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 Nickel and Dimed "The Real Experience" 
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While reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich it occured to me to ask the following question: Although it is very clear that Barbara faced the physical demands of each proverty-level wage job do you think she clearly experienced the mental demands? During the entire time she had advantages such as: a car, saved money, and always the issue of giving up and moving on that others do not have.

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Kathy Wagoner


Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:08 pm
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Kathy,
I understand that she certainly experienced some of the hard work and frustrations of low paying jobs, but I agree with you. Not only could she move on with her life after a month at one place, she always had her real life waiting for her and no matter how much she tried to put herself in the position, the reality is that she could not be one of the poor, because she could not experience the feeling of "this is all there is for me." Even in her search for new places to go, she used her resources to determine where she would have the most success. How many poor really have the opportunity to pick up and start a new "researched" life somewhere else. I would be willing to bet there would not be many.

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Ken Robbins


Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:44 pm
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Kathy,
I agree with you. It was commendable (and the only way for her to do this), but she cannot get "the real experience." This can be no more than an experience for her that cannot replicate the fear, and anxiety results from really living the life. She is a single woman without the demands of family stress to add to the reality of needing every penny and minute of her time just to survive. She can't experience the need to get her child to a doctor and purchase medicine while still meeting her finacial obligations.

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Kristine Kelley


Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:47 pm
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I kept thinking the same thing Kathy. I do admire her for the task she undertook, however in the back of my mind I kept thinking that she has something better waiting for her. People who are truly living from week to week are simply trying to survive, not just endure for a month.

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Sandra Burchette


Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:03 pm
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You are all very right and your comments are what the critiques also said. But the wonderful thing about her book was it brought to the surface the problems of the everyday person making or not making a living. These people are invisible to the artificial aristocracy.

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Chris Sardler


Sun Feb 27, 2005 6:23 pm
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Kathy makes all of us raise our eyebrows with her question. I still believe this was a good reference of the situation but not a complete one. Barb is not under the pressure of a normal person that is in this environment everyday, and most of the time we take advantage of them without meaning to or don't think about what the person in walmart is really about. I have an uncle that works at wal-mart because he lost his job at a factory after 26 years because it moved to MEXICO. He is not in the same situation as these folks. So, is this really how every person in a low wage job responds.


Mon Feb 28, 2005 2:16 pm
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The situation in the book by the author does bring forth issues faced by so many workers in our society. Barb does have the advantage of another life and can not be totally emotionally invested in this experience. She can feel the stress of not having the money to pay the rent,etc. but she always has a backup with her other life. The workers who experience this pressure day in and day out do not have a backup plan. I wonder about the amount of stress related illnesses, the lack of health insurance, and the impact on job maintainance?

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Val Myers


Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:34 pm
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I think we all agree that the author could not really be poor or even feel what the truely poor feel. The one thing I got from the book is that we have an avenue to discuss societies problems. That could make the book a worthy read.
Ken

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Ken Robbins


Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:34 am
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Following up on our discussion in class Tuesday night, I started searching the internet to find out whether or not Ehrenreich donated the proceeds from Nickel and Dimed to charity. I found an interesting article in the Columbia Journalism Review which said that she did donate some of the proceeds (no specifics) to Jobs with Justice and the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support. This article gives a lot of background on Ehrenreich's evolution as a socialist and feminist and I am including the link, if anyone else would like to read it - http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/6/ehren-sherman.asp .
Sandi Johnson


Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:58 pm
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I'm glad to she decided to give a portion of the money to help those less fortunate. I also firmly agree that if this book had been written by a low-income employee that it would have had little impact. I still wish she would have avoided breaking so many of her rules. I guess this just proves life for the low-income must be harder than we realize.

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Kathy Wagoner


Sun Mar 13, 2005 2:38 pm
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I wonder if this book has really helped the working poor. It did enlighten others to their situation, but did it do anything to help them? Were there any policy changes?

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Shawn Clemons
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Mon Mar 14, 2005 3:29 pm
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Although I don't think it is possible for anyone outside of a particular class can actually "know" what it's like, I will say that she did at least try to approximate what she thought it would be like to be at this level.

We all made some significant points last week about ways she could have done it better to be more scientific, accurate, more compassionate and sincere, but would we have had the same experience, or would have been somewhat different. I would venture to say that if we were to take place in a similar "experiment" we would all come up with different opinions and others would have a critical view of something that we did "wrong".

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out the door and running...

oh by the way, this is ben!


Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:41 am
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I saw a commercial on TV tonight for the Merry Maids - boy, they sure looked like they were having fun!! I don't recall ever seeing a commercial for that business before - maybe Nickel and Dimed had some impact on me, after all... Sandi Johnson


Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:28 am
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