Towards the beginning of Hand to Mouth, Tirado defines her terms as follows: “Poverty is when a quarter is a fucking miracle. Poor is when a dollar is a miracle. Broke is when five dollars is a miracle. Working class is being broke, but doing so in a place that might not be so worn down. Middle class is is being able to own some toys and to live in a nice place… And rich is anything above that.” Regardless of where you fall on that […]
You’ll never fail like common people, you’ll never watch your life slide out of view
“Here is how I have felt, as me: as a relatively young person who is perceived as white, who is naturally sociable, who is intelligent and well-spoken, who was taught well and as a result loves learning things, who is able to lift objects up to fifty pounds repeatedly. And many times, with all that going for me, I still saw no hope. I cannot begin to imagine how much harder it is for someone who faces more discrimination than I have or grew up […]