new days, new challenges

A year with Americorps means, among many other things, a year below the poverty line. Specifically, what will this mean for me this year? I will let you know as I learn. Probably fewer coffee dates [more homemade coffee creations], not as many faraway visits [but a continued open home to all friends from afar], a tight budget [more creative stewardship], and living stipend to stipend [having just enough, no more, no less]. I am approaching these things as a challenge, for which I am thankful. I love exploring new ways to do things simply and creatively, entering more tangibly into the daily realities of many of my neighbors. So, this “voluntary poverty” I have oft theorized about is more real. I also intend to become more of a coupon-clipper, book-borrower, and community-meal-eater. You can also expect scarves and thoughtful poems for gifts...and maybe granola, a jar of chai, a loaf of bread, or something else tasty from my kitchen. Good things, all these.

I am discerning, right now, about whether I want to receive benefits from the government. Since I’m a professional volunteer this year, I am eligible. I think it would be interesting to receive food stamps, deal with all of the headaches of welfare, and experience the humbling reactions of others, strangers and friends, to my situation. To be an insider to this crippled (and crippling) system would be nothing short of precious education. Somehow, though, I don’t feel right about using resources that could otherwise be feeding someone else whose situation is different than mine. Regardless of my current economic status, I have an education and a past of countless opportunities and fulfilled dreams that already sets me socially and culturally apart from a lot of my neighbors. The truth is that even though I’ll be struggling to make ends meet, probably most months, I have a little cushion in my bank account, a family who wouldn’t let me go homeless or seriously ill, and a community in which I feel supported. That’s privilege. To choose poverty is privilege. To choose anything is privilege. And I feel incredibly grateful for it. And pretending it’s not there is false. Would food stamps really help me to relate to my neighbors better and serve my community more effectively? Would receiving benefits be making light of the matter? Would welfare cheapen or enhance this experience? I’m genuinely interested--what do you think?