overarching issue of children living in poverty and how their levels of academic attainment are fairly low compared to students of a higher economic status.  While it is true that every child has the ability to learn and learn well, not every child has the chance to use and strengthen that ability, especially if the child in question lacks the most basic of necessities (healthy food, clean clothes, stable home environment, etc.).  Educators and teachers like my father are, indeed, a solution to the problem as many are led to believe, but they are only half of that solution.  In other words, teachers cannot be expected to do it all, even if their job requires that they take on characteristics of other jobs from time to time such as that of a police officer, psychologist, bodyguard, nursemaid, babysitter, lawyer, and so on.  In essence, the other half of the solution to providing children in poverty with a quality education lies in the hands of city and state governments, as well as Washington, itself.

Unfortunately, with all the hemming and hawing that the U.S government seems to be doing these days in regard to handling the rising poverty rates, the pressure is on for individual cities and states to take the initiative and enact change within the lives of children who struggle with learning on account of poverty weighing them down.  According to an article from The Atlantic by author, Sarah Garland, Atlanta has and continues to make progress in this area through their integration efforts in the East Lake neighborhood, a location that was once riddled with crime in the 1990’s.  The Charles Drew Charter School is one example provided in the article that shows how efforts to integrate White and African American students have led to a substantial increase from last to fourth best in standardized test scores in the entire state of Georgia.  One major reason for this neighborhood’s success in providing quality education for all children involves the charter school combining itself “with federally subsidized housing for impoverished tenants with market rate apartments that attract university students.”  This then attracted the attention of middle-class families, along with various stores, markets, and community businesses that eventually helped to change a poverty-drenched neighborhood into an integrative and thriving environment.  Granted, integration efforts, alone, will not help to “close the achievement gap”, according to Garland, but they are one of the first steps in achieving that goal, along with the mission of providing quality education to all children.

Finally, according to an article by USA Today author, Oliver Thomas, “poverty is the most relevant factor in determining the outcome of a person’s educational journey.”  Thomas continues by saying that one of the major reasons for why “a good education is seldom available to children living in poverty” is simply that “spending on education has not kept pace with the rise in child poverty.”  More specifically, from 2001-2011, “poverty grew by 40% in the Midwest and 33% in the South” while any and all spending towards education increased by a mere 12%.  This process of “keeping the pace” may prove to be a critical aspect in the development of future public policies, but again, it is only one side of the poverty coin.  In the end, it is a combination of both government and teaching efforts that will help a poverty-stricken child achieve greatness in the world of education and beyond.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/rich-kid-poor-kid-how-mixed-neighborhoods-could-save-americas-schools/260308/

Author, Sarah Garland, discusses the transformation of East Lake Meadows, a 1960’s housing project in Atlanta, into a thriving neighborhood via various efforts to integrate community members in the area, as well as students at a local charter school.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/12/10/education-poverty-international-student-assessment-column/3964529/

USA Today author, Oliver Thomas, discusses the issue of childhood poverty and its effects on education attainment. He also offers a few suggestions regarding what should be done to guarantee that every child receives a quality education.  

America’s Missing Reel: The Invisibility of Poverty in Mainstream Hollywood Films

It is often said that Hollywood feature films are more than simply a pure source of entertainment.  Some also say that films not only provide an escape from reality, but also serve as a catalyst for getting people to think about the course of their own lives.  In truth, both statements could not be more correct.  Movies are the lifeblood of American society as they frequently mirror countless theories, thought processes, behaviors, opinions, and sociological trends that are most popular at any given point in time.  The post 9/11 years, for example, saw a variety of movies transform into darkly-toned, dramatic spectacles that dealt with subject matter involving unspeakable tragedies.  Notable films of this nature involve Ladder 49 (2004), Flight 93 (2006), World Trade Center (2006), Reign Over Me (2007), and more recently, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).  A handful of years after the Vietnam War and the political controversies that overshadowed its conclusion, films such as The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979), both catered to specific, heartfelt feelings that the American public had towards the conflict.  All in all, each of these examples boils down to one major question which is, in turn, followed by another question.  With poverty being one of the most frequently talked about issues in recent months (due in part to the 50^th anniversary of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty”), where are the films that accurately provide a face for the poor?  Where are the films that truly depict what it means to be poor?  Such questions serve as a starting point for an important discussion regarding Hollywood’s negative attempts at keeping the poor off-screen and invisible to the public eye.

A Lack of Poverty-Centric Conflicts

 

First and foremost, conflicts in screenplays that arise between main and supporting characters are often middle and upper class-centric and thus, do not accurately reflect problems that are even remotely relevant to someone in poverty.  Issues involving “hanky-panky” with the CEO of a major accounting firm, comedic hijinks at a prestigious college, or even the “all-important” decision of whether to break off an engagement in order to accept a job offer in another state, all have “privileged” qualities to them that simply do not apply to those who are severely underprivileged.  One film, in particular, that drives this issue home is the 2009 Vince Vaughn comedy, Couples Retreat, which tells the story of four couples on the verge of either a break-up, or a divorce who are desperate to repair their sinking relationships at any cost.  One of the couples decides to take a vacation to a therapeutic island getaway and encourages the others to join them as part of a “package deal” offered by the resort.  Comedic exploits ensue when only one couple makes an effort to repair their marriage, while the others are simply there to escape their humdrum lives back home.  As one might gather from this brief synopsis, the major focus of the film caters to the middle and upper class movie going audience by presenting a solution to a problem that only those with a large bank account might view as being a legitimate option. 

Big Expenses for an Average Salary

This concept leads into the second invisibility tactic where characters that make a working class (or even a middle class) wage are somehow able to afford a penthouse in the middle of a bustling New York City, projecting the idea that everyone, no matter their social class, is clearly living the American dream and living it well, which is simply not the case.  The late Nobel Prize-winning film critic, Roger Ebert, discusses this topic with fellow film critic, Gene Siskel, in an episode of their movie review program entitled, Siskel & Ebert, where common film clichés of the 1980’s and 1990’s are put into perspective.  While brief, the discussion they have is an important one as it leads one to think about what needs to change in order for those in poverty to be accurately represented beyond the common movie cliché of a “rags to riches” story arch.    

In the end, instead of making films that strive to include all classes of individuals in society, the movie industry continues to render society’s poorest members invisible.  In the process, those who are affluent are constructed and built up as a representative sample of what American society supposedly looks like, a process that is also familiar in the news media spectrum.  According to a 2013 research study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, mainstream media news coverage of poverty in America “amounted to far less than 1% of available news space.”  Astounding?  Most definitely.  Surprising?  Hardly.  Based upon the aforementioned film tactics alone, one does not have to look too far to notice just how invisible poverty truly is, especially when it comes to the entertainment aspect of the mainstream media universe. 



http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/05/01/politicians-press-must-confront-poverty-in-america

Former Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman, discusses the issue of poverty and its invisibility in the eyes of policy makers, as well as what must be done to make those in poverty visible in the mainstream limelight. 

http://siskelandebert.org/video/B5KN9HU9XS9H/They8217ll-Do-It-Everytime-Part-2-1992

Beginning at 13:50, this video segment from the now defunct movie review program entitled, Siskel & Ebert, features film critics, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, as they discuss a particular movie cliché that involves characters being able to afford expensive apartments on average/below average salaries.