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Poverty in America YouTube: https://youtu.be/RE-VlC9Ck28 The Facts…. Federal Poverty Level A measure of income issued every year by the Department of Health and Human Services. Federal poverty levels are used to determine your eligibility for certain programs and benefits, including savings on Marketplace health insurance, and Medicaid and CHIP coverage. The 2016 federal poverty level (FPL) income numbers below are used to calculate eligibility for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Family Size Gross (Pre-tax) Income 2 people $16, 020 3 people $21,060 4 people $24,300 Federal Poverty Level 1. Does it seem high or low to you? In other words, would you think that a person living in poverty would have more or less money than the amount defined by the federal government? __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Cost of Living Calculations 2. Think of your group as a family that lives in a household together. (The size of your group will be the size of your household.) Make a list of what your basic needs are. Calculate the monthly costs of basic needs for your group’s family. Write them on the sheet where you have listed the items. Add up the monthly costs, and then multiply by 12 to find out the amount of money a family would need in order to survive in your community. Basic Needs Per Month Cost in Katy/ Houston Size of Family: Total Cost of Basic Needs per month in your area: Total Cost of Basic Needs per year in your area: Federal Poverty Level: Federal Minimum Wage: per hour: annual income: Minimum wage required for worker in your area to meet basic needs: Compare your group’s cost of basic needs in your community with the FPL’s poverty level for 2011. What do you notice? __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Minimum Wage 3. Calculate the annual income of someone who works full time (40 hours a week) at a minimum-wage job. How does this annual income compare with the federal poverty rate? How does it compare with the cost of basic needs in your community? __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Making Ends Meet 4. Look back at your household’s expenses. Try making ends meet in two ways. First, what can you cut from your list? For example, could you live in a smaller apartment? Could you do without health insurance? Could you buy less expensive food? As you make the cuts, think about how your life would be without the items that you had considered basic needs. List some of the effects these cuts would have on your quality of life. Basic Needs Per Month Cost in Katy/ Houston 5. “Individuals are responsible for living in poverty. They have no one to blame but themselves.” Think about it for a few moments, then go stand on the place on the line that shows how strongly you agree or disagree with the statement. Discuss the following questions with the people near you on the line: Has your position changed? If so, what has caused it to change? If not, why not? Then return to your seat and write a response to someone who says that anyone who works hard can rise from poverty. Why We Feel Shame and How to Conquer It Margaret Paul, PhD. Huffington Post Have you tried unsuccessfully to heal your shame? Discover how shame and control are intricately tied together; and that when you give up your attachment to control, you will find your shame disappearing. Many people on a healing path have found it extremely challenging to heal their shame. Yet, when you understand the purpose of shame, you will be able to move beyond it. Shame is the feeling that there is something basically wrong with you. The feeling of guilt is about doing something wrong, whereas shame is about being wrong at the core. The feeling of shame comes from the belief that, “I am basically flawed, inadequate, wrong, bad, unimportant, undeserving or not good enough.” At some early point in our lives, most of us absorbed this false belief that causes the feeling of shame. As a result of not feeling seen, loved, valued and understood, we developed the belief that we were not being loved because there was something wrong with us. While some children were told outright that they were not okay — that they were stupid, bad or undeserving — other children concluded that there was something wrong with them by the way they were being treated. Once we establish our core shame belief, we become addicted to it because it serves us in two primary ways: 1. It gives us a feeling of control over other people’s feelings and behavior. As long as we believe that we are the cause of others rejecting behavior, then we can believe that there is something we can do about it. It gives us a sense of power to believe that others are rejecting us, or behaving in unloving ways, because of our inadequacy. If it is our fault then maybe we can do something about it by changing ourselves, by doing things “right.” We hang on to the belief that our inadequacy is causing others behavior because we don’t want to accept others free will to feel and behave however they want. We don’t want to accept our helplessness over others feelings and behavior. 2. It protects us from other feelings that we are afraid to feel, and gives us a sense of control over our own feelings. As bad as shame feels, many people prefer it to the feelings that shame may be covering up: loneliness, heartbreak, grief, sadness, sorrow or helplessness over others. Just as anger may be a cover-up for these difficult feelings, so is shame. Shame is totally different than loneliness or heartbreak or helplessness over others. Shame is a feeling that we are causing by our own false beliefs, but loneliness, heartbreak, grief, sadness, sorrow or helplessness over others are existential feelings — feelings that are a natural result of life. We feel heartbreak and grief over losing someone we love. We feel loneliness when we want to connect with someone or play with someone, and there is no one around or no one open to connection, love or play. Many people would rather feel an awful feeling that they are causing, than feel the authentic painful feelings of life. If you are finding it difficult to move beyond shame, it may be because you are addicted to the feeling of control that your shame-based beliefs give you: Control over others’ feelings and behavior, and control over your own authentic feelings. As long as having the control is most important to you, you will not let go of your false core shame beliefs. You can heal your shame when: 1. You are willing to accept that others feelings and behavior have nothing to do with you. When you accept that others have free will to be open or closed, loving or unloving — that you are not the cause of their feelings and behavior, and you no longer take others behavior personally - you will have no need to control it. When you let go of your need to control others, and instead move into compassion for yourself and others, you will let go of your false beliefs about yourself that cause the feeling of shame. 2. You are willing to feel your authentic feelings, rather than cover them up with anger or shame. When you learn to nurture yourself by being present with caring and compassion for your own existential feelings, you will no longer have a need to protect against these feelings with blame or shame. Control and shame are intricately tied together. When you give up your attachment to control, and instead choose compassion toward yourself and others, you will find your shame disappearing. Expository Analysis: “Why We Feel Shame and How to Conquer It” 1. What event led to the writing of the article? 2. What is the main idea of the article? 3. Select several facts/arguments (3 if possible) which support the main idea. 1. 2. 3. 4. Does the author provide enough factual material to support his ideas (quotes witnesses, provides statistics, states their sources of information? Was the author an eyewitness to events; or was the information obtained through a news service or source? 5. Is the reportage, in your opinion, true, balanced or biased? Explain. 6. Are different viewpoints presented? Is this article an editorial (author’s own ideas), is it informative, is it convincing, is it balanced? 7. What do you think of the article and its point of view? Explain. 8. How is this article organized? Introduction to Dick Gregory Civil Rights Activist & Comedian (1932- ) Activist/comedian Dick Gregory was arrested for civil disobedience several times, and his activism spurred him to run for mayor of Chicago in 1966 and for president in 1968. In the early 1970s Gregory abandoned comedy to focus on his political interests, which widened from race relations to include such issues as violence, world hunger, capital punishment, drug abuse and poor health care. In the following episode from his autobiography Nigger (1964), he narrates the story of a childhood experience that taught him the meaning of shame. Through his use of authentic dialogue and vivid details, he dramatically re-creates this experience for his readers. Shame I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that. I was about seven years old when I got my first big lesson.

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