Last night I watched the Pacquiao-Cotto fight with a few friends. During the match we joked on the fighters several times, especially Pacquiao, who is well-known for his eccentricities. One such joke had to do with poverty. 

In the weeks before the fight an HBO special had provided access to the fighter's training routines. Both prepared rigorously for the match, but in different ways. Cotto, for instance, rented a mansion in Tampa, Florida to serve as his training camp home. (See video: Manny Pacquiao v. Miguel Cotto, Episode 1, minute 23:47) Pacquiao, however, packed himself and his staff into condominium at the Palazzo in Los Angeles, California, where his assistant trainer even slept in a converted closet. (See video: Manny Pacquiao v. Miguel Cotto, Episode 3, minute 18:42) "The dudes looked cramped," my friend joked. "Pacquiao's trainer was playing video games in closet-looking comfortable though."

 

 The idea of a national movement, to me, is a misleading one. On the one hand, it suggests that throughout the nation, people have committed to a single cause and have begun to express their convictions in public, en masse, and intending to effect a desired result. It thrives on the unity of thousands, even millions, of people and their concerted efforts to change the circumstances of their

While government agencies like the US Census Bureau figure out how best to measure poverty, grassroots organizations like P.O.W.E.R. (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) inform, organize, and mobilize working class citizens, demanding political solutions to the social ills of poverty. P.O.W.E.R. is a San Francisco based organization with a twofold mission: "to build unity between African

Different cities approach the problem of urban poverty in different ways. And within these cities some plans come from the political authorities and others from the people, each with different focuses and different effects... What happens, however, when one considers the national outlook? Is urban poverty a domestic issue of top priority? Are there anti-poverty plans that treat the problem as a

              US poverty is on the rise, says the US Census Bureau. The question that remains, then, is: What will Americans do to stop it?

            As I mentioned in an earlier post, Buffalonians have approached the problem of urban poverty from above and below. In the latter case, citizen activists like Joseph Augstell have chosen to raise awareness through art. His film, "Buffalo, New York" (see video), offers a visual representation of Buffalo's urban poverty. What do the images accomplish that government reports and statistics do not? What kind of story is Augstell trying to tell in his film? Can a film like this affect political, economic, and social changes or does it merely sensationalize and/or sentimentalize the problem? 

              US poverty is on the rise, says the US Census Bureau. The question that remains, then, is: What will Americans do to stop it?

            As I mentioned in an earlier post, Buffalonians have approached the problem of urban poverty from above and below. In the former case, Mayor Byron Brown responded to the US Census Bureau's reports in a press conference announcing his "plan." This plan entails the formation of an Anti-Poverty Taskforce, purporting to improve the city's employment opportunities, educational services, neighborhood security, and social environment (see video).

About a week ago Forbes.com writer, Joshua Zumbrum, reported that the current recession has "redrawn the contours of poverty." Whereas abject poverty had once been primarily the scourge of the South, Zumbrum explained, poor cities on the US-Mexico border and in the North Midwest in recent years have shown "comparable levels of poverty." In turn cities like McAllen and Brownsville, Texas, El Centro, California, Yuma, Arizona, and Saginaw and Flint, Michigan, comprise six of "America's 10 Poorest Cities." The southern cities of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Albany and Macon, Georgia complete the list. With climbing unemployment and poverty rates the suggestion is that urban poverty has been rising and will continue to in the coming years. 

           

If indeed the World Bank's definition is only in part useful, then how exactly should we define poverty? For an answer to this question I have turned to social scientists who have been working on this issue now for more than a century. As you can imagine they've created a vast literature on the topic, way too much for me to consume and then re-present to you. Nonetheless several excerpts from encyclopedias have been helpful; below I cite from these articles.

   

Perhaps the notion of poverty has been one of the most elusive in the modern era. What exactly is it? Does it have particular characteristics? Who would one identify as poor? How does one avoid or overcome poverty? Is s/he personally to blame or are society and its structures responsible? These are only some of the questions that men and women around the world have asked and sought to answer, usually to no avail. In the following weeks I will join them, as I explore urban poverty, its history, its current manifestations, and its future.

 

At 2am the invisible force that controls Daylight Savings Time grabbed the minute hand on America's collective clock and wound it back an hour. Who or what controls this give and take of an hour? Andrea Thompson has written a very interesting piece for LiveScience.com, which offers insights into the political and economic origins of "Daylight Savings Time."

The presidential election is less than two weeks away. National polls give the Democratic candidate, Senator Barack Obama, a slight lead over his Republican rival, Senator John McCain. One reason for Obama's lead is his campaign's fundraising. Obama has generated over $200 million more than McCain and outspent him nearly two to one. If he wins the presidency, the power of the purse will have had much to do with his victory.