The Dream: My mother gifted me an old, beat up RV to live in. It was filthy inside, rusted outside. I saw my aunt who wanted to see it and give me a house warming present but I told her No because it was so gross.

The Explanation: It’s because I have a very strained relationship with my family right now. They failed to step up to protect me when I was young, and then failed to show up again when I needed support as an adult (along with numerous times in between). They left me with trauma and fear and self-hatred without ever an apology or a modicum of empathy. It’s left me with the intense desire to be seen and to be loved, but at the same time an intense fear of being treated again like I was for so long. It’s left me opting out of most of life, because who would want to see such a disgusting, shoddy RV like me? And even if I do convince myself that someone might, what if they burn my RV down? Or come in and are repulsed because they don’t like what they see?

If we have programs set up to aid people that are earning 200-250% of the federal poverty level, then what it really says is that our federal guidelines for what constitutes “living in poverty” is drastically out of date.

$15,060 per year for 1 person

$31,200 per year for a family of 4 (Shouldn’t this be 4x the individual amount anyway?)

These are just ludicrous. avg rent on a 1 bedroom is $1,500/ month, or $18,000/year

We have a poverty crisis that isn’t being realized by the data, because federal guidelines say it’s A-OK for a person to be working full time and living on the street