Who Counts as Poor (and who gets to talk about it)
I had a bizarre and frustrating experience recently talking to an agent at a writing conference. My main interest was to pitch a novel, but... Read More
Dropping the C-Bomb
When I brought up social class advantages in my classroom at Emory University (one of the colleges that calls itself “the Ivy of the South”),... Read More
Ubuntu and The Self-Made Myth
We’ve all heard rags-to-riches stories about successful individuals who “pulled themselves up by the bootstraps.” Certainly, many successful business people owe their good fortune to... Read More
Overlooking luck
Can someone please explain to Newt Gingrich that people not wanting a job typically doesn’t cause poverty; being unable to get a job causes poverty. ... Read More
Guilt and Defensiveness vs Owning Our Privilege(s)
What follows is a very personal essay about my own learning about class, race and other “isms.” I use my own method of self-critique and... Read More