Myth of the welfare queen :
Zucchino, David.
Myth of the welfare queen : a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist's portrait of women on the line / - New York : Scribner, c1997. - 366 p. ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-354) and index.
Trash picking -- Quaker lace -- Check day -- An historic square mile -- Scratching matches -- Don't stand here -- Fried perch on white bread -- In the house of the Lord -- Riding with the devil -- A teenaged prostitute -- A necessary butt whipping -- Skinny Joey -- A home for the holidays -- Money Williams -- Survivors.
In this extraordinary first book by a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, author David Zucchino sets out to sift through the stereotypes, politics, and pure misinformation about families on welfare. A reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Zucchino gives us an intimate look at Odessa Williams and Cheri Honkala, two "welfare mothers" from Philadelphia, a city with a disproportionately large number of welfare recipients. He spends the better part of a year with these women, watching as Odessa constructs livable surroundings for herself and her extended family by scavenging and trash picking. Though her character, spirit, and resolve are constantly tested by family crises, she remains the strong and inspiring center of her large - and largely dependent - family. Zucchino also grows to admire Cheri, a single mother of one son, and a tireless advocate for the rights of the homeless. He watches as she helps one family after another pick up and keep on going. With utter dedication and zeal, and with remarkably little concern for material gains of her own, Cheri battles an inflexible city bureaucracy that in her view makes the already difficult lives of the city's poor nearly impossible. In this groundbreaking and beautifully written book, Zucchino balances his reporter's objectivity with profound compassion. In seeking to answer the question "What do welfare mothers do all day?" he uncovers no easy answers but is able to say definitively: "If there were any Cadillac-driving, champagne-sipping, penthouse-living, welfare queens in Philadelphia, I didn't find them."
0684819147 9780684819143
97009104
Welfare recipients--Social conditions.--United States
Welfare recipients--Economic conditions.--United States
Women--Social conditions.--United States
Women--Economic conditions.--United States
HV91 / .Z85 1997
305.42/086/9420973
Myth of the welfare queen : a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist's portrait of women on the line / - New York : Scribner, c1997. - 366 p. ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-354) and index.
Trash picking -- Quaker lace -- Check day -- An historic square mile -- Scratching matches -- Don't stand here -- Fried perch on white bread -- In the house of the Lord -- Riding with the devil -- A teenaged prostitute -- A necessary butt whipping -- Skinny Joey -- A home for the holidays -- Money Williams -- Survivors.
In this extraordinary first book by a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, author David Zucchino sets out to sift through the stereotypes, politics, and pure misinformation about families on welfare. A reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Zucchino gives us an intimate look at Odessa Williams and Cheri Honkala, two "welfare mothers" from Philadelphia, a city with a disproportionately large number of welfare recipients. He spends the better part of a year with these women, watching as Odessa constructs livable surroundings for herself and her extended family by scavenging and trash picking. Though her character, spirit, and resolve are constantly tested by family crises, she remains the strong and inspiring center of her large - and largely dependent - family. Zucchino also grows to admire Cheri, a single mother of one son, and a tireless advocate for the rights of the homeless. He watches as she helps one family after another pick up and keep on going. With utter dedication and zeal, and with remarkably little concern for material gains of her own, Cheri battles an inflexible city bureaucracy that in her view makes the already difficult lives of the city's poor nearly impossible. In this groundbreaking and beautifully written book, Zucchino balances his reporter's objectivity with profound compassion. In seeking to answer the question "What do welfare mothers do all day?" he uncovers no easy answers but is able to say definitively: "If there were any Cadillac-driving, champagne-sipping, penthouse-living, welfare queens in Philadelphia, I didn't find them."
0684819147 9780684819143
97009104
Welfare recipients--Social conditions.--United States
Welfare recipients--Economic conditions.--United States
Women--Social conditions.--United States
Women--Economic conditions.--United States
HV91 / .Z85 1997
305.42/086/9420973