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wren_in_black 's review for:
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive
by Stephanie Land
This book shines a light on the dirt of of barely surviving in poverty.
After all, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps only works if you have bootstraps to begin with. Or boots.
It'll make you angry, or it should. Stephanie describes the hours and hours of work she did as a maid to barely be able to afford a 300 square foot studio apartment where she lived with her toddler daughter. This isn't some tale of days gone by either. The story spans from 2008 to 2012, a time when I was graduating high school and entering college and had NO CLUE how much privilege I benefited from because I had generations of mentally and financially stable people in my family tree.
At one time Stephanie received seven forms of government assistance and was still barely able to survive. Often she went without meals because the 200 dollars in SNAP benefits was all she had for food for the month for her and her daughter. And if her income went too high with, she could lose her childcare benefits that allowed her to work in the first place.
Stephanie's book presents a portrait of someone who was anything but lazy, who survived abuse and tried to make a way on her own. With almost no family support and limited support from the father of her daughter, Stephanie had no one else to lean on and encountered judgement from nearly everyone.
This is not a feel good story of how anyone can get out of poverty by following Stephanie's path. This is not a story of how hard work can save you. That's not what saved Stephanie. If you want to find out how someone who works harder than any person should have to can't afford to live in a home without black mold, read this book. If you want to discover how Stephanie pulled herself up without any bootstraps to speak of, read this book. If you want to see those in poverty as human, read this book.
After all, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps only works if you have bootstraps to begin with. Or boots.
It'll make you angry, or it should. Stephanie describes the hours and hours of work she did as a maid to barely be able to afford a 300 square foot studio apartment where she lived with her toddler daughter. This isn't some tale of days gone by either. The story spans from 2008 to 2012, a time when I was graduating high school and entering college and had NO CLUE how much privilege I benefited from because I had generations of mentally and financially stable people in my family tree.
At one time Stephanie received seven forms of government assistance and was still barely able to survive. Often she went without meals because the 200 dollars in SNAP benefits was all she had for food for the month for her and her daughter. And if her income went too high with, she could lose her childcare benefits that allowed her to work in the first place.
Stephanie's book presents a portrait of someone who was anything but lazy, who survived abuse and tried to make a way on her own. With almost no family support and limited support from the father of her daughter, Stephanie had no one else to lean on and encountered judgement from nearly everyone.
This is not a feel good story of how anyone can get out of poverty by following Stephanie's path. This is not a story of how hard work can save you. That's not what saved Stephanie. If you want to find out how someone who works harder than any person should have to can't afford to live in a home without black mold, read this book. If you want to discover how Stephanie pulled herself up without any bootstraps to speak of, read this book. If you want to see those in poverty as human, read this book.