More Content Talk

https://anchor.fm/morecontentplease Jim Crow never really went away, but it has had several makeovers throughout the years. It has spent much of its recent days attacking young black people in the prison system, picking them up for marijuana, and essentially leaving them there to rot. You have all heard the story before, some of you recognize the reality of it, and others stubbornly refuse to recognize the heartlessness it takes to lock a man away for a habitual drug everyone uses in college. And all of this to hold on to a fantasy promise of lower crime that will never materialize. But it also permeates in ways that are often unseen. Terms like "snowflake" are used by the right to delegitimize the very real harm that can be caused by hurtful rhetoric. What does happen when everything becomes a joke? When every movie has a reaction video? When every bit of news is deemed irrelevant or fake? Do we take anything seriously at that point? The untrained spectator of political movements may believe the answer is no, but that is tragically misguided. The endgame for movements that portray themselves as innocent victims of injustice that are perfectly righteous and can do no wrong is, of course, conquest. The truth becomes distorted in such a sea of righteous indignation. Everyone seems to have a bit of a point, and one quickly tends to believe that the middle ground is the answer, that some settlement can be reached. Has this always been the case? Will there be a deal of any consequence with violent dictatorships? Can you soothe a religious extremist with sweet melodies about the Id, the ego and the superego. I have no idea. Perhaps, but I would imagine it would be quite difficult, not some quick fix one would search up on webmd. In the course of being in the middle, one often gravitates toward one side or the other on most issues. This is not a true middle, but a facade of political centrism that is convenient for election season, and painfully annoying every other season. We live in an age where it is a crime to be proud of being different. You are supposed to be like everyone else in this world. Coexistence was simply a facade for a the same political agenda that has always been, the consolidation of power. We cannot live for others. We can only live for ourselves or else we are doomed to despise those around us. This does not mean that we cannot help our fellow humans when the are in need, but it does mean that we should take care of ourselves first. How are we to help others if we do not ensure that we are alright? How do we achieve happiness if it is our responsibility to see to the happiness of those who hate us? These are the questions the false middle of the road politicians fail to answer. Jim Crow has prevailed mostly because people do not care to admit that it is real; they like to believe that history is a book, and that we have already moved past that chapter. They fail to realize that just because you think that you have moved on, it doesn't mean that you actually have or that it is even possible to move on. I do not frequently call into question the ideas of peace, happiness and love because I prefer the cold reality of truth. I seek out the truth, and question my emotions because emotions cannot be trusted. Perhaps we are so deeply infatuated with the emotional world, that this is making the real world seem more harsh than it actually is. There is much pain, struggle and misery amongst us, but there is also wonder, mystery and excitement if we are willing to look below the surface. Always remember that reality is a multi-layered experience. It does not simply exist; it permeates through you. Anything that exist within you can be manipulated to make you happy. The key is to make your happiness the truth. That way you will not try to escape existence, instead you will stand up for yourself. https://unsplash.com/photos/RfRvhB5Z2EU?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Is it really my fault that you looked at this description? I mean, sure I posted it and you never would have seen it if I didn't, but you were the one who looked at it after all. And yes, I am well aware that I slapped some fancy cover art on my page to catch your eyes, but if you really think about it, you probably would have looked anyway. I mean, you know how you are with those stray eyes of yours. You just can't keep them to yourself. Sure, you could say that all of my tags and keywords drew you in the first place; you could go that route...if you don't want to take responsibility for your own actions. I mean, you picked up the electronic device you're holding, not only that, you searched for a podcast didn't you? You're also keeping your eyes open, even though you could very well close them at any time. Well, this is an open and shut case. You clearly sought this podcast out, this particular episode, not any of the other episodes I published, found this specific topic, and listened to it. So, yeah it's your fault, not mine. The above example is a very crude form of victim blaming. You may have heard of this tactic before, most likely in regards to physically abusive relationships; in this form of victim blaming a person is beaten or tortured and then told that they, the abused, were the one who brought those violent actions on themselves. Physical abusers will often blame the victim for their violent attacks in order to keep their victim under control. Some abuse victims will actually start to develop empathy for their abusers, making it more difficult for them to leave, and often resulting in extreme harm or death of one or both parties involved. But victim blaming can be a solely mental tool as well, and it is often used in politics to squash popular movements that contend with party narratives. This victim blaming is often accomplished through entertainment, news or social media. The objective is simple: discredit your opponent and make them look foolish. This can be done in several ways, but it is often done with stand up comedy, online articles, youtube videos, political satire, and good old fashioned advertising. It is essentially propaganda, but a specific kind of propaganda that is meant to devalue the victim. This often starts by discrediting any valid argument the victim of abuse had to begin with, but not in any way that is intellectual or even informed; it is your basic, brute, all force and no remorse brand of politics that most people love. For the victim blamer, it is not that one particular feminist said something that you disagree with; it is that the very basis of feminism was based on falsities and needs to be abolished in its entirety. It is interesting to note that, as acidic as the victim blaming is when it comes to feminism, feminism has not really seen much of a rise in popularity since I was a child twenty years ago. Sure, more women are working, and we definitely have feminists to thank for that. But one need only look at the way women vote in this nation to realize that they are just as moderate as men for the most part. The idea of this part of our culture being some sort of inherent threat to men because it is pro women is an exercise in delusion that was carefully crafted for years by propagandists. Now, armed with this idea that the weak need to be reeducated (sound familiar?) millions of far right nuts troll the internet looking for someone's day to ruin, someone's problems to minimize or mock. We need to be told how to deal with our problems by people who did nothing but cause problems for the past four years, and way before that too? I don't think so. I think it is high time that we start blaming the victim blamer for making us feel so inadequate that we neglect ourselves. We have to make clear distinctions on who is at fault. We cannot just let bygones be bygones and move on. Do not let them blame or shame you when you are in agony. Speak your pain so that you can heal.

Is it really my fault that you looked at this description? I mean, sure I posted it and you never would have seen it if I didn't, but you were the one who looked at it after all. And yes, I am well aware that I slapped some fancy cover art on my page to catch your eyes, but if you really think about it, you probably would have looked anyway. I mean, you know how you are with those stray eyes of yours. You just can't keep them to yourself. Sure, you could say that all of my tags and keywords drew you in the first place; you could go that route...if you don't want to take responsibility for your own actions. I mean, you picked up the electronic device you're holding, not only that, you searched for a podcast didn't you? You're also keeping your eyes open, even though you could very well close them at any time. Well, this is an open and shut case. You clearly sought this podcast out, this particular episode, not any of the other episodes I published, found this specific topic, and listened to it. So, yeah it's your fault, not mine. The above example is a very crude form of victim blaming. You may have heard of this tactic before, most likely in regards to physically abusive relationships; in this form of victim blaming a person is beaten or tortured and then told that they, the abused, were the one who brought those violent actions on themselves. Physical abusers will often blame the victim for their violent attacks in order to keep their victim under control. Some abuse victims will actually start to develop empathy for their abusers, making it more difficult for them to leave, and often resulting in extreme harm or death of one or both parties involved. But victim blaming can be a solely mental tool as well, and it is often used in politics to squash popular movements that contend with party narratives. This victim blaming is often accomplished through entertainment, news or social media. The objective is simple: discredit your opponent and make them look foolish. This can be done in several ways, but it is often done with stand up comedy, online articles, youtube videos, political satire, and good old fashioned advertising. It is essentially propaganda, but a specific kind of propaganda that is meant to devalue the victim. This often starts by discrediting any valid argument the victim of abuse had to begin with, but not in any way that is intellectual or even informed; it is your basic, brute, all force and no remorse brand of politics that most people love. For the victim blamer, it is not that one particular feminist said something that you disagree with; it is that the very basis of feminism was based on falsities and needs to be abolished in its entirety. It is interesting to note that, as acidic as the victim blaming is when it comes to feminism, feminism has not really seen much of a rise in popularity since I was a child twenty years ago. Sure, more women are working, and we definitely have feminists to thank for that. But one need only look at the way women vote in this nation to realize that they are just as moderate as men for the most part. The idea of this part of our culture being some sort of inherent threat to men because it is pro women is an exercise in delusion that was carefully crafted for years by propagandists. Now, armed with this idea that the weak need to be reeducated (sound familiar?) millions of far right nuts troll the internet looking for someone's day to ruin, someone's problems to minimize or mock. We need to be told how to deal with our problems by people who did nothing but cause problems for the past four years, and way before that too? I don't think so. I think it is high time that we start blaming the victim blamer for making us feel so inadequate that we neglect ourselves. We have to make clear distinctions on who is at fault. We cannot just let bygones be bygones and move on. Do not let them blame or shame you when you are in agony. Speak your pain so that you can heal.

https://anchor.fm/morecontentplease Jim Crow never really went away, but it has had several makeovers throughout the years. It has spent much of its recent days attacking young black people in the prison system, picking them up for marijuana, and essentially leaving them there to rot. You have all heard the story before, some of you recognize the reality of it, and others stubbornly refuse to recognize the heartlessness it takes to lock a man away for a habitual drug everyone uses in college. And all of this to hold on to a fantasy promise of lower crime that will never materialize. But it also permeates in ways that are often unseen. Terms like "snowflake" are used by the right to delegitimize the very real harm that can be caused by hurtful rhetoric. What does happen when everything becomes a joke? When every movie has a reaction video? When every bit of news is deemed irrelevant or fake? Do we take anything seriously at that point? The untrained spectator of political movements may believe the answer is no, but that is tragically misguided. The endgame for movements that portray themselves as innocent victims of injustice that are perfectly righteous and can do no wrong is, of course, conquest. The truth becomes distorted in such a sea of righteous indignation. Everyone seems to have a bit of a point, and one quickly tends to believe that the middle ground is the answer, that some settlement can be reached. Has this always been the case? Will there be a deal of any consequence with violent dictatorships? Can you soothe a religious extremist with sweet melodies about the Id, the ego and the superego. I have no idea. Perhaps, but I would imagine it would be quite difficult, not some quick fix one would search up on webmd. In the course of being in the middle, one often gravitates toward one side or the other on most issues. This is not a true middle, but a facade of political centrism that is convenient for election season, and painfully annoying every other season. We live in an age where it is a crime to be proud of being different. You are supposed to be like everyone else in this world. Coexistence was simply a facade for a the same political agenda that has always been, the consolidation of power. We cannot live for others. We can only live for ourselves or else we are doomed to despise those around us. This does not mean that we cannot help our fellow humans when the are in need, but it does mean that we should take care of ourselves first. How are we to help others if we do not ensure that we are alright? How do we achieve happiness if it is our responsibility to see to the happiness of those who hate us? These are the questions the false middle of the road politicians fail to answer. Jim Crow has prevailed mostly because people do not care to admit that it is real; they like to believe that history is a book, and that we have already moved past that chapter. They fail to realize that just because you think that you have moved on, it doesn't mean that you actually have or that it is even possible to move on. I do not frequently call into question the ideas of peace, happiness and love because I prefer the cold reality of truth. I seek out the truth, and question my emotions because emotions cannot be trusted. Perhaps we are so deeply infatuated with the emotional world, that this is making the real world seem more harsh than it actually is. There is much pain, struggle and misery amongst us, but there is also wonder, mystery and excitement if we are willing to look below the surface. Always remember that reality is a multi-layered experience. It does not simply exist; it permeates through you. Anything that exist within you can be manipulated to make you happy. The key is to make your happiness the truth. That way you will not try to escape existence, instead you will stand up for yourself. https://unsplash.com/photos/RfRvhB5Z2EU?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Yee haw! Well, cheese my grits and call me breakfast, it's time for a good old fashioned republican...I mean, totally unbiased recall in the great state of California! I can promise you that this here recall will be to rootinest tootinest gun show...I mean, fair election in the not so wild west cowboy, girl or other. That's right, republicans no longer hate trans people for this here election. Controlling the biggest state in the union, which subsequently informs every major decision made at the federal level, is just one of the many insincere reasons republicans all of a sudden give a damn about California. Of course their effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom, which should have been a piece of cake considering that it was the year of the worst pandemic in modern human history, is failing miserably. Republican grandstanding is about the only thing that is not tolerated in California. For years republicans have sat outside of our state, judging every little thing we do. They did not like it when we legalized marijuana, a harmless drug with only a nine percent chance of addiction. They did not like it when we helped pioneer programs like Medical, which saved my life and the life of my partner. They did not like it when we voted for Bernie Sanders because "ew, socialism". They did not even like it when we proposed cutting carbon emissions to offset the carbon emissions from their wretched oil profiteering; they wanted to kill the planet the old fashioned way, and we just would not let them have their fun. So now, here they are, ready to exact their revenge on innocent men, women and children, most of whom are not at all political, all so they can be in charge. This type of behavior really goes beyond the democratic process and borders on the edge of authoritarianism. I too have been critical of our current governor. He made mistakes just as everyone else has during the pandemic. It is hilarious to me that republicans follow democrats around with cameras in hopes that they will not be wearing a mask while dining out or at a hair salon. I often wonder if they realize how pathetic this makes them look. I mean, am I supposed to be impressed when the people who do not wear masks shout about others not wearing masks? Is this supposed to make me so that angry that I convert to fundamentalist Christianity and buy a "make America great again hat"? Am I just supposed to forget about the Republican led crashing of the stock market in 2007? Am I supposed to forget about the blundering buffoon that was Ronald Reagan, and his idiotic policies that led to me not being able to find employment because of my race and chronic illness? Would it really be wise for me to elect people whose whole economic philosophy is that you should build a strong business by underpaying your employees? Is this really the best you got? Of course it is, and that is why the California recall is perhaps the worst political move every undertaken by the republican party, and that is saying a lot because this is a party that has now turned into a complete parody of its former self. I am not saying that there are not problems in California, but I am saying, and you can quote me, that many of them have been largely exaggerated by the republican party. I am also saying that some of these problems, such as wide spread poverty and the rising cost of rent, have nothing to do with our current governor. I always find it funny when I have to explain supply and demand to conservatives because they use those words so much that you would think that they would at least know what they mean. The cost of housing in California is high because the state has far more wealthy people than other states, thus the demand is much higher than the supply. There are very few homes left in California because rich people are selfish and need to own two or three houses. Well, when you do that the cost of housing skyrockets. Because houses are difficult to find, wealthy people rent instead, which also drove up the prices of apartments. Unfortunately, wages have not grown as the cost of housing grew, something that wealthy companies could have afforded all along, but specifically chose not to. This was obviously done by companies to price older people out of the housing market, while steadily funneling in wealthy people from other states to work at places like google. In order to offset this, Governor Newsom passed a wage law for gig workers, making them receive similar hourly pay to full timers. In response, the greedy companies fired their employees, causing uneducated Californians to point at Newsom as the problem. But what Newsom did was the last resort. He waited until for these companies to raise wages and then took drastic action to remedy their screw ups. I admire him for doing that, and before the pandemic my family benefited from this wage increase. Most of the people bitching about California are not even from California. They do not even care to understand our state.

https://anchor.fm/morecontentplease I grew up learning about racism, but much of what I learned was quite generic. There were stories of heroes and evil-doers in the struggle for civil rights, but the history of the struggle remained a bit of a mystery. Obviously I knew that slavery had led to a kind of superiority in white Americans because they had never been enslaved. However, I did not realize the extent to which the Jim Crow era had played in solidifying the idea that blacks were inferior to whites. I recently read an article where all of these laws are laid out and discussed in painful detail, shedding light on this nation's history of white supremacy. The laws I read about are mostly from the south, where Jim Crow really took off. However, it is important to note that this mentality was shared by Northerners and Westerners, who, instead of making segregation legal, relied heavily on government and financial institutions to keep blacks from moving to their states. Northerners and Westerners knew damn well what was going on in the South, that blacks were being lynched and persecuted, yet they chose to do nothing for years. Western and Northern members of the union could have offered more jobs to black people from other states if they wanted to. There were plenty of low skill jobs available all over the nation during the Jim Crow era, yet liberal whites specifically went out of their way to not hire blacks, and to not allow them to move into their neighborhoods because they wanted money from powerful southern business interests, the same backroom deals continue to this day, which is why progressive laws on civil rights never make it past the powerless "squad's" desk. Since blacks were stuck, and had no other place to go, they had to deal with Jim Crow as a part of their life. Jim Crow etiquette plainly stated that blacks were inferior to whites. In order to demonstrate this, a series of laws were initiated instructing blacks on how to behave around white people. I cannot stress enough that this was written into our law system, and respected by every white person in America as the way to deal with the burden of the black race. White people during Jim Crow did were still very upset that they could not own slaves. Business owners specifically, believed that freeing slaves was one of the worst mistakes the nation had ever made, forcing them to pay a living wage to people who they felt did not even deserve of job. Whites of the day thought, as most of their relatives still do today, that making them behave in a civil manner around black people was an infringement on their rights. Generally, in America, when a white person starts going on about their rights being infringed upon it is because they are asked to treat blacks with respect. This is unthinkable to the white psyche. I have only met a few white people who actually practice what they preach, and treat blacks equally. Could one of those white people be you, the person listening to this show? It could be. I don't know you personally, so I have no way to make the judgement. But is it really an insult for me to assume a white person is racist in a nation that has racists laws respected by the vast majority of white citizens up until the present day? The war on drugs is nothing more than a war on minorities and those who associate with them. Also, black protesters were ritualistically brutalized by white police officers, and the various white supremacists who showed up to "help". Also, just as one brute was sentenced for the killing of George Flyod, another white cop was exonerated and allowed back on the force after executing a black man. So please, spare me the "things have changed" argument. Nothing has changed. You still think I'm inferior when I listen to music, or if I don't use your grandiose and quite pretentious form of English. I'm still inferior when I don't smile and dance for you if you send me a paltry 1400 check for years of abuse and neglect. It's all still exactly the same.

https://anchor.fm/morecontentplease https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGKUHYQ_yWvKcRRSLrATpQ My whole life I have to put up with some under qualified snob tell me I need to behave like them in order to be happy or successful. Well, it's high time we put an end to that. In this brief talk on the More Content Talk podcast, I put to rest the idea that there is such a thing as "proper" behavior. Frederick Douglass was never supposed to be anything in life. He was born into slavery, separated from his family, and sentenced to a term of serving others for the rest of his life, having committed no crime. Though this story is tragic, those of us who have actually read American history know that his story is not rare for this reason alone. Douglass certainly had to deal with the brutality of slavery, but so did many black people, so this alone is not what is impressive about his story. What makes Douglass unique, and still quite the enthralling read even to this day, is that he demanded more from humanity than the simple, "well, that's just the way it is, so deal with it". He rejected the notion of complacency in life, and encouraged others to do the same. He did not believe that slavery was just a matter of brutalizing the body, but of abusing the mind. Douglass "Narratives of the Life of An American Slave" does what most other books of the period fail to do. It argues, and proves, that the slave system was kept alive by creating tiny communities on plantations. It is not Douglass' argument that slavery was a consistent horror show of beatings, as portrayed by European film makers. Indeed, he discusses beatings, and whippings, but he states very clearly in Narratives that it was not the beatings that kept slaves from running off (indeed it was the beatings that drove many of them to escape). So what did keep slaves from revolting for so long? There were far more of them than plantation owners, and they could have overthrown the whole system without the north? Why didn't they? This is a question that has plagued philosophers, who are always trying to complicate things instead of looking for answers. Fortunately for them, they need not question reality, or history for that matter. Douglass' writings tell us very clearly that slaves were paid, though obviously not well, they were given holidays, allowed to socialize with friends, allowed to practice Christianity, sing songs, dance, and all sorts of things that we still do today. After awhile of receiving rewards, and fun of this kind, the slave likely reasoned that this was the best they were ever going to get. After all, they knew nothing of northern life, where blacks were free for the most part. So, slaves did not leave because they believed their condition would not improve. They had no real evidence for this. They were lied to, and they believed the lie, even with the bible in hand, they believed the lies of their masters. This calls into question the moral trajectory of belief. If belief can lead to an enslaved populous, should we really be entertaining such a dangerous notion? Should we coexist with people who believe it is their inherent right to enslave others, and then raise children to believe that slavery is natural? It is their belief after all, and according to American dumbass logic, we have no right to question beliefs. Well, I'm questioning, and I am not going to stop. You do not get to erase history, not on my watch anyway. We must stamp out this notion that beliefs are sacred. They are fantasies that we develop to justify our hatred. If I believe that you are less than me, I will not care when you are suffering. It behooves you not to allow this nonsense to go on any further, and to start really questioning the motives of those who are always telling you to believe without evidence. This is black history month, but black history does not stop in february, nor does it rest when you decide that you no longer want to listen to your new rap album. Our culture is your culture. America was built on the blood, sweat and tears of black suffering, and mental abuse. It is high time that we all faced the fact that slavery can absolutely happen again, and that, if it does, it will not just be about enslaving blacks, but about controlling the political sphere of influence, which was always its real function. Let's have a black history discussion, on MCT.

When I say "teachers" in this video, I am actually talking about substitute teachers. There is no credentialed teacher shortage. You'll notice that I never say there is a "credentialed" teacher shortage either. Some subs actually work really hard so I just refer to them as teachers. Anyway, here are the facts for anyone who cares. Many people think that teaching is some glamorous gig, and it is, if you're in a teaching union. Of course these people are not leaving. They have health insurance during a pandemic. No one would pass that up. I am speaking about the teachers you don't hear about. I am speaking the times your children are left to study "independently" without a substitute or when schools are forced to recruit under qualified college grads to teach your students, people who may very well be too immature to be around your child. Then there are the businesses that are now contracting employees out to schools to be substitute teachers. Yeah, that's a thing. The public school has made it impossible to become a credentialed teacher. Most substitutes cannot afford to attend the courses it takes to obtain a credential. The wages of a non credentialed teacher are very low. Thus, many of these so-called gig workers, even though they often work just as much as credentialed teachers and for smaller pay, quite during the pandemic. There was just no incentive for them to stay in it. Everyone is looking at the attrition rate. I am specifically talking about the decline in retention of substitutes. 54 percent — "classroom vacancies filled by substitute teachers before coronavirus. The pandemic has exposed chronic staffing shortages in the country’s schools. Even before the coronavirus hit, schools were able to fill only about 54 percent of some 250,000 teacher vacancies each day, according to a survey of more than 2,000 educators released early in 2020 by the EdWeek Research Center. Now, the shortages are much worse, district leaders and principals say, because the need has grown exponentially, even as the job has become more risky. Retired teachers, a group districts often tap for help, have opted not to sub and risk exposure to the virus, while parents who seek substitute jobs for part-time income have stayed home to supervise children learning online..“We would be short several staff positions every single day,” he said. “My secretary would spend the entire day calling different teachers on their plan periods to ask them to go cover a classroom. We would have classrooms that would literally have a different teacher every period of the day.” Students lost out on instruction time, as teachers used the first 15 minutes or so of each period figuring out what was going on in the class. Kids were falling behind and teachers were in despair. “I would walk around the school and I could see the stress on their faces,” Snyder said. “I’d ask how they were doing and they would just tell me, ‘I’m exhausted..Gwinnett is finding substitutes for only about 67 percent of teacher vacancies; last year it covered nine of 10 absences, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And school districts in Arizona still report a daily scramble to staff classrooms."-HechingerReport.com Positive reports are coming out of hiring increases, but that is because school boards across the nation are quietly lowering the standards of becoming a substitute teacher. Some believe this is a good thing, and that this should be permanent. Do you know who has already tried this brilliant idea? California, the state with the third lowest test scores in the union. Do you really want to go down that road? I suppose you do. It's up to you I suppose. But just remember that these people who have never been in front of children before will be eaten alive. They will resort to threats and other tactics that only scar children, and really don't teach them all that much. Testing scores will go down in your state just as they did in California. I really hope you don't fall for all of these glowing reports of hiring increases. They are hiring people who have no business teaching children in the first place. What is the point? Isn't that a waste of your money?Last year’s survey by EdWeek Research Center, which was sponsored by Kelly Education, reported a median daily pay rate of $97 for substitute teachers nationwide. “A lot of these rates were established years ago, and they haven’t changed,” said Sowers, the Kelly executive. “We continually look at the pay for our full-time teaching workforce, but the substitute pay rate stays the same. “When there’s difficulty filling classrooms, often the reaction is, let’s lower the bar, let’s widen the gate,” said Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. “That’s disastrous to do that. Basically, you’re sacrificing qualifications because you think it’s an emergency.” Substitutes are a vital part of the system, and they seem to be fading fast.

Everyday when you commute to San Francisco, California from San Jose, California, you will undoubtedly run into a few homeless people. The amount of people in poverty that you see along the way will no doubt depend upon your mode of transportation. I estimate that, during my four hour commutes to the city, I likely saw about six homeless people a day on average during the entire trip to and back from San Francisco. That's certainly a lot, and I don't want to take away from the seriousness of the homeless situation in the city one bit. San Francisco has definitely failed so far in its fight to end poverty, and there is just no denying that. However, I am not going to spend a lot of time bad mouthing San Francisco because the media does quite enough of that on its own. The reason that San Francisco is frequently maligned in the media is because it is an easy target. For all it has to offer, San Francisco is a surprisingly tiny part of California. Even its famed baseball stadium is smaller than many newer venues of the same age. What is much more shocking than San Francisco's poverty issue is that of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the world, and it boasts some of the highest poverty numbers in the America today. Thus, behind all of Hollywood's high fashion and constant partying, there exist a populace that is slowly starving to death. There are so many people living out of their cars in Los Angeles that entire parking lots are devoted to providing the homeless with cars a place to park. One homeless lot I saw housed no less than twenty five mobile tenants, complete with a makeshift coffee area, and car seat bedrooms. Perhaps visions of needle ridden sociopaths pop to mind when I describe such a scene, one that was written and produced by celebrities who have likely never known a homeless person. But this was not the scene I witnessed in that parking lot at all. What I saw was quite different. All of these homeless people had jobs. One man in particular had been a computer engineer before he fell ill; he collected unemployment for the six months he qualified, and was subsequently terminated. He tried to meet the demands of his jobs, but he just could not make a full recovery. So, he ended up sleeping in his car. It happened that quickly. Imagine, all you have ever worked for, wiped away in six months. Is this the grace Christian nations love to preach about? Then there was the woman who was dumped by her husband; her lover grew tired of her and told her to leave. She got a job cleaning houses to support herself, but she couldn't manage to get enough hours to afford the always increasing cost of rent. So, out on the street she went. There were so many stories like this: a missed payment here, an illness, a bout of depression, whatever it may be...Everyday in this nation people are cast out on the street like dogs for making mistakes. This is America, and all of it happens in the home of Hollywood, the place where dreams come true. It is a cruel irony to have the wealthiest and the poorest live so close to each other. It almost seems intentional, as if the wealthy believe that the smell of their filthy wads of cash will motivate sick people to be instantly cured or disenchanted husbands to magically return. Hollywood is the king of feel good movies; it is unfortunate that automobiles do not come fitted with flat screen TVs and a netflix app. It might comfort a freezing LA citizen on a winter night to know that miracles can really happen, that there are angels in Hollywood's outfield. But cars aren't like that at all. I remember sleeping in one in 2008, right before I lost my mind. Right before I fell into a seizure and woke up with several bruises, I remember thinking to myself, "how could I have gotten here? What did I do to deserve this? No one deserves this." Thankfully, I woke up in a warm house. The reality is that most people in that situation may not ever wake up again. Pic: Engin Akyurt