I don’t usually jump on these things, but this year Blog Action Day is on October 15th (my birthday!) and the topic is poverty (my favourite social issue!).
The goal of the organizers is to get as many bloggers as possible blogging about poverty on October 15th.
You can approach poverty from many different angles, and it overlaps with so many other social issues, like disability, child care, education, housing, health, social services, and addictions. Plus, poverty lends itself to so many different types of exploration – descriptive, analytic, personal, political, and photographic.
Even if you’ve never been poor yourself, it’s unlikely that you’re completely unaffected by poverty. I remember reading a few years ago that an astonishing proportion of women were afraid that they were going to end up as ‘bag ladies.’ A lot of households are bulging at the seams because grown kids are returning home (sometimes with children), unable to afford housing. In cities like Calgary the economic boom is sending shockwaves through its more marginalized populations, who are being displaced from low-end housing.
There’s plenty of room for everybody on the subject of poverty. It’s going to be good.
Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
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Several years ago, before I had any idea that my husband would leave me, I was afraid that I would end up living at the homeless shelter where I volunteered. I survived the divorce and I finished raising my kids, and phew, no homeless shelter so far. But I’m just squeaking by. So yeah, if I have a blog by then, I’ll blog about poverty.
My birthday is in October, too.I’m Oct.1.
I’m in!
Oh ya – I got the notice last week and marked it on my calendar. I did last year’s Blog Action day, but no one seemed to know what was going on.
I’ll be there… because I’ve been there!