Nevertheless, I set out to do as good a job as possible, even if it was begrudgingly. I diligently read David Shipler’s book The Working Poor. I diligently looked for sources related to the working poor in America. I diligently put together my annotated bibliography…and that was when it happened. Something about working out the detail on that bibliography and putting in writing exactly what I would use each source for actually got me excited. Why? Because I saw that I was going to be coming up with a paper that actually meant something to me. I had subconsciously chosen a topic that is more or less what I am in the middle of living out myself – going back to school with the knowledge that education is the key to getting out of a hand-to-mouth existence, the key to pulling myself up out of the ranks of the working poor and moving up to a place in life where I can feel comfortable enough to not worry about buying food next week.
Sure,
there are roadblocks to getting the research done: no internet (can’t afford it), a full time
job (commute is 75 miles round trip), being a single mother (missed half the
class tonight attending my son’s band performance), and plenty more if I want
to be whiney and list it all out. But
that’s not where I’m at now. I’m at a
good place where I can see the end of the tunnel. I know all I have to do is spend more time at
JJC and use the computer lab, make sure I don’t let the stress of work flow
over to the classroom experience, and most importantly make sure that my son
still comes first when something important in his life is happening. After all, he is the reason why I’m back in
school. You have to practice what you
preach, right? And what I’ve been
preaching to him is that school is the single most important thing ANYBODY can
do to get ahead in life, even me!
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